Royal Bearing Co. (USA; 5251R9N7) has acquired the entire bearing inventory from the shuttered Whirlpool/Maytag Manufacturing facility in Newton, Iowa.

Started in 1994, Royal is an independent bearing reseller based in Portland, Oregon. The company also handles large bore bearings and gear reducers.

Appliance maker Maytag was founded in Newton in 1893. At its peak, the Newton plant employed more than 4,000 people spread across 55 acres of manufacturing floorspace. At one time, most major kitchen appliances purchased by U.S. households were produced there in Newton.

Whirlpool acquired Maytag in 2006 and shut down the Newton plant in 2007, delivering what was nearly a knockout punch to the local economy. Today, in place of one large employer, Newton has determined to focus on attracting many smaller manufacturers -- for example, several wind turbine component constructors are now in Newton, including a 90-employee manufacturer of turbine towers which occupies a fraction of the old Maytag plant.

Clarence Hopkins, Royal Bearings' President, said: "We are very pleased that we were the successful bidder in the Maytag facility purchase. Bearing purchases such as this, which contain a broad range of SKF, Timken, Fafnir, FAG, Dodge, Linkbelt and McGill bearings, enable Royal to continually expand both the depth and range of our inventory."

Royal points out it is an independent wholesale distributor, not a specifically authorized distributor for the bearing brands it acquired at Maytag.

Earlier this year, Royal and SKF had a dust-up where SKF accused Royal of selling counterfeit SKF bearings because it is not an authorized distributor. However, after inspecting Royal's inventory, SKF agreed that the bearings being sold were in fact SKF bearings acquired by Royal in the normal course of doing business.

SKF dropped its allegations and agreed to let Royal continue selling the bearings without disruption.

Mr. Hopkins said the Maytag bearing acquisition is, "very similar to the giant purchases we made recently at the former Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio and the massive 3.1 million square foot GM plant in Baltimore, Maryland."