Tim Timken Elected Chair of Nation's Largest Industrial Trade Association THE TIMKEN COMPANY LOGO The Timken Company, Worldwide Leader in Bearings and Steel. (PRNewsFoto)[KC] CANTON, OH USA 10/12/1999
4 October 2000
Tim Timken Elected Chair of Nation's Largest Industrial Trade Association THE TIMKEN COMPANY LOGO The Timken Company, Worldwide Leader in Bearings and Steel. (PRNewsFoto)[KC] CANTON, OH USA 10/12/1999
Will Stress Manufacturing's Role in New Economy and Importance of Political
Involvement by Manufacturing Executives and Workers
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 W.R. "Tim" Timken, Jr., chairman and
CEO of The Timken Company today was elected chairman of the
National Association of Manufacturers. Timken will focus on highlighting the
new manufacturing -- characterized by technology, innovation and productivity
-- and its critical role in the new economy. He also will urge manufacturers
and their employees to get more involved in the political process.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991012/TKRLOGO )
"We manufacturers don't deny there's a new economy; we just deny there's
still an old one. There is a new economy and there's a new manufacturing that
is very much a part of it," Timken said upon accepting the NAM chairmanship.
"We wouldn't be talking about a new economy at all - with its durably high
growth and low inflation - if it weren't for the new manufacturing's products,
processes, people, and productivity. Walk through our plants; you'll see high
technology in action."
Timken, who succeeds James H. Keyes of Johnson Controls, will serve a one-
year term as chief spokesperson and leader of the nation's largest and oldest
industrial trade group, founded in 1895. The NAM -- 18 million people who
make things in America -- represents 14,000 member companies (including 10,000
small and mid-sized manufacturers) and 350 member associations serving
manufacturers and employees in every industrial sector and all 50 states.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the NAM has 10 additional offices across
the country.
"The new economy is characterized by technology and innovation, and so is
manufacturing. Technology is the single biggest contributor to our economic
strength and our economic growth, and manufacturing is the single biggest
contributor to technology, performing 60 percent of all R&D in America," said
Timken. "The additional fact that manufacturing is also the single biggest
beneficiary of technology underscores our insistence that the currently
fashionable distinction between the old and new economies is a distinction
without a difference.
"It's past time for us to stop hearing the all-too-familiar story of
manufacturing companies that are doing better than they've done in years -- in
terms of quality, sales, productivity and profits -- but whose stocks are
lower than they've been in years. It's time for financial markets to
recognize that the dot-com fad is over and that investing money the old-
fashioned way, in companies that make a profit, is America's foundation for
future growth."
Timken, who is the NAM's most politically engaged chairman in many years,
also will spend his year as chairman urging manufacturers -- and their
employees -- to play a more active role in the development of public policy by
becoming involved in the political process.
"Nobody understands what policies are good for the American economy more
than manufacturers. We make products, and we make prosperity," Timken said.
"It's time to make a political difference."
Based in Canton, Ohio, The Timken Company is a 100 year-old worldwide
leader in the manufacture and marketing of highly engineered bearings and
alloy steels. The company has facilities in 25 nations, 20,000 employees and
$2.5 billion in sales. Consisting of eight global businesses (automotive,
aerospace, alloy steel, emerging markets, precision steel components, rail and
specialty steel), Timken serves more than 24,000 industrial companies and
distributors on six continents. Its shares have been listed on the NYSE since
1922.
After joining The Timken Company in 1958, Timken undertook a variety of
assignments -- including factory work and an overseas position -- before being
elected chairman in 1975. For most subsequent years, he also has served as
CEO.
Timken has served as finance committee chairman for the Ohio Republican
Party and as Ohio finance chairman for both of George Bush's presidential
campaigns. He is a director of Diebold, Incorporated, and for 20 years has
been a member of the U.S. Japan Business Council. He is a past president and
current member of the Management Executives Society and is a member of the
Council of Competitiveness and the Executive Committee of the Ohio Business
Roundtable.
Long active in the academic community supporting educational initiatives
at all levels, Timken was founder of the Education Enhancement Partnership in
Stark County, Ohio, home to Timken Company headquarters. He has served as
chairman and a member of the board of trustees of the Ohio Foundation of
Independent Colleges, and for more than a decade was a member of the board of
trustees of Stanford University.
In 1991, he was named a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor, and also
has received numerous other honors, including the State of Ohio's Governor's
Award, the silver medal of the City of Colmar, France, and honorary doctorate
degrees from three universities.
Timken, a native of Canton, is a graduate of Phillips Andover Academy,
Stanford University and the Harvard Graduate School of Business
Administration.
To arrange an interview with NAM Chairman Timken throughout 2000-2001 on
the economy, technology and a broad range of public policy issues affecting
manufacturers and their employees, contact Kerry Lynn Schmit (202/637-3089) or
Laura Narvaiz (202/637-3087) in the NAM's Communications & Media Relations
Department.