SKF Abandoning Chicago Rawhide, CR Brands

SKF AB (Sweden) announced it is abandoning both the CR and Chicago Rawhide brands, "in response to the demands of an increasingly competitive global marketplace and to customer requests for integrated solutions." The move, which has already begun, will relegate the 127-year-old brand to history's dustbin as SKF transitions to a mono-brand structure, "part of the company's goal to create one global, universally recognized SKF brand." Chicago Rawhide, founded in 1878 to make leather industrial drive belts, is now a worldwide supplier of radial shaft seals, precision-engineered elastomeric products and value-added subassemblies to a variety of industries, including automotive, aerospace, heavy duty / off-road, industrial and marine markets. In 1928, Chicago Rawhide patented the integrated, self-contained shaft seal. This invention was a major advancement in the bearing industry, offering dramatic improvements in both grease retention and contaminant exclusion. Bearing life goes hand-in-hand with both grease retention and contaminant exclusion. SKF acquired Chicago Rawhide in 1990. CR packaging, signage, advertising and marketing materials will all transition to the SKF brand. New four-color packaging for seals will carry, "an updated and modernized green color, providing a visual link to products previously sold under the CR brand." CR's sub-brands, Scotseal and Speedi-Sleeve, will stay in the marketplace, but as SKF brands. SKF said the changes will be more obvious by June 2005, when the transition to all SKF boxes is complete. Director of Marketing Communications for SKF, Per Jacobsson, said, "Our customers will benefit from the synergy of the world's most experienced bearing and seal experts -- working together, sharing over 225 years of combined knowledge to provide effective solutions to industry's continuing challenges."