Timken Co., the Canton industrial bearing and steel maker, said Monday that low global demand for some products will result in at least 3,000 job cuts through the rest of 2009.

In early 2008 Timken began trimming a fourth of its work force, and "we have gotten 50 percent to 60 percent through that process," said Lorrie Paul Crum, a spokeswoman. The layoffs are distributed among the company's plants in North America, Eastern Europe and Asia.

Timken reported that slack demand for industrial bearings and high commodity prices drove first-quarter 2009 profit down 99 percent to $870,000, or 1 cent per diluted share, from $85.4 million, or 88 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Timken (NYSE: TKR) also said sales for the period that ended March 31 declined 33 percent to $960.4 million compared with $1.4 billion in quarter one 2008.


Of the 4,000 layoffs so far, 155 were at facilities in Northeast Ohio principally among United Steelworkers Union members at Timken's Faircrest, Gambrinus, Canton and Harrison plants in Stark County.

The company expects hard times for bearings and specialty steel sales to continue this year, with its steel group sales declining as much as 55 percent to 65 percent. The company hopes for some growth in its aerospace and defense sales.

Job cuts could continue in Northeast Ohio, Crum said, but Timken has scheduled unpaid furloughs at domestic plants to preserve some jobs. It still expects to end 2009 with 7,000 fewer workers than it had in 2008.

Share value fell 12.5% in Monday trading to $14.75.

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