Timken Innovation Drives Market Sector Outgrowth and Industry Leadership In Wind Energy

NORTH CANTON, Ohio, May 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Timken Company (NYSE: TKR; www.timken.com), a global industrial leader in engineered bearings and power transmission products, announced today that it achieved industry-leading growth in service to wind energy customers over the last five yearsⁱ. During this period, Timken significantly outgrew this market sector by registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17 percent, compared to an estimated 7 percent CAGR for the industry as a wholeⁱⁱ. Timken is poised to capitalize further as global demand for equipment and services for the growing wind energy sector continues to increase. The company anticipates another record year for wind-related revenue in 2021 and remains well-positioned to succeed in this market sector over the long term.

"With global demand on the rise for renewable energy sources, our customers' success depends on designing larger, more powerful and efficient wind turbines," said Andreas Roellgen, Timken vice president, Europe, Asia, Africa. "As wind turbine manufacturers continue to push the limits on performance, designing and manufacturing bearings for them is increasing in complexity. Timken's long history of technical problem solving and engineering innovation for the world's most challenging applications continues to be a significant advantage for our customers in the wind energy industry."    

Timken products, such as engineered bearings and lubrication systems, are designed to help wind turbines operate with greater efficiency in producing power. Also, the company's maintenance services help maximize a turbine's performance over its lifetime.

Timken increased its presence in both gear drive and main shaft equipment as the global wind energy market sector experienced rapid growth in 2020. And ongoing trends – such as OEMs building larger turbines that generate more power, and turbine main shaft designs that increasingly rely on tapered roller bearings to take on additional loading – continue to favor the company going forward. In fact, Timken demonstrated its industry leadership by recently partnering with a leading OEM to design and manufacture bearings for the world's largest and most powerful wind turbine. 

Timken, which entered the wind energy market sector about 15 years ago and has since become a technology leader in the industry and a leading technical partner for wind turbine and gear drive OEMs, offers customers a complete engineering solution that meets an application's demanding duty cycles. Employing its collaborative technical sales model, the company works with customers to understand their most important success factors and key challenges. This tried and trusted approach is paying off in the rapidly evolving wind energy sector, where Timken has been able to provide timely support to customers with solutions for new wind installations as well as existing designs that are underperforming. Given that the industry's growing base of installed turbines generally requires a major overhaul after 10 to 15 years, Timken is well-positioned to support not only new equipment, but also the increasing demand for maintenance, repair and overhaul services.

"Downtime and repairs can be very costly for wind turbine operators, and our wind energy solutions support our customers' needs to optimize reliability, cost and performance," said Roellgen.

For example, to help increase the service life of bearings in wind turbine main shaft applications, Timken developed a thin-film coating that simultaneously increases surface hardness and wear-resistance, while reducing friction. Replacing main shaft bearings with upgraded Timken® bearings with wear-resistant coatings can help wind operators reduce maintenance costs over the turbine lifecycle.

With the share of electricity generated from renewables expected to more than double by 2030ⁱⁱⁱ, Timken continues to make targeted capital investments to support future growth. That includes more than $75 million through early 2022 to increase renewable energy capabilities across its footprint. In 2020, renewable energy represented 12 percent of total company sales, making it Timken's single-largest end-market sector. Investments in the wind space will support increasingly efficient and advanced manufacturing of large products at higher volumes.

About The Timken Company
The Timken Company (NYSE: TKR; www.timken.com) designs a growing portfolio of engineered bearings and power transmission products. With more than a century of knowledge and innovation, we continuously improve the reliability and efficiency of global machinery and equipment to move the world forward. Timken posted $3.5 billion in sales in 2020 and employs more than 17,000 people globally, operating from 42 countries. Timken is recognized among America's Most Responsible Companies by Newsweek, the World's Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere and America's Best Employers by Forbes.

Certain statements in this release (including statements regarding the company's forecasts, estimates, plans and expectations) that are not historical in nature are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In particular, the statements related to expectations regarding the company's future financial performance are forward-looking.

The company cautions that actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied in forward-looking statements due to a variety of important factors, including: the company's ability to respond to the changes in its end markets that could affect demand for the company's products or services; unanticipated changes in business relationships with customers or their purchases from the company; changes in the financial health of the company's customers, which may have an impact on the company's revenues, earnings and impairment charges; fluctuations in material and energy costs; the impact of changes to the company's accounting methods; political risks associated with government instability; recent world events that have increased the risks posed by international trade disputes, tariffs and sanctions; weakness in global or regional economic conditions and capital markets; the company's ability to satisfy its obligations under its debt agreements and renew or refinance borrowings on favorable terms; fluctuations in currency valuations; changes in the expected costs associated with product warranty claims; the ability to achieve satisfactory operating results in the integration of acquired companies, including realizing any accretion within expected timeframes or at all; the impact on operations of general economic conditions; fluctuations in customer demand; the impact on the company's pension obligations and assets due to changes in interest rates, investment performance and other tactics designed to reduce risk; the introduction of new disruptive technologies; unplanned plant shutdowns; the effects of government-imposed restrictions meant to address climate change; unanticipated litigation, claims, investigations or assessments; the company's ability to maintain positive relations with unions and works councils; negative impacts to the company's business, results of operations, financial position or liquidity as a result of COVID-19 or other epidemics and associated governmental measures such as restrictions on travel and manufacturing operations; and the company's ability to complete and achieve the benefits of announced plans, programs, initiatives, acquisitions and capital investments. Additional factors are discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2020, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Except as required by the federal securities laws, the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Media Relations:
Scott Schroeder
234.262.6420
[email protected]

Investor Relations:
Neil Frohnapple
234.262.2310
[email protected]

SOURCE The Timken Company