By Julie Sneider, Senior Associate Editor
Since 2002, The Timken Co. has offered annual onsite rail bearing fundamentals and training workshops to its U.S. rail customers. That is, it did until March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the company to put the sessions on hiatus for all of 2020 and most of 2021.
In the fall of 2021, the workshop was back on track at Timken’s main rail production facility in Mascot, Tennessee, just outside Knoxville. The company also hosted a workshop in April of this year.
Timken engineers, manufactures and markets bearings, gear drives, belts, chain, couplings, lubrication systems and related products, and offers a spectrum of powertrain rebuild and repair services.
The two-day course is tailored to people who work in rail mechanical departments and have a basic knowledge of the industry, says Steve Morgan, Timken’s global service engineer team lead who has managed the workshop program since 2012. Taught via classroom presentations and hands-on training, the course covers topics such as bearing component overviews; trackside inspection training; an introduction to traction motor bearings; wheel shop mounting and installation; and a review of Association of American Railroads (AAR) failure progression modes and rules that address roller bearings. It also includes a shop tour of new bearing assembly, remanufacturing and reconditioning.
Timken plant manager Tony Koesters (center) explained Timken’s cone remanufacturing operations to customers attending the Rail Bearing Fundamentals Workshop in April. The Timken Co. For Timken’s U.S. customers, the rail workshop is offered twice a year: one in spring and one in fall. Typically, those who attend are employed by Timken’s customers. This year’s spring class included representatives of Amtrak and BNSF Railway Co., according to Timken representatives.
In prior years, classes have also been taught in Latin America and Canada, for customers based there.
Interviewed by RailPrime prior to the April workshop, Morgan and Timken Rail National Sales Manager John Saeger were enthusiastic about being able to return to in-person workshops with customers. Although the fall 2021 class had to be revamped a bit to accommodate COVID protocols, it felt good to be able to meet again with customers face-to-face, they said.
“My view is that this workshop is a unique program. I haven’t heard of other bearing companies offering a class like this,” says Saeger.
Attendees represent various types of rail jobs and a range of experience, yet the curriculum is structured so that everyone learns something.
“Depending on their background — if they work out in the field, for example — we’ll do a trackside inspection where we review Rules 36 and 37 from the AAR Field Handbook,” says Morgan. “We spend a lot of time covering inspection criteria. For wheel-shop folks, we’ll have a demonstration where we’re mounting bearings in the shop to highlight the importance of mounting the bearing correctly.”
Attendees from the equipment purchasing side of the business have the chance to examine up close the products they’re buying for their companies, adds Saeger.
“A lot of times the bearings spend is a significant one, so the workshop gives attendees an opportunity to learn about the product — the terminology, what the bearings look like and how they’re used,” he says.
Presentation of the curriculum materials is a team effort.
“We have [Timken] sales engineers, service engineers, application engineers, operations folks, our quality department — all carry the load of presenting the material,” says Morgan. “We have a lot of folks on hand, and that works well because we get a lot of different questions from the attendees.”
For the tour, attendees are guided through the manufacturing facility where Timken assembles freight locomotive and train bearings.
Timken Application Engineering Specialist Dan Blasko goes over Rule 36 of the AAR field handbook. The Timken Co.The program has proven to be so popular that workshop enrollment is by invitation only. Limiting class size to 20 to 30 participants per workshop allows for close-up views of demonstrations and more time for hands-on training and question-and-answer sessions. Attendance is free of charge to customers’ employees.
Although the workshop features Timken products, it’s designed “not to be an advertisement for the company, which is one reason customers like it,” says Saeger.
What does Timken get out of the program?
For one thing, it provides the company with an opportunity to demonstrate what it produces, as well as the technical support it provides to back up its products, Saeger and Morgan explain.
“But the biggest thing we get out of it is that we get to build relationships with our customers,” says Saeger.
And nothing beats the in-person interaction that occurs between Timken staff and attendees, as well as among the attendees themselves. So much so that planning is already underway for the fall 2022 workshop.
“We enjoy showcasing what we do,” says Morgan. “And the better educated our customers are the better position we are in the industry.”
