NSK-ABC Bearings sets up new plant

Oragadam may be a dot on the Indian map but it has been in the news in the recent past, for all the right reasons.

Several big names in the auto industry are queueing up to set up plants in the town. GKN Driveline inaugurated a state-of-the-art plant a couple of weeks ago, Renault and Nissan signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government for a greenfield facility.

Now, bearings manufacturer NSK Ltd of Japan has opened a new plant in collaboration with ABC Bearings, becoming the first Japanese bearing manufacturer to do so in India. The initial investment of Rs 50 crore will be scaled up to Rs 80 crore by 2010, when capacity will touch 40 million bearings.

NSK president and CEO Seiichi Asaka and ABC Bearings managing director Pradip Patel inaugurated the facility on February 15. The plant will make bearings for the automotive industry, targeting supply to both Japanese and local manufacturers, as well as other foreign-owned companies in India. ABC and NSK have had a partnership since 1998, with NSK providing technical support for bearing production.

NSK sees this JV as an opportunity to increase sales to Japanese and foreign automotive manufacturers in India. For ABC, the plant offers new opportunities to increase sales to its existing customers by providing a greater range of bearing types.

Production at the plant commenced last month. The product range covers bearings for transmission and magnetic clutches and HUB unit bearings.

According to Joseph John, president of NSK India Sales Co, the new plant opens up new opportunities for the (NSK) group. “The first products will come out (from the new factory) this month.”

The big names among NSK’s clients include Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Honda and Toyota. “We supply around 10 percent of our products to Hyundai. With Hyundai India increasing production capacity, the onus is on us to step up,” John said. “Maruti is our biggest customer to whom a majority of our products go,” he added.The domestic demand is good enough, he said and added that there is no immediate plan to export. The plan (for the new plant) is to produce bearings (HUB unit bearings, bearings for transmission, bearings for magnetic clutches, etc), John said.