FAG lands Finnish machinery contracts

FAG Kugelfischer Georg Schaefer AG (Germany, a wholly-owned subsidiary of INA Holding, Germany) landed additional orders from Finland's Metso Corporation, giving FAG most of the company's bearing business. Metso is the world's largest manufacturer of heavy machinery for both fiber and paper mills, and rock and mineral crushing and processing. Tracing its roots back to 1750, Metso itself was formed in 1999 by the merger of two major competitors, Rauma and Valmet. In 2000, Metso acquired Beloit's U.S. papermaking machinery operations and the rock crushing machinery operations of Sweden's Svedala Industri AB. Metso has annual sales of approximately € 4 billion. Improving its penetration will more than double FAG's sales to Metso, from € 5 million in 2003 to € 10 million by 2005.