Leading industrial companies form new e-business venture

Leading industrial companies form new e-business venture 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 corporation 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. Göteborg, January 17, 2001 Aktiebolaget SKF (publ.) Contact: SKF Lars G. Malmer senior vice president - group communication 46-31-3371541 Jeff Carlisle manager, U.S. market communication and services 1-215-513-4444 The Timken Company Elaine Russell Reolfi manager - corporate and marketing communications 1-330-471-3502 André van der Merwe manager - communications - Europe 1-33-3-89-21-4507 Sandvik Lars Pettersson executive vice president 46-26-26-3628 Rockwell Automation - Power Systems Michelle Melton marketing communications manager 1-864-284-5582 Sigrid Lindemeir marketing communications manager, Europe 49-6261-64-1130 INA Frank V. Mutolo vice president distributor marketing 1-215-788-7846 Axel Schulenburg director - international distribution 49-9132-82-3108 CoLinx Scott Biltz interim vice president - communications and human resources 1-864-281-2286 Endorsia Rolf Nordahl president 41-1-825-8222 Aktiebolaget SKF, SE-415 50 Göteborg, Sweden, tel +46-31-3371000, fax +46- 31-3372832, www.skf.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/01/17/20010117BIT00270/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/01/17/20010117BIT00270/bit0002.pdf