Business Briefs

• The following members have joined the STLE (Society of Tribologiests & Lubrication Engineers) in its Toronto Section so far in 2013: John Walsh, ALS Tribology; Paul Joseph Brear, Atlas Copco; Bram Muange, BASF; Guy Labrecque, Fluid Life Corp.; Ahmed Abou Gharam, Litens Automotive; and John Cecchetti, Lubrication Engineers of Canada. For membership information, visit https://www.stle.org.

• ABB of Zurich, Switzerland, has signed an agreement to sell all assets of its Baldor generator-set business to Generac Holdings Inc., a producer of generators and other engine-powered products headquartered in Waukesha, WI. The sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2013. ABB is divesting the business because of limited synergies with ABB’s core portfolio and because Generac is in a better position to create additional value from it. The business was acquired as part of ABB’s acquisition of Baldor Electric in 2011

• Fahad Haq has joined Lafert NA, Mississauga, ON, as project manager. He has several years of experience in industrial supply, motor distribution and project management. Lafert NA offers a complete range of metric motors, pumps and gearboxes with extensive inventories throughout North America. For details, visit www.lafertna.com.

• NTN Corporation has named Tetsuya Sogo as CEO of the Americas Region, president of NTN USA and chairman of NTN Bearing Corporation of America. He is based in Mt. Prospect, IL. Sogo has spent his entire career with NTN. He succeeds Toru Tomiyama, who has retired to an advisory position with NTN in Osaka, Japan.

• In preparation for its 100th anniversary in 2016, NSK Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, is striving to expand its global sales through improved customer satisfaction, with the goal of attaining one trillion yen (C$10.5 billion) in corporate global sales. To that end, NSK is strengthening its corporate governance and compliance in an effort to build a corporate structure and culture that is commensurate with that of a one-trillion-yen corporation. NSK is a manufacturer of bearings, automotive products and precision machine components. Back in 1916, it produced the first ball bearings made in Japan. The company currently has manufacturing sites in 64 locations and sales offices in 120 locations throughout the world, with a total of over 28,000 employees.

• For the 14th year in a row, SKF, Gothenburg, Sweden, has been listed as one of the world’s most sustainable companies by both the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI) and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for Europe. DJSI rated SKF as best in class for the company’s approach to environmental management.

• The Timken Company, Canton, OH, has announced its board of directors has approved a plan to pursue a separation of the company’s steel business from its bearings and power transmission business through a spinoff, creating two publicly traded companies. The bearings and power transmission business will continue to operate as The Timken Company. The engineered steel company will include about 3,000 associates, seven manufacturing plants, four warehouses and five sales offices. The steel business is North America’s leading manufacturer of SBQ (special bar quality) large bars for industrial markets and its largest producer of seamless mechanical tubing.

• W.W. Grainger Inc., Chicago, IL, has modified its structure to provide greater focus and a more consistent integrated approach to pursue growth opportunities. The industrial distribution firm, which focuses on maintenance, repair and operating products, has formed a new Americas business that includes Canada, the US, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru. This will be led by Court Carruthers, senior vice-president and group president, Americas. Carruthers previously served as senior vice-president and president, Grainger US, and before that, was president of Acklands-Grainger, the company’s Canadian operation, based in Richmond Hill, ON.