Platform Migration Without Going South (sidebar)

Platform migration doesn’t have to involve an entire plant or production line. It can be on a much smaller scale, as The Timken Co., of Canton, Ohio, discovered when it embarked on a program to rebuild the aging grinders that make the ball and spherical bearings that the company sells. Engineers at its bearing factory in Rutherfordton, N.C., had always believed that precision grinding needed custom controls built for the process. But control engineer Dave Mow dispelled that myth when engineering manager Mark McIlrath asked him to make the grinding process more competitive.