Briefs…

George Knezic has been named aftermarket sales manager for Hagglunds Drives Inc. North America. He will be responsible for sales of aftermarket hydraulic drive parts, refurbishment and repairs of Hagglunds products throughout Canada and the United States. Hgglunds held the grand opening of its new Canadian headquarters in Burlington, Ont., in October 2003. The facility houses sales offices, technical product support and repair, and inventory warehousing for the company’s products. Hagglunds supplies hydraulic drive systems, motors and pumps for off-highway, marine, offshore, pulp and paper, recycling and a broad range of other industry applications.

Clamp and coupling manufacturer Oetiker Ltd. of Alliston, Ont., received first place honours at a recent Northern Quality Circle competition held by Honda of America in Huntsville, Ont. The annual competition consists of eight teams competing against each other over the course of two days. Twenty-five companies from Canada, the United States and Mexico participated. The winning presentation is titled “Excessive Work in Process at Hand-Roll area.” In total, this project will save Oetiker $16,391 per year. By placing first in the Huntsville competition, the company has secured a spot to participate at the Honda World Convention taking place Nov. 1-5, 2004, in California.

Manufacturers, distributors and agents gathered at the Grand Georgian Complex at Blue Mountain Resorts for the 26th annual Ontario Bearing and Power Transmission Resort Weekend. Employees (from presidents to truck drivers) attended the August 20th weekend event that included an annual golf tournament. Unusual tasks such as ‘Closest to the water, without going in!’ made the round a fun event. Those who are employed in or retired from the bearing and power transmission industry, and wish to be invited to next year’s event, should contact David Fernay at dfernay@renoldcanada.com.

The 44th Annual Bearing Sports Tournament of Montreal also took place this summer, attracting 165 participants, 108 of whom competed for the Jack Denner Team trophy. The winner was the team from PowerLink, one of 15 teams competing. A highlight of the event was the establishment of the Jean Bouchard Fund for the benefit of children of people working in the bearing and power transmission industry in Quebec and Ontario who have medical problems. “This was supposed to be a one-time charitable event but, the overwhelming generosity of firms and some individuals has caused us to start the process of registering it as an official, permanent charity,” said event organizer Harold Benz. “We raised $6,000 in 2-1/2 hours.” To get on the mailing list for next year’s event, write to hbenz@globalbear.ca.

KML Bearing Canada Inc. of Montreal has expanded into Western Canada with the establishment of a regional office and warehouse at 4525 101st St., Edmonton, Alta. Also, this past summer marked the 10th anniversary of KML’s expansion into Canada. With this recent move to the west, KML Canada now provides full regional sales and warehouse support from its facilities in Montreal, Toronto and Edmonton, says Francois Lepine, vice-president sales and marketing.

Regal-Beloit Corp. and the General Electric Company have signed an agreement for Regal-Beloit to acquire GE’s commercial AC motor business. The transaction is expected to close in September, following the completion of customary regulatory clearance. GE’s commercial AC motor business includes a full line of AC motors for pump, compressor, equipment and commercial HVAC applications.

SKF/Chicago Rawhide presented its annual Industrial Sales Representative of the Year award to Dwayne Daniels, stating that throughout the year he had continued to establish key partnerships with customers in his territory that resulted in a significant increase in sales over previous years.

Emerson Process Management has won a $27-million contract to serve as general automation contractor for the $2.6-billion Long Lake Oil Sands extraction project, 200 miles north of Edmonton, Alta. Emerson and Spartan Controls Ltd., its local business partner in Alberta, will also provide engineering, project management, commissioning, and ongoing maintenance and operations support. Emerson expects its digital solution will assist in delivering annual operations and maintenance savings of $4.2 million for the project’s upgrader unit.

Industrial distributor Motion Industries and bearing supplier SKF Group recently co-sponsored a webcast entitled ‘Brush up on your Bottom Line.’ The featured speaker, Tim Underhill, president of Underhill & Associates, covered the topic ‘Measuring and documenting savings from value-added services.’ To view the webcast, visit www.accuconferenc.com/motion_skf_webcast.

Iris Power Engineering has appointed Doug Backman as general manager of sales. Prior to joining Iris, he worked as a sales manager for over seven years with Eaton Cutler-Hammer, as well as four years working for GE Fanuc Automation. In another development, Paul Magder will be moving from the sales department to direct the activities of Iris’ product engineering and development department. Iris specializes in monitoring services for large motors and generators.

The Bearing Specialists Association (BSA) has announced that another employee of BDI Canada Inc. of Mississauga, Ont., has successfully completed the examination to become a Certified Bearing Specialist. Juan Cotrina joins other individuals among the first certified bearing specialists in the world. For more information on the CBS program, contact BSA at 630-858-3838 or BDI Canada Inc. at 905-238-3392.

As part of an ongoing strategy to offer a broader and enhanced range of friction management products and services, The Timken Company has acquired the assets of SES Technical Group of Richfield, Ohio. SES specializes in vibration analysis, infrared thermography, continuous monitoring systems, wear particle analysis, and 24-hour emergency service. SES becomes part of the Timken Industrial Services group. The group was acquired from SES LLC, a supplier of equipment and services for the metals and related industries, which will continue to separately operate its other two divisions in Alliance, Ohio.