China National Bearing Industry Quality Work Conference was held in Luoyang City, Henan Province

On Nov 26, 2008 China National Bearing Industry Quality Work Conference was held in Luoyang City, Henan Province. 55 delegates from 48 companies in the whole country were invited to attend this conference.

This work conference was presided by Tang Jie, Standing Deputy Director of National Bearing Quality Testing Center and Lu Gang, Assistant Secretary General of China Bearing Industry Association. Wu Zongyan, Superintendent of Luoyang Bearing Research Institute, Chairman and General Manager of Luoyang Bearing Science and Technology Co., Ltd made an important opening speech at the conference.

Wang Hui, Deputy Director of National Quality Testing Center, made a report on the situation of supervision check on 2007-2008 bearing industry.

AWD Bearing Group: Learing and Development Hand-in-hand

Training is always regarded as an important sector of company investment, and is also one of the best reward to our staff. At the end of Nov.2008, after analysis of staff's training demand, we arranged a two-day training course concerning the supplier audit, which is designed by the professional training and consulting company according to our exact operating process. It is a successful traing that achieves the win-win outcome between the company and the staff.

China Wanxiang Bearings Released the First Three Quarters 08 Results

ccording to the report, Wanxiang Bearing Company has kept increasing in its operations for the first three quarters 2008. The company once estimated that it would respectively increase by 40.47%, 26.52% and 28.61% in its production values, sales revenue and profits year-on-year, totally accounting for 70%, 71.2% and 88.4% of those of the whole year.

With the brisk sales market, Wanxiang has achieved many orders currently. To replace the international famous brand products, the company has been actively developing the new ones especially for the development of the high precision middle-large and extra-large size bearings, which not only enhanced the technology and added value of the products but also promoted other international items' development.

As for the first three quarters of this year, the sale of the international market took up 23.8% of that of the whole market.

China International Bearing Industry Exhibition

China International Bearing Industry Exhibition (CIBIE), which has been becoming increasingly mature and international si nce it first held by China Bearing Industry Association in 1990.After 16 years of development, today CIBIE is the world largest fair of the bearing industry. By the year 2006, the tenth session, the exhibition area reached to 32000sq.m.with 538 companies from 17 countries and regions participated in. Many of them are world-famous bearing enterprises.It attracted more than 80000 professional visitors. Obviously, CIBIE plays a very important role in the world bearing industry.

The 11th CIBIE will be held in Shanghai Everbright Convention & Exhibition Center during September 23 to 26, 2008. Covering an area of 32000sq.m. with an estimated 600 exhibitors from 17 countries and regions and 80000 visitors will get together. Under the full supports of domestic and overseas exhibitors, 2008 the exhibition will be more successful and splendid.

Right here in CIBIE, exhibitors will meet new international buyers, connect with existing customers, introduce new products, and collect information throughout the whole industry.

During the exhibition, there will be a series of technical seminars about bearing market trends, updated technological advancements, case studies, and so on.

China Details Bearing Exports for September 2008

The government of China, General Administration of Customs, via the state-controlled Xinhua news, has released data covering its exports of all types of bearings, for July 2008.

China's state-volunteered export data is notoriously inaccurate, tending to dramatically understate both the quantity and value. Although the specific numbers may be suspect, the data does offer insight to general trends in volume, growth, and pricing which have proven valuable in terms of general industry analysis.

Export data for September 2008 :

280,630,000 bearings
total value : USD $195.3 million
average value : USD $0.695 each

Contrary to most popular opinion, the global economic slowdown is clearly affecting bearing manufacturers in China.

Although there is some seasonality apparent in the bearing export data supplied, China's third quarter bearing exports have dropped more sharply than in previous years. July reported 324 million bearings, August was 312 million, and now September comes in under 281 million.

July and August were well above their 2007 counterparts, but September is lower than 2007.

For the calendar year through September, China said it has exported just under 2.8 billion bearings, valued at $1.57 billion -- up from 2.4 billion in 2007 worth $1.12 billion.

Even with the slowdown, total bearing exports should be up at least 11% overall for 2008 from 2007.

Timken Supplies Bearings to New Aluminum Mills in China

The Timken Company applied its advanced research to secure additional contracts with Siemens VAI Metals Technologies for the supply of bearings to two new aluminum-rolling mills under construction in China. The two new contracts resulted in orders for Timken large-bore cylindrical roller bearings.

