Its name has multiple meanings, having to do with such tenets as self sufficiency and entrepreneurial will. Founded by Kohki Imura in Toyama, Japan, the Nachi Fujikoshi Corporation has exemplified these traits for the past 78 years. With dozens of locations found literally around the globe, the company’s U.S. operations have undergone streamlining and expansion in recent years, keeping it poised to respond quickly and ably to an ever-changing industrial marketplace.
Nachi Fujikoshi has had a presence in the United States for the past 44 years, when Nachi America, Inc., was established in Michigan in 1962. The site was set up to sell the company’s bearings, robots, hydraulic equipment, and cutting and machine tools into the North American market. Nachi Technology, Inc., was launched in Indiana in 1974 and immediately began bearing production. In 1989 Nachi Robotic Systems, Inc., was established in Michigan, offering robotic engineering services, and Nachi Machining Technology Co. — known as NMTC, and also headquartered in Michigan — opened its doors in 1991 to provide high-quality broaching and gear cutting/forming tools primarily for the automotive industry and its suppliers in the United States. The latest investment in the U.S. market by Nachi Fujikoshi has led to the opening of its newest facility, Nachi Precision North Carolina, Inc. (NPNC), which is located just outside of Charlotte.
Since its groundbreaking last May, NPNC has specialized in regrinding and recoating precision tools. The North Carolina location was selected because of its close proximity to several automobile manufacturers and their parts/components suppliers.
As a recent trend, manufacturers have been actively regrinding/recoating worn cutting tools in order to extend tool life. In the precision tooling industry, the regrinding/recoating market is expanding at a rate to exceed the volume of newly designed and manufactured tools. To achieve precision, accuracy, efficiency, stable cutting conditions, and tool replacement intervals, reground/recoated tools are required to provide a comparable level of quality and performance to newly manufactured tools. As a result, companies performing these services must provide a comprehensive quality assurance system encompassing wide-ranging areas of technology such as cutting tool design, machine design, surface treatments, and other special technologies and factors affecting accuracy and life.
Backed by years of experience and well-diversified technical capabilities covering cutting and machine tools, materials, heat treatment, bearings, hydraulic equipment, and robotics, Nachi Fujikoshi has built a firm foundation in the automobile and industrial machinery industries by conducting a diverse range of interlinked businesses. Specifically, Nachi Fujikoshi provides all key processes involved in cutting tools, including the production of specialty materials, heat treatment systems, coating systems and the associated manufacturing machines. This approach has