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Leading Industrial Companies Form New E-Business Venture

17 January 2001

Leading Industrial Companies Form New E-Business Venture

    GREENVILLE, S.C., Jan. 17 INA Holding Schaeffler KG,
Rockwell Automation, The SKF Group and The Timken Company today announced an
agreement to provide shared Web-based services and integrated logistics for
premium-brand products and services.
    The Web-based service will offer North American and European authorized
distributors a convenient electronic shopping site for the companies'
industrial products. The initiative also will offer the efficiencies of
integrated logistics capabilities in North America. Additional premium brand
manufacturers will be invited to join to expand the product range.
    In North America, the companies have formed CoLinx, LLC, an independent
limited liability company equally owned by the four companies, to manage the
operation. CoLinx will acquire both the assets of PTplace.com, currently a
Rockwell Automation Power Systems e-business Web site, and the shared
logistics operations of Rockwell and SKF.
    Don Louis, director - e-business - Rockwell Automation, will serve as
president of CoLinx.  A team of representatives from each of the founding
companies is expanding PTplace.com to include products from all the founding
companies, in April 2001.
    In Europe, the companies are joined by The Sandvik Group in acquiring
Endorsia.com International AB, an industrial e-business service provider
currently owned by SKF. The five companies will be equal owners in the
company. Rolf Nordahl will continue as president of the company.
    "As leaders in our industries, the founding companies are moving
decisively to bring the best of e-business to the real world of industry,"
said Michael C. Arnold, president - industrial - The Timken Company. "We will
build quickly on our respective e-business capabilities, logistics assets and
distributor relationships to benefit the entire supply chain."
    "This venture brings together our collective experience, industry
knowledge, and momentum. That, combined with the value brought by our
distribution partners, will quickly offer strong benefits for industrial
consumers in Europe and North America," said Robert Schullan, executive vice
president sales, industry and distributors - INA. "Our goal is to spur the
independent growth of the entire supply chain by more efficiently serving our
customers."
    "This venture offers our distributors an enhanced service that will give
them an opportunity to improve their competitiveness in the market," said
Gunnar Gremlin, executive vice president - SKF. "We are moving quickly to
deliver this to them by capitalizing on the e-business efforts of the
companies and utilizing the PTplace and Endorsia platforms."
    Joseph D. Swann, president, Rockwell Automation Power Systems states, "The
North American venture combines e-business with logistics to bring value to
customers. SKF and Rockwell have worked together for several years in North
America to develop the expertise and business systems to handle shared
logistics.  We will now combine that with the experience and technology of our
new partners to generate further efficiencies."
    "Joining this group of companies strengthens the e-business efforts of all
of our respective companies," said Lars Pettersson, executive vice president -
Sandvik.
    The industrial product lines represented for these e-business ventures
initially include bearings, seals, monitoring equipment, electric motors, gear
motors, speed reducers, couplings, v-belts, pulleys, clutches, brakes,
variable speed drive controls, lubricants, linear actuators, linear guidance
systems, sprockets, bushings, maintenance tools, tooling systems, carbide and
high-speed steel cutting tools and other industrial products.