Engineering Acquisition Strengthens Offering

SKF, the knowledge engineering company, has signed an agreement to acquire French bearing manufacturer, SNFA, in a move to strengthen its product offering and range of customer support and technical services. SNFA specialises in the development and manufacture of high performance, high precision bearings and has a strong reputation for successful applications engineering in the aerospace and machine tool sectors. This makes the company an ideal match for SKF, with both companies sharing a knowledge engineering philosophy, with the design innovation and quality of SNFA's products also complementing that of the existing SKF product range. Almost half of SNFA's current business is generated from the aerospace sector. This will enable SKF to extend significantly its product offering and associated expertise and support into both civil and military aviation markets, especially for engine, gearbox, helicopter and airframe bearings. Within the machine tool sector, the combination of product offerings from SKF and SNFA will now lead to a complete range of high precision angular contact ball bearings and high precision cylindrical roller bearings. This will enable SKF to offer the ideal bearing for any application, backed up by high standards of technical knowledge and support. Phil Burge, Marketing Manager for SKF, says, 'We're delighted to be acquiring SNFA. It is an excellent company with a range of bearings that perfectly complements that already sold by SKF. By combining both these technologies and expertise, we can offer our customers a far wider range of specialised products and, just as importantly, will be able to draw on the resources, skills and knowledge of our new colleagues from SNFA.'