Company Briefs (December 01, 2010)

• The Power Transmission Distributors Association (PTDA) Board of Directors has unanimously selected Ann Arnott, currently PTDA’s vice-president of programs and services, to succeed Mary Sue Lyon as the next executive vice-president of PTDA, effective January 1, 2011. Lyon is retiring after 16 years in this position.

• V.J. Pamensky Canada Inc., Toronto, the exclusive Canadian importer for WEG products, which are manufactured in Brazil, has launched a new website at www.pamensky.com, reports marketing coordinator AJ Zellermeyer.

• The ABB power and automation technology group, Zurich, Switzerland, will acquire Baldor Electric Company, Fort Smith, AK, a North American supplier of industrial motors, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $4.2 billion. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011.

• The Manufacturer Council of the EPTDA (European Power Transmission Distributors Association) is inviting all manufacturer member companies to bring along two of their distributor companies, who are not yet a member of the association, to join the EPTDA’s 2011 Annual Convention in Budapest, Hungary, on September 28-30, 2011, on a complimentary basis. “This initiative signals our firm commitment to take EPTDA membership to new heights,” said Jos Benneker, chair of the EPTDA Manufacturer Council and sales manager, Europe, David Brown Benzlers. For more information, visit www.eptda.org.

• Endress+Hauser Canada Ltd., Burlington, ON, a supplier of industrial measuring technology and automation equipment, is celebrating its 20th anniversary in Canada. The Swiss parent of the company launched its Canadian operation in 1990. The company employs over 100 people at offices in Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton, as well as Burlington. In addition, the company recently expanded into Saskatoon.

• Under the hot Utah sun at the Bonneville Salt Flats Sept. 20-24, 2010, four racing teams shattered standing world land speed records, using streamlined cars and motorcycles that traveled at speeds of 280 mph to over 400 mph. Broken were the land speed records for a naturally aspirated race car, streamlined motorcycle, turbocharged streamliner and streamlined racecar. Virtually every car in the competition relied upon Loctite products to enhance performance. According to Mike Shannahan, Henkel’s director of marketing for the North American general industry business, “Loctite products, especially our thread-lockers, are critical to racing performance, and the teams really appreciated our help and support throughout the Shoot-out.”

• The Cooper Bearings and Kaydon Bearings divisions of Kaydon Corp., Phoenix, AZ, have announced a joint sales initiative by their North American sales teams aimed to improve coverage and give customers more bearing choices from a single source. Kaydon and Cooper will continue to develop and manufacture their own product lines in their own facilities, but will now offer them through a single sales and distribution network. The joint sales initiative is being managed by Brian Short, director of distribution sales for Kaydon Bearings.

• Ian Parkhill, president of Wera Tools North America, Burlington, ON, reports the company has now completed the transition of its logistic support centre to Tucker, GA. “We have also relocated our North American Sales and Marketing Support Center,” he says. The company’s Canadian office is now located 4129 Harvester Rd., Unit H, Burlington, ON L7L 5M3.

• Emerson Bearing, a Boston-based bearing company catering to OEM and MRO markets internationally, has recently announced a new Machine Tools division. Customer care representatives in the new division are trained to accommodate the unique needs of machine tool clients. The division was created to meet increased demand and significant growth in this market over the past couple of years. Marketing specialist Bob Piracini leads the new division.

• As part of its customer care program, Emerson Bearing provides a bearing failure analysis service that helps clients determine the cause of bearing failure so that they may prevent future failure and predict reliability. Clients also can use the Bearing Failure Analysis program within the Technical Toolbox on the Emerson Bearing website located at www.emersonbearing.com.

• Two industrial companies play a supporting role with astronauts performing a spacewalk repair in the movie Hubble 3D. In May 2009, when the future of the Hubble space telescope was hinging on delicate repairs performed by NASA astronauts using ATK’s Mini Power Tool, ATK needed precision components required for the job. Now ATK and Timken are featured in the movie. ATK’s Mini Power Tool, equipped with Timken custom thin-section precision ball bearings engineered especially for the application’s unique requirements, helped to enable the crucial repairs to return the Hubble Space Telescope to active duty.