The Zollern Group's Plain Bearing Technology division has entered into an exclusive technology license agreement with Pioneer Motor Bearing Company of the U.S. to strengthen its after-sale customer support.  The agreement empowers Pioneer to use Zollern proprietary information to provide a range of technical support services to North American end-users of Zollern hydrodynamic plain bearings.

Zollern's Plain Bearing Technology division operates four bearing manufacturing plants in Germany, France and Brazil, and has worked with Pioneer for several years on an informal basis to serve the aftermarket requirements of Zollern customers.  Pioneer's President, Ray Harrington, said, "We've developed very good relations with Zollern over the past seven years and been to all their plants, so this formal cooperative agreement is a carefully designed effort to boost the value Zollern provides its customers by making their lives more convenient." 

Pioneer's appointment as Zollern's exclusive licensee in North America for technical support services assures Zollern OEM and end-user customers on the continent of regional product support and a degree of stand-by emergency U.S manufacturing capability. 

"This agreement is a product of the Zollern Group's philosophy of global thinking and local interaction," remarked Udo Heukrodt, managing director of Zollern's Plain Bearing Technology division.  "One of the purchasing criteria all customers have for new products is service and support after the sale. Our collaboration with Pioneer enables us to provide a rapid response to customer requirements in or much closer to their time zone."