The Japanese firm NTN is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of bearings for industries like automobile, steel, power, cement, aerospace, railways, etc.  NTN uses IIoT for continuous condition monitoring of equipment to help in predicting condition of the bearing product when in use, leading to more advanced failure prediction and replacement before damage. In this interview, Ramnath Shenoy, Executive Director, NTN Bearings India Pvt Ltd, tracks changes in bearing industry and explains the potential of Indian market.

 

Could you please brief us about NTN Bearing and its Indian business?

NTN is a $ 6.7 billion bearings and precision equipment manufacturing company with plants and offices in over 70 countries around the world. Established in 1918, NTN makes a wide range of products for the automobile, steel, power sector, cement industry, construction machinery, aerospace, railways & wind turbine industry. The products can be broadly categorised as bearings, constant velocity joints and precision equipment.

 

We have both manufacturing and trading organisations in India. The first plant was set up at Bawal (Haryana) in 2006 to service the automobile customers in North. A new plant was set up in 2012 at Chennai. Both are currently making products for the automobile market. NTN Bearing India Pvt Ltd was set up in December 2011 to provide sales and engineering support to NTN customers in the steel, cement, mining, construction and power segments. Besides MROs, we also supply to the OEMs who manufacture equipment for these industries. 

 

NTN Bearing is a global player in bearings market. What do you bring to the table for Indian customers who are looking for bearings for efficient functioning of rotating machinery? 

NTN in India is known for its range of quality products and our fast response to critical needs of our customers. Our USP is to provide new technologies and developing new products for our customers. NTN's ULTAGE series spherical roller bearings are a prime example of the same. ULTAGE series bearings are engineered to work under extreme operating temperature of 200°C and at the same time have the highest load carrying capacity in the industry. They also support much higher speeds than the conventional type of spherical roller bearings. All this is available at the cost of a standard spherical roller bearing. In comparison, the rest of the bearing industry offers high temperature bearings at a premium as compared to its standard range which can operate up to 120°C only. In the last few years, NTN has expanded the ULTAGE concept to many other product ranges in taper roller, cylindrical roller etc. 

 

How is the demand from emerging sectors like robots, aerospace, medical devices, wind energy, etc?

In India, we are seeing demand from medical devices where there has been some production shift from China to India. Wind energy is NTN’s strong point in China. However, in India, due to several issues, the sector is not doing well and we do not see much demand from this sector. Automation and aerospace are growing sectors where NTN Japan has a very good presence and we expect the same in India as the demand increases. 

 

Indian Government is pushing for vehicle electrification. How is NTN gearing up for electric vehicles (EV) sector?

NTN Japan has been working in the EV sector for many years now. Hub bearings and driveshafts, which are NTN's major product lines, are essential components in conventional gasoline-powered vehicles that operate using only engines, PHV/HVs that use a combination of engines and motors, and even EVs that operate solely with motors. NTN is one of the world's leading players in these products, accounting for some 80 per cent of sales in the automotive business.