Timken secured the new business due to its previously conducted thermal analysis of a lubrication system at an aluminum mill that Siemens VAI built in Shanghai Shenhuo. Using the techniques developed by that research, Timken designed bearings for Siemens’ new Henan and South West Aluminum mills, enabling the customer to install a successful re circulating oil system that enhanced thermal stability for the four-row cylindrical bearings.

“Our ability to draw on expert resources from around the globe to collaborate with our team in China allowed Timken to provide the analysis and recommendations that improved our customer’s performance,” says Leong Fang, president of Timken’s operations in China. Siemens VAI first commissioned Timken in 2004 to supply four-row cylindrical roller bearings in the high-speed aluminum mill in Shanghai Shenhuo. Because the demanding application might be susceptible to catastrophic damage from thermal instability, Timken established a global team of researchers to develop a thermal model of the bearing and lubrication system.

“As a result of our ongoing work, we gained valuable insight into component temperatures and oil flow rates. That information was then used to refine the bearing design to meet the performance requirements of the Shanghai Shenhuo mill,” says Jerry Rhodes, chief engineer of Timken’s Process Industries business unit. “We have now applied that research to the bearing design used in these two new Siemens mills as well.”

Metals Technologies (MT), a Division of the Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S), is one of the world’s leading engineering and plant-building companies for the iron and steel industry as well as for the flat-rolling sector of the aluminum industry and for open-cast mining. The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) is the integrator of systems and solutions for industrial and infrastructure facilities and global service provider for the plant and projects business covering planning, installation, operation and the entire life cycle. In fiscal 2007 (to September 30) I&S employed a total of 37,000 people worldwide and achieved total sales of EUR 8.894 billion, according to U.S. GAAP.

NSK Holds Ground-Breaking Ceremony for Independent Research and Development Body in China

Tokyo, Japan, July 8, 2008 - NSK Ltd. (NSK; Headquarter: Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO: Seiichi Asaka) celebrated the start of construction of NSK (China) Research and Development Co., Ltd. (Kunshan City, Suzhou Province; hereinafter NSK China R&D) with a ground-breaking ceremony, held on July 8, 2008. Attendees included President Asaka, Vice-President Hisashi Machida, President and CEO of NSK China Shinichiro Takahashi, and numerous local officials and dignitaries. The facility is scheduled for completion during the summer of 2009.

NSK, a leading bearing manufacturer in Japan, seeks to maintain its position as the top bearing manufacturer in the rapidly-developing Chinese market, and to develop a strong overall framework which combines production, sales and technology. The company aims to accelerate its business in China, with plans to expand its Chinese business scale to 100 billion yen in 2010.

The current China Technology Division was originally developed in December 2003, serving as a technology base for NSK’s Kunshan plant, a critical production arm of their Chinese operations. The Division currently employs 65 staff, mainly providing technical support such as testing and evaluating ball bearing products.

Due to the rapid growth of the Chinese market, the facility will be relocated to NSK China R&D, and will expand the scope of its duties to provide basic research and technical support for NSK’s all product types (bearings, automotive components, linear motion products). The center will also respond to the specific needs of the Chinese market. Accordingly, the move to establish NSK China R&D as an independent body will be accompanied by an increase in employee numbers, reaching 300 staff in 2011.

The profile of the center is as follows:

Company Name	NSK (CHINA) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD
President and CEO	Shinichiro Takahashi
Location	HUAQIAO INTERNATIONAL SERVICE BUSINESS PARK, KUNSHAN CITY, JIANGSU PROVINCE
Land Area	approx. 30,000m2
Building Area	Office building: approx. 10,000m2 (7 floors), Laboratory building: approx. 6,000m2 (2 floors)
Capital	20 million dollars (approx. 2.2 billion Yen)
Investment	4.4 billion Yen (to 2011)
Completion	Summer, 2009
Employees	300 (in 2011)
Products	Bearings, Precision Machinery Products, Automotive Parts, Mechatronic Products (all NSK products)
Activities	Basic research, applied research, development and design, investigative analysis Production engineering R&D Providing technical support to users

NSK’s Involvement in the Chinese Market

Since the 1960s, NSK has provided technical instruction to Chinese bearing manufacturers, and in 1995 established Kunshan NSK Co., Ltd in the suburbs of Shanghai, manufacturing ball bearings for use in electrical products. The company currently opens 9 plants in China, manufacturing a wide and varied product lineup that includes bearings and automotive components. NSK also has 11 sales branches across China and Hong Kong, and holds the No.1 share of the Chinese market among all bearing manufacturers.