Online Engineering Services, Powered By Timken

Today’s equipment designers are rapidly adopting digital self-service platforms to work more efficiently and increase the pace of innovation. The Timken® Syber® Bearing System Designer connects these customers with advanced tools that help streamline their development of next-generation machinery and power transmission systems. Brian Ray, chief engineer – industrial, explains. 

Timken Problem Solving 24/7/365

Globally, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) rely on the world-class expertise of Timken engineers to help solve tough technical challenges in applications ranging from sustainable passenger rail systems to hygienic food production machinery. With the pace of innovation and market expectations at an all-time high, Timken is transforming how customers access its collective knowledge to make system design decisions more quickly and with more confidence. The company continues to expand its digital platforms to meet these customers’ evolving needs.

“For customers, using our self-service tools, is like adding a digital Timken engineering expert to their design team.”

Brian Ray
Chief Engineer – Industrial

Timken® Syber® Bearing System Designer, is the newest addition to the Timken Engineering Tools site — a comprehensive online engineering platform that digitally connects customers with Timken expertise and solutions. Built using comprehensive input from customers, this external version of Syber is 100% compatible with the Syber Bearing System Analysis platform used internally by Timken application engineers.  This integration enables customers to exchange system models with Timken engineers when needed for more efficient design collaboration.

Syber Bearing System Designer also allows equipment designers to search, select and analyze bearings — and model those bearings within their own system designs — from any digital or mobile device, 24/7/365.

“For customers, using our self-service tools, is like adding a digital Timken engineering expert to their design team,” said Brian Ray, chief engineer – industrial. Ray, who has worked at Timken for nearly 30 years in a variety of technical functions, plays a key role in  the ongoing development and maintenance of Syber Bearing System Designer. “It’s convenient for OEMs because it puts more power in customers’ hands early in the design phase. They can use it to run a simulation in minutes, analyze the results, and make bearing selections in a matter of hours.”

Customers also find value in Syber’s relative availability indicator feature, which provides insights into which bearing selections may be the easiest to procure. Timken listened to customer input early on in the design process that they not only need technical data to help make design decisions, but some indication of commercial viability as well.  With this information, designers can make decisions based on bearings that suit their requirements and are readily available — streamlining their supply chain and shortening lead times.

Customer-Centric Value: Timken® Syber® Bearing System Designer

• Streamlined design processes through convenient digital access to real-time Timken bearing data
• Validated proper bearing selections in just a few clicks
• Faster quoting and new product launches due to shorter design cycles

Functionality Driven by Customers

Timken helps customers fuel growth by listening to their evolving needs and innovating new technologies that reflect emerging trends. A cross functional team of Timken engineering, marketing and information technology experts routinely collaborate with equipment designers to ensure Syber addresses top customer priorities and provides exceptional user experience.   

In particular, Syber helps shorten design lifecycles for OEMs who are pressed to develop new power transmission systems in only a few months with limited resources, and with end customers expecting that they will deliver quotes in a matter of days. 

“Syber Bearing System Designer helps many OEMs move forward with those requests on their own timeline,” said Ray. “It improves their flexibility and adaptability to their own customers’ needs.  

While Syber provides robust bearing knowledge and data to help customers solve most system design challenges, it also connects them to human application engineering support for the toughest problems. Users can submit an inquiry online that will be answered by a Timken expert in 24 hours or less. 

Syber users are also invited to provide feedback about their experiences. Timken uses that intelligence to release monthly maintenance updates that improve the tools’ functionality. 

For instance, upcoming upgrades based on customer feedback include a new interface that allows users to save multiple projects in Syber and find specific data more easily, particularly on products they use frequently. Beyond Syber, Timken will expand its suite of digital resources with new discrete calculation tools in 2025.  

“We want to engage the design community in every way that works for them,” said Ray. “We are still very driven by personal customer interaction, but there are many advantages to digital problem solving. Doing both is what will help us meet the needs of the future.”

Ongoing R&D helps build the digital engineering tools that help Timken engineers and customers select the best bearing designs for each system’s performance needs. Read more about the science behind the tools and the algorithms that drive the company’s latest work. 

Last Updated: 2025/03/7

Published: 2025/02/6