Manufacturing
Finding new ways
How The Timken Co. is investing in sustainability efforts around the world
Smart Business Cleveland | February 2009
The Timken Co. doesn’t just want to be a good business — it wants to be a good corporate citizen, as well. Because of this, the company is investing in sustainability efforts in a variety of ways, and the impacts it is making on the environment are paving the way for a new approach to manufacturing.
Several years ago, Timken modernized its steel-making operations with energy-efficient electric-arc furnace technology and increased its reliance on recycled content to produce new steel. Timken’s alloy steel products are made with recycled material, which is usually a blend of scrapped vehicles and appliances. These efforts are making a huge impact on the environment, and the company’s rate of recycling has grown each year, now upward of 1.75 million tons. The amount of energy Timken saves each year could power 150,000 homes by using recycled steel.
Another large impact is through the company’s recycling efforts. In the past year, the company has melted 591,000 tons of shredded scrap, produced from a blend of half autos and half appliances. Additionally, the Canton, Ohio, facility recycles wastewater, with capacity exceeding 10 billion gallons and present output averaging about 8 billion gallons a year. And Timken’s Acid Recovery Facility, the world’s largest, recycles more than 3 million gallons of pickle liquor every year, and this recycling generates 2,500 tons of ferrous sulfate crystals, which are sold for commercial products like magnetic tape and fertilizer.
Employees are also cutting energy consumption in offices and factories around the world. Timken’s steel operations reduced the amount of electricity needed to produce an ingot ton of steel from an average of 457 Kwh per ton in 2000 to 430 Kwh per ton in 2007.
On top of all these efforts, Timken employees are regularly collaborating with their valued customers so they can find ways to help their machines run smoother and more efficient.
Through the company’s global environmental management system and intensive training for all Timken associates, the company has improved consistency of its environmental performance.
HOW TO REACH: The Timken Co., (330) 438-3000 or www.timken.com
