The Timken Company, Canton, OH, is realigning its organization to improve efficiency and reduce costs. As the company streamlines its operating structure, it expects to cut its salaried workforce by up to 400 positions in 2009.
 
Over the past 15 months, the company has lowered production and cut its manufacturing workforce by approximately 2,500 positions. Other steps, such as short work weeks and reduced operating hours, have been taken to better align output to demand.
 
We are taking actions to align our organization for effectiveness and to right-size our cost structure to increase our competitiveness in today’s global markets, said James W. Griffith, president and CEO. “Our focus now is to align our administrative and sales functions to be more effective in today’s challenging environment.”
 
The company has targeted pretax savings of $30 to $40 million in annual selling and administrative costs.