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The eBearing News
December 1, 2004
NSK Celebrates Groundbreaking
of Changshu Needle Bearing Plant
copyright © 2004 eBearing Inc.
NSK Ltd. (Japan) recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for its newest plant in China,
dedicated to needle roller bearing production.
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Changshu NSK groundbreaking
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The new venture, Changshu NSK Needle Bearing Co. Ltd. (Jiangsu Province, China, a division of
NSK Needle Bearing Co. Ltd., itself a division of NSK Ltd.), is 67.9% owned by NSK Needle Bearing
Co. Ltd., and 32.1% by NSK China Investment Co. Ltd.
On the 120,000 square meter site in Jiangsu's Changshu Southeast Economic Development
Zone, NSK expects to eventually invest in the range of USD $14 million.
Projected to be fully operational by 2008, Changshu NSK by then will be employing approximately
700 workers.
The first phase of the plant is scheduled to be
complete and initial production online sometime in mid-2005.
Once the needle roller bearing plant fully operational in 2007, NSK is forecasting its yearly
sales will top $97 million.
Almost a year ago, when it originally announced plans for the needle bearing plant, NSK said,
"The Chinese automotive market is experiencing dramatic growth and therefore, demand from Japanese and
other automakers for needle roller bearings for automatic transmission and car air-conditioner compressor
applications are expected to surge. In order to meet the region’s growing market needs, NSK Ltd. has decided
to establish a needle roller bearing manufacturing capability in China."
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by more than sixty dignitaries, including the Secretary of
the Changshu Communist Party. NSK President Seiichi Asaka and the President of NSK Needle Bearing Co. Ltd.,
Yujiro Nagayama, represented NSK. Ceremonies were carried live by local television.
Mr. Asaka said, "On behalf of NSK and the NSK Group, I would like to express our happiness at bearing
able to establish a manufacturing operation in the historically rich city of Changshu. Needle roller bearings
have been designated a growth product and we are confident that we will be able to contribute to the
development and prosperity of the city of Changshu."
Closing the ceremonies, NSK presented its Chinese guests with Daruma dolls, from its Japanese home
city of Takasaki. The Daruma doll is a stylized rounded-bottom doll representing Zen founder
Bodhidharma in zazen meditation, wearing red robes. The dolls are protectors, bringing happiness, good luck in
business, and other benefits, by showing that no matter the hardship, people will always bounce back. From its shape,
the doll always returns upright, even if knocked over.
NSK originally began making needle roller bearings in 1963 via a joint venture with Torrington. It continued
for 40 years as NSK-Torrington Co. Ltd., eventually building three plants in Japan totaling 1.6 million square feet
of production floorspace.
When Timken acquired Torrington in early 2003, a buyout
clause was triggered, and NSK eventually acquired full ownership of the venture from Timken for
$146 million. NSK renamed that division NSK Needle Bearing Co. Ltd. NSK Needle Bearing's President, Mr. Nagayama,
had been President of NSK Torrington Co. Ltd.
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printer-friendly version
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- by Bruce A. Carr
from individual research,
tips and commercial sources.
Copyrighted material; unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
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Entire contents Copyright © 1999-2010, eBearing Inc. All rights reserved.
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