Briefs (April 01, 2004)

The University of Toronto will begin to award a certificate and scholarship in its Maintenance Optimization and Reliability Management program soon, thanks to the efforts of friends of the late John Dixon Campbell. Campbell, a maintenance consultant, author of the book Uptime, and a former contributor to Machinery & Equipment MRO, died in 2002 of cancer at the age of 56.

The money will come from the John Dixon Campbell Memorial Scholarship Fund at the university. A scholarship will be awarded to the top student with academic need in the maintenance program and will be funded by the interest from the scholarship fund. As well, an annual certificate will be awarded to the top student in the program and is a non-cash award.

At press time, more than $25,000 had been pledged to the fund and the total will be matched by Ontario’s Student Opportunity Trust Fund. Donations from IBM Canada employees also are being matched by that company.

For information, or to make a donation to the fund, contact Maryam Latifpoor of the UofT Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering at 416-978-0380 or e-mail maryam@ecf.utoronto.ca.

The Timken Company of Canton, Ohio, has announced plans to transfer the balance of its Toronto and Reno, Nev., warehousing operations to CoLinx. The transfer of the Toronto operations to CoLinx Canada ULC and the Reno facility to CoLinx LLC was effective April 24, 2004, says Don Louis, chairman of CoLinx Canada ULC and chief executive officer of CoLinx LLC.

The Canadian and U.S. CoLinx companies, formed as a joint venture involving INA Holding Schaeffler KG, Rockwell Automation, The SKF Group and Timken, provide web-based services and integrated logistics for premium-brand industrial manufacturers.

The Toronto and Reno facilities currently ship Torrington and Fafnir products to authorized distributors throughout Canada and the western U.S. They will become integrated with the existing CoLinx operations that have already been shipping Timken products for the past two years. This latest move will provide Timken with two primary distribution points for all of its brands across Canada and the western U.S.

The transfer between CoLinx Canada and Timken includes the movement of warehouse operations from a 15,000 sq ft facility in Mississauga, Ont., to a new 50,000 sq ft CoLinx warehouse in Bramalea, Ont. CoLinx Canada has offered employment to Timken’s four full-time warehouse associates.

“These moves also set the stage for us to provide one face to the customer, a key objective since we acquired The Torrington Company last year,” says Kari Groh, general manager – global logistics and customer service, for Timken’s distribution management business. “We trust that our distributors will find it much easier to do business with us as soon as we complete the integration of our order management systems, which is scheduled for later this year,” she added.

“In the interim, the product will be co-located, but we will continue operating on separate order management systems — one for Timken products and the other for Torrington and Fafnir products.”

Timken also has signed an agreement to supply steel gear preforms for a new six-speed automatic transmission currently in development by General Motors Corp. The multi-year agreement includes supplying 100% of the gear preforms for the first two models of the rear-wheel drive version of GM’s newly developed family of transmissions. Timken will provide precision-machined steel preforms that GM will use as the material for 20 transmission components, including sun gears, ring gears and pinion gears.

Distributor and manufacturer’s representative Advantage Sales Network Corp., Mississauga, Ont., celebrated five years in business in February 2004. Partners Dave Cummings and Steve O’Brien also report that the company has received several accolades from its vendors in recent years, including the Leading Sales Performer award from Grove Gear for 2002 and 2003, and the Sales Representative of the Year award from Lincoln Motors for 2002 and 2003. As well, Advantage was ranked last year as the second overall territory performer in North America by Diamond Chain International.

BDI Canada Inc. of Mississauga, Ont., a distributor of bearings, power transmission, fluid power and industrial products, has expanded into Alberta with two branches. The company already has several branches throughout Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. The new Calgary branch is managed by Dave Oakley and is located at 4764 50th Ave. S.E. (tel. 403-248-3979), while the Edmonton branch is managed by Will Matson and is located at 4524 97th St. N.W. (tel. 780-989-3993).

As well, BDI has appointed Blaire MacIsaac as regional manager of the Maritime provinces. Blaire was formerly district manager of Nova Scotia. Also, Joe Muise was named manager of the New Glasgow, N.S., branch.

S.A. Armstrong Ltd. of Toronto, a global supplier of pumping and HVAC equipment for industrial, residential and commercial applications, has requalified as a winner in Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies Program for the second consecutive year. Sponsored by Deloitte and Touche, CIBC and the National Post, the 50 Best award is a national program recognizing Canadian companies that have executed world-class business practices and created value in innovative ways.

Parker Hannifin Corp. of Cleveland, Ohio, has acquired all outstanding shares of Denison International plc. Parker Hannifin is a manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, while Denison is a manufacturer and service provider for highly engineered hydraulic fluid power systems and components.

Parker also has formed a new Life Sciences Business Unit to enable the development of technologies driving next-generation advancements in this fast growing market segment. The new unit incorporates the full range of Parker motion and control technologies to deliver application-specific engineered solutions, from large-scale to miniature integrated systems such as closed-loop electronic pressure control. As part of Parker’s Automation Group, the new business unit will be based in Hollis, N.H., at the headquarters of the Pneutronics Division.

Parker’s Fluid Control Division is currently seeking distributors for its Sinclair Collins line, which includes a new series of piston-operated check valves. For more information, contact Al Bednarski at 330-656-5661 or 8870 Darrow Rd., Suite F106, Box 253, Twinsburg, OH 44087.

Carlo Gavazzi Canada of Mississauga, Ont., has appointed Gerald Villalobos as an account manager responsible for sales throughout south-western and northern Ontario. He has been servicing the industrial and OEM electrical market for over 15 years and has the ability to provide customers with solutions for their electrical and automation requirements.

Two companies in the returnable container industry recently commemorated a 10-year relationship. Buckhorn Canada Inc. and Blue Bins Unlimited marked the event with a review of Buckhorn’s products at its new showroom in Brampton, Ont. Buckhorn supplies returnable containers to general industry, while Blue Bins is Canada’s largest rental/sales supplier of containers for the moving industry.

Analysts at Merrill Lynch of New York predict a near-term potential upturn in the industrial MRO (maintenance, repair and operating) products market. The analysts say that the U.S. manufacturing industry is poised for a robust multi-year expansion cycle in the near term. As a result, it is giving a “buy” rating to stocks of MSC Industrial Direct Company of Melville, N.Y., a company that is engaged in the direct marketing of industrial products.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. of Vancouver, an auctioneer of industrial facilities and equipment, has acquired the auction business of LeBlanc Auction Service Ltd., an Estevan, Sask.-based auctioneer of agricultural equipment and land. The acquisition is part of an ini
tiative intended to further establish Ritchie Bros.’ presence in the used agricultural equipment and land markets in Saskatchewan.

Federated Press of Montreal has announced a conference to take place at the Sharaton Centre hotel in Toronto June 14-16, 2004. Performance Measures for Plant Maintenance will feature a wide array of practical seminars as well as two optional workshops. For information, call 1-800-363-0722 or 416-665-6868, e-mail info@federatedpress.com, or visit www.federatedpress.com.

VF Solutions has joined with the PEMAC (the Plant Engineering & Maintenance Association of Canada) to offer an imagewear program to the association’s members. Dress and casual shirts with the PEMAC logo are available in a variety of styles. Pictures showing details can be viewed at www.pemac.org.

Setco of Cincinnati, Ohio, a large manufacturer and rebuilder of spindles and slides, has acquired the Pope Corp. from Barden/FAG. Pope manufactures precision spindles in the U.S.

Teadit N.A. Inc. and Weatherford PC Pump Ltd. of Lloydminster, Alta., are among the companies to be recognized recently by the Fluid Sealing Association through its Excellence in Environmental Protection Awards. Competitors came from worldwide petroleum, chemical processing and power industries. Teams submitted case studies that were judged by a panel of academic and industry experts. The awards went to projects that demonstrated the highest positive impact on the environment through the reduction of fugitive emissions, minimizing the requirements for cooling water and achieving more efficient use of electric power through the application of new fluid sealing products and procedures. Details can be found at www.fluidsealing.com.

Bunting Magnetics (Canada) Inc. of Toronto has purchased the assets of CA Systems & Plastics of Maple, Ont. CA manufactures supplies for the plastic moulding industry in North America.

Morris Material Handling of Oak Creek, Wisc., says it has more than tripled the number of crane inspection customers it has through its P&H ProCare Inspection System. The system reports crane deficiencies by priority, from serious safety hazards to general maintenance items.