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Timken looks to grow, moving to Falcon Field
Auto, copter parts manufacturer will add jobs
Publication: East Valley Tribune; Date: 09/16/2006
By John Yantis, Tribune
A helicopter and airplane precision parts manufacturer's decision to go to Falcon Field in Mesa shows the area continues to be a hub in the state's aerospace industry, experts say.
The Timken Co., the largest North American bearing manufacturer for the aerospace, automotive and industrial markets, is moving into a new 85,000-square-foot building in the Dover Industrial Park on the northwest corner of Greenfield and McDowell roads. The company has 75 employees with plans to increase its payroll to more than 100 by the end of 2006.
"We're actively acquiring companies and the new facility allows us to put them all under one roof," said Barry Stonehouse, Timken general manager.
The company will be part of a base of aerospace companies at the general aviation airport. Timken joins Boeing, MD Helicopter and Lockheed Martin in the Falcon area.
"It's got a tremendous infrastructure for the defense contractors ... with the airport being there," said Marc Pierce, a principal at Lee & Associates who brokered the Timken deal.
"One of the great things about that area is the immediate access to skilled and unskilled labor. There's a fairly large population of engineers and professionals in that field that reside in north-east Mesa."
Two years ago, Stonehouse sold his 10-year-old Gilbert company, Alcor Engine Co., to Timken. Timken also owns Latribe Steel. The space in Mesa will be used by the division of the company's aerospace group and will make bearings, gears and parts mainly for aftermarket uses.
"We do a lot of business with Boeing and MD Helicopter," Stonehouse said. "The move puts us close to our customers and it allowed us to consolidate all our facilities into one lean manufacturing facility. There's not a lot of companies that have the capabilities under one roof that we do in the Mesa facility."
Timken, based in Canton, Ohio, operates in 27 countries and produced revenue of $5.2 billion in 2005.
Pierce said the Red Mountain Freeway stretch of Loop 202, which opened to Greenfield Road more than two years ago, has been a key to the Falcon Field area's prosperity.
"I'm very excited because I've been working in the area for a number of years and I've seeon the transition into a more regional market for office and industrial," he said. "We've seen it coming to its potential in accomodating and providing quality properties and developments for the aviation industry, the defense contractors like Boeing, and their suppliers like Timken."
The firm is in the process of moving into its building 3110 N. Oakland. Timken is the most recent addition to the growing number of companies locating and expanding at the 65-arce park, recently developed by Phoenix-based Hewson Co.
"Land at the park is nearly sold out and the project now contains more than 270,000 square feet of industrial and light office commercial space," said Bob McNichols with Daedalus Real Estate Advisors, developer of the park. "Ten buildings, totaling approximately 285,000 square feet, are currently under construction ... and we anticipate another 150,000 square feet will be included in the completed park."
Besides Timken, the park servers as headquarters for Kennedy Design Build, a commercial construction company; Alliant Techsystems, an advanced weapons and space systems company, Hunter's, a collision repair service for fine automobiles and sport utility vehicles; Standard Bolt/Chrome Hardware Supply, which supplies customers such as Boeing, Motorola and Intel; and Tans-Matic Manufacturing Co., a regional production facility that specializes in deep drawn metal stampings and progressive die stampings.
Mesa-based homebuilder Cornerstone Homes will soon have its headquarters at the park.
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