Glenn Eisenberg, executive vice president of finance and administration at Timken Co., faced a challenging task back in 2005: Implement a $220 million capital investment program, called Project One, that involved upgrading the company's IT and implementing SAP software for supply chain management.

The goal was to complete the project by the end of 2010, along the way achieving reductions of $85 million a year in working capital and $75 million a year in expenses, for total annual savings of $160 million. 

Of course, the period of 2005 to 2010 was not typical. Events intervened, like the recession that began in late 2007 and the financial crisis and market crash of late 2008. With sales down and the economic outlook cloudy, it could have been a time for pulling back, but Eisenberg and his team kept on track with the program.