News and views about companies, staff, products and more. (February 01, 2003)

NSK Canada Inc., Mississauga, Ont., named William A. (Bill) Childers as president and chief operating officer on Jan. 1, 2003. He succeeds Terry Quinn, who has retired as president. Over the past 14 years, Quinn established NSK’s presence in the Canadian bearing and power transmission industry. Under his leadership, NSK Canada grew from a company with revenues of $30 million to nearly three times that. Childers has a substantial level of executive experience in the bearing and PT industries. His most recent position was as vice-president, sales – North America for OEM and distribution accounts with Danaher Motion in Amherst, N.Y.

RBI Bearings Inc., Mississauga, Ont., has launched a line of quality Chinese bearings in the Canadian market. The warehouse stocks a large supply of radial, tapered, mounted, miniature, spherical, R-inch and 1600-Series bearings.

RBI’s parent firm was established in Los Angeles, Calif., in 1989 and the Canadian facility opened in 1995. The company opened a state-of-the-art bearing manufacturing facility in Cheng Du, China, in June 2001. “RBI is setting a new standard for bearing manufacturing in China, all bearings produced at the Chengdu plant being ABEC 5 precision. It uses the best quality raw materials, machine tools and testing equipment to meet or exceed this standard” says RBI’s Canadian president, Tony Bisante.

“The facility is ISO 9001 registered for the manufacture of bearings, as well as the design and manufacture of special machinery for bearing manufacturing,” says Bisante. He adds that the Chengdu plant is 100 per cent owned and operated by RBI.

Bisante is no stranger to the power transmission market, having worked at Canadian Bearings for 20 years, most recently as Toronto region manager. He joined RBI in 1995.

RotoPrecision Inc. of Mississauga, Ont., has been named the Canadian representative for the line of precision speed reducers produced by Motovario Ltd. of Modena, Italy.

Applied Industrial Technologies Ltd. of Saskatoon, Sask., last fall paid about $18 million to acquire the distribution business of Industrial Equipment Co. Ltd. (IECO), a privately held distributor based in Vancouver, B.C. The transaction was completed Oct. 7, 2002. Applied is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cleveland, Ohio-based Applied Industrial Technologies.

NTN Bearing Corporation of Canada, Mississauga, Ont., was recently invited to participate in a science and technology news magazine for the Discovery Channel Network. A five-minute documentary on the bearing manufacturing process hit the airways Dec. 14, 2002, on the Discovery Channel, as part of the TV show “How It’s Made.” To view the video, visit NTN’s website at http://www.ntn.ca/news12-2.htm. The item is located in the site’s News & Links section.

Advantage Sales Network Corp., Brampton, Ont., has relocated its corporate offices and warehouse facility to 80 Hale Rd., Unit # 1, Brampton, ON L6W 3N9, new telephone 905-455-6969, new fax 905-455-6061. As well, Advantage opened a new warehouse in Montreal in January. The Montreal warehouse, located at 2026 – 32nd Ave., Lachine, QC H8T 3H7, stocks AMI Bearings, Diamond Chain, Bando and Grove Gear products. Roberto Robert, Quebec sales manager, can be reached at 514 – 926-1265.

Craft Bearing Company of Newport News, Virginia, has entered the Canadian market with its split roller bearing line with the appointment of Advantage Sales Network of Brampton, Ont., as its sales representative for Canada.

Jeffrey J. Pennetti, Craft’s vice-president of marketing and sales, reports that the 40-year-old company manufactures ductile iron split cylindrical roller bearings from 1-7/16 in. to 32 in. bore size. The bearings are available in three series — S1 medium duty, S2 heavy duty and S3 extra heavy duty. A range of metric sizes also is available, as are custom bearings and models for special applications. It also offers a stainless steel series.

Trillium Controls Inc. of Concord, Ont., has been appointed master distributor for Moujen Electric of Taiwan, a manufacturer of CSA/UL/cUL industrial electrical control products.

S.B. Simpson Group Inc., Burlington, Ont., acquired another Burlington-based distributor, Mark Industrial Ltd., in December 2002. Mark specializes in bandsaw blades and abrasive chop saw wheels. This is Simpson’s sixth acquisition in as many years.

Peel Industrial Supplier, Brampton, Ont., is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2003, reports Wally Mullin, president.

Timken of Canton, Ohio, has introduced an intelligent wireless technology bearing for the rail industry. The new Guardian bearing is an enhancement to the original AP, AP-2 and SP family of bearings developed by Timken over the past 50 years.

“For 80 years, Timken has played a vital role in the advancement of the railroad bearing industry,” said Thomas S. Dupaski, president – rail. “The Guardian bearing contains new wireless technology that provides rail operators with information to increase bearing, wheel and track efficiency.”