NSK is relaunching its European websites with a new, stylish design and an optimised responsive layout for smartphone and tablet users. It represents a distinct shift towards embracing the requirements of engineers and purchasers who are frequently on the move – a growing reality of business in modern industrial sectors.

As part of its new AIP+ Added Value Programme, NSK can now offer a range of mounting and dismounting tools to ensure that all bearings are handled and fitted correctly, without damage. Having the right tools for the job ensures that bearings are assembled and dismantled safely and efficiently.

The Doppelmayr Graventa Group in Wolfurt, Austria, a specialist in the manufacture of surface and aerial ropeways, has benefited from the expertise of NSK in replacing the main spindle roller bearings on an extremely large surface wheel lathe.

NSK will be showing a range of its latest innovations for high-speed, small-size production technologies at the SIAMS exhibition in Moutier, Switzerland on 19-22 April.

To help OEMs produce larger, electrically operated injection moulding machines, NSK is expanding the size range of its NSKTAC03 high-load ball screw support bearings from 120 to 180mm.

Condition monitoring is a proven technique of periodic analysis that ensures machines are integrated into a reliability-centred maintenance programme. It allows machinery trend histories to be established that deliver an accurate assessment of machine maintenance requirements, therefore not only saving money in terms of reducing unnecessary maintenance operations but also facilitating better planning for spares and resource procurement.

When it comes to medical devices, particularly those relating to the heart, there is no margin for failure – the device must remain operational at all times. With this in mind, the benchmark for quality engineering at Berlin Heart GmbH (a manufacturer of innovative mechanical devices that support the heart) is second-to-none.

In recent months NSK Japan has been working in close conjunction with the Kanagawa Rehabilitation Centre, performing trials of the company’s innovative LIGHBOT autonomous guide robot which features indoor navigation and obstacle avoidance. The product already offers a number of advanced guidance, safety and usability functions, and NSK Japan will now continue its development efforts in readiness for LIGHBOT’s European launch in the autumn of 2016.

NSK has expanded its series of high load capacity ball screws. The company’s new Super Large Ball Screw makes it possible to injection-mould even bigger plastic components in line with growing demand from sectors such as automotive. The Super Large Ball Screw, which features 800 mm long nuts to help increase axial load and operating life, is designed for electrically operated plastic injection moulding machines requiring a clamping force of 3000 tons or more.

In 2016, NSK (Nippon Seiko Kabushiki-gaisha) will celebrate 100 years of providing the engineering market with optimised motion technologies. When Takehiko Yamaguchi founded NSK Ltd in 1916 with capital of ¥350,000 (€2655), the company became the first bearing manufacturer to be established in Japan. Today, the company has the biggest share of the bearings market in Japan and is one of the largest bearing suppliers in the world. NSK has also diversified successfully into markets such as automotive products, precision machinery and parts, and mechatronics products, all helping to generate net annual sales (for the year ended 31 March 2015) of ¥974.9 billion (€7.4 billion).