A joint manufacturing venture between General Bearing Corporation (West Nyack, NY) and Jiangsu Lixing Steel Ball Factory now includes NN Ball & Roller.

The joint venture, to be named Jiangsu General Ball & Roller Company LTD, will manufacture balls and rollers in Jiangsu Steel Ball's existing factory located in Jiangsu Province.

Jiangsu Steel Ball sells its products under the Li Xing name, and is the largest non-government ball manufacturer in China. Jiangsu has approximately 10% of the Chinese domestic market, while total sales (est. 1999 USD 25 million) are evenly divided between domestic and export.

General Bearing, via joint ventures, has been operating in China for over 15 years. Currently, they are involved in four Chinese joint ventures, along with one wholly owned company, Quality Center (the QC brand).

NN Ball & Roller is no stranger to joint ventures and strategic alliances with many leading bearing manufacturers around the world, including a 1Q2000 planned joint venture with SKF (Sweden) and FAG Kugelfischer AG (Germany). This is their first in China.