Timken: Keeping the world in motion beyond 125 years

By Richard G. Kyle, Special to the Canton Repository

One of the biggest challenges for businesses — both large and small — is the ability to remain relevant.

Industries evolve. Technology advances. Things change. What’s important to customers today may not be tomorrow. That’s why the most enduring companies always look forward, not resting on their past and present successes.

The Timken Co. is one of those companies.

Timken is celebrating 125 years in business this year because of our ability to adapt with — and for — our customers. Throughout our history, we’ve consistently identified new markets and applications for our products that will help drive the industrial evolutions of the future. At the same time, we’ve continued to meet our customers where they are, growing our global presence from Northeast Ohio to locations across six continents.

When Henry Timken patented the tapered roller bearing and moved his company to Canton a few years later, he had no way of knowing our products would help power numerous advancements in aviation and space exploration, from the Wright Brothers first flight to the James Webb Space Telescope. He could never have conceived of the vital role we would play in the automation of industry and the sustainability of renewable energy.

Still, none of this would have been possible without the enduring mindset he instilled in us to work with our customers to help solve their greatest engineering challenges.

I write this today not reflecting on the first bearings Timken produced 125 years ago. My focus — and that of my more than 19,000 Timken colleagues around the world — is on the future and how we will continue to apply our broad and deep specialized engineering expertise in friction management, power transmission and materials science to help our growing customer base meet the challenges of tomorrow.

For us, this is year one of the next 125.

We can’t predict what new critical engineering questions we’ll be asked to answer over the next century, but we’ll be right by our customers’ sides, continuing to create tomorrow’s solutions and innovations for a world in motion and remaining as relevant as ever.

Richard G. Kyle is president and chief executive officer of The Timken Co.

Article originally published in The Repository:

Timken CEO Richard Kyle celebrates Timken Co.’s 125th anniversary (cantonrep.com)