NTN to Launch Pre-Process JV for Hub Bearings in USA

Osaka based automotive parts maker, NTN Corporation announced on Friday the firm decided to establish US joint venture in Illinois with Aichi based automotive parts maker, Takao Kogyo and Aichi based forged, heat-treated and machined automotive parts maker, Asahi Forge Corporation for pre-process of manufacturing 3rd generation hub bearings. The joint venture for integrated production of forging, turning and heat treatment as the pre-process of making hub bearings starts operation in June 2011 at first for turning and heat treatment and starts forging process in February 2012. They improve the supply ability of compact and light weight hub bearings for local automobile makers.

The joint venture, NTA Precision Axle Corporation is established with around 3.3 billion yen of capital. The venture builds new plant with around 20,000 square meters of total floor space on around 53,500 square meters of land. The firm starts operation with around 180 of employees.

They expect demand of hub bearings increases significantly in North America when the automobile demand recovers especially for US automakers. NTN has expanded the output capacity of hub bearings step by step needing more capacity for the pre-process operations.

With the pre-process joint venture, NTN tries to improve the cost competitiveness. The firm expects the strong business performance could result in better profitability for the compact parts. The firm eyes potential global network including operations in China and Europe based on the original technology developed by the new joint venture.