The Timken Company plans to invest approximately $50 million in its steel operations in Canton, Ohio. Timken will install a new intermediate finishing line at the Gambrinus Steel Plant and expand the steel lay-down yard at the Harrison Steel Plant’s small-bar mill.

Timken’s Steel Group has had a significant increase in demand across all markets. Its 2010 sales are expected to increase by 70 to 80 percent compared to 2009. “These investments have the goal of both meeting demand and continuing to improve the long-term competitiveness of our operations,” says Sal Miraglia, president-steel for Timken.

The installation of a new intermediate finishing line at the Gambrinus Steel Plant, the larger of the two projects, will improve manufacturing competitiveness with a more efficient operation that incorporates the latest technologies and employs lean processes, the company says. The line, which will handle both bar and tube products, ultimately will replace existing batch-type finishing processes at the plant when it is fully operational in 2013.

The small-bar mill at the Harrison facility, which opened in 2008, continues to increase its output in response to demand, requiring additional space in the lay-down yard outside the mill for both finished and semifinished steel. Expanding the yard necessitates the demolition of several adjacent, unused buildings.