Our mission is to provide OEMs and end users with the optimum solutions to their babbitt bearing requirements, on time and within budget.


Founded in 1920, and still owned and managed by the same family, Pioneer has a tradition of excellence, stability, and customer service.

Pioneer offers expert engineering services. Our engineers have “seen it all” and can work with you to design efficient and cost effective solutions to your bearing problems. Among our many accomplishments, we invented the Fluid Pivot® tilting pad journal bearing.

We manufacture new radial and thrust bearings and seals for OEMs both to our customers’ designs and those of our own.

Most importantly we can provide you with peace of mind. When you work with Pioneer, rest assured we’ll strive to see that your order is what you want, will do what you want, and will ship on time.

Pioneer Helps Make Large Rotating Equipment More Reliable and Efficient

Our story begins after Adrian P. Bardet (“A.P.”), an eight-year-old orphan from France, immigrated to San Francisco in 1901, survived the Great Earthquake and Fire in 1906, and eventually became a journeyman machinist and founded Pioneer Motor Bearing Co. in 1920.

A.P.’s determination to lead his employees and serve customers based on integrity, serious focus on the work at hand, dedication to good work and perseverance became engrained in the DNA of the family’s next three generations in the business. It helped us for over 100 years to survive the Great Depression, sixteen recessions, then the Great Recession of 2008 and the Covid pandemic.

Steve R. Bonino, Vice President of pioneer

Steve R. Bonino, Vice President, Retired – A 53-Year Career

And in the process, Pioneer’s expertise, experience and accomplishments grew. Integral to that success are the generations of men and women, many dedicating 30 or more years with the company, who have contributed their effort, energy and talent, and who handed down critical job skills and know-how to younger generations of employees.

So today Pioneer strives to be a preeminent organization supplying custom-engineering design and professional consulting, manufacturing and aftermarket services and repairs related to fluid film (hydrodynamic and hydrostatic) radial and thrust bearings to customers primarily in the power generation, industrial and marine markets. We help our customers design and manufacture or operate rotating equipment more efficiently and reliably.

And we undertake this mission with a solid reputation for integrity. This is not an unsupported sales assertion. We began forming special relationships and formal alliances with companies more than 60 years ago, and most have been competitors to some degree. Yet in all this time, not once has any alliance “partner” of ours ever made a single complaint about Pioneer’s handling of confidential information that we were trusted to respect.

A.P.’s character, to deal honestly and fairly at all times with our employees, customers, suppliers and the public, remains our bedrock.

B/W film reel industry images

Pioneer custom designs, manufactures, services and repairs fluid film bearings and seals to keep large rotating equipment operating more efficiently and reliably over an extended life.

Pioneer offers original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of large rotating machinery and end-users of fluid film journal and thrust bearings and babbitt seals a full spectrum of capabilities including:

Some of the foremost journal and thrust bearing experts in the world:

  • Specialized bearing engineering services – design development, trouble-shooting and custom engineered solutions
  • Bearing damage mechanism analysis and rotor dynamics evaluations
  • Onsite Inspection and consultation by experienced and well-trained engineers
  • Technical personnel training in rotor dynamics, bearing theory, operation, and maintenance

Manufacturing & repair for OEMs and end-users

  • Design and manufacture of new bearings to improve the operation of virtually any rotating equipment
  • Manufacturing and repairs on short lead times to meet power plant outage schedules
  • Standard and emergency repairs, refurbishment, and upgrades
  • Quality controlled manufacturing to design specifications
  • Modern, climate-controlled manufacturing plants with state-of-the-art equipment

Sophisticated analytical tools, including:

  • GENMAT™, giving us the unique ability to perform a thorough computer analysis of spring bed-supported thrust bearings (Pioneer)
  • MAXBRG & MAXBRG3D (ROMAC)
  • THBRG & THPAD (ROMAC)
  • JURNB (ARMD) (RBTS)
  • FP3 – Fluid Pivot® (Pioneer)
  • DyRoBes – RODYN (Wen Jeng Chen)
  • ANSYS within Autodesk Inventor

Pioneer products help various industries keep operations up and running smoothly:

  • Large Steam, Gas & Hydroelectric Turbine Users of All Kinds
  • Industrial Power Generation Stations
  • Electric Utilities
  • Commercial & Naval Vessels
  • Oil & Gas Facilities
  • Repair Shops
    • Electric Motor Repair Shops
    • General Apparatus Maintenance Shops
    • Nuclear Equipment Repair Shops
  • US National Laboratories, Department of Energy Research Facilities, Universities & Hospitals
  • Industrial Applications
    • Petrochemical Operations
    • Pulp And Paper Plants
    • Cement Plants
    • Steel Mills
    • Fiberglass Factories
    • Mines

Pioneer Serves the Naval and Marine Markets

Since World War II, Pioneer has been a qualified supplier to the Department of Defense and the U.S.  Bearings we have manufactured or repaired can be found on nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, frigates, and destroyers.

Our quality system is in compliance with the U.S. Government’s MIL-I-45208A standards, but we make sure that all our work is up to clients’ standards and expectations.

Some of our Satisfied Customers

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