Carriage maker Henry Timken founded the Timken Co. in 1899 to manufacture tapered roller bearings, which he invented to make it easier for heavy-freight wagons to make sharp turns.

More than a century later, Canton, Ohio-based Timken Co. has evolved into one of the world's top producers of anti-friction bearings and alloy-steel components, employing 21,000 people worldwide and 4,700 people in Canton's Stark County.

But if that's all you know about Timken, "you really miss the essence of the story of why we're still here after 112 years," Timken CEO and President Jim Griffith said Wednesday night, and why Timken posted record sales and earnings in 2011 "while so many other companies have fallen by the wayside."

"Timken today is a fundamentally different company than we were 10 years ago," Griffith told a packed house at the Canton Civic Center, keynoting the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce's 98th Annual Dinner.

Griffith: Anybody who believes manufacturing in America is dead "needs to come look at the Timken Co."

Griffith detailed a "mega shift" that's taken place at Timken over the past decade, driven by the realization that the company's greatest lever is its knowledge, and "applying that knowledge in a way that creates value for customers."

That has enabled the company to find new markets and applications for its products, at a time when some of its core business lines have been in decline.

Griffith noted that Timken's sales to automakers -- the foundation of its growth for decades -- have fallen from 50% of the company's total revenue to 20% today.

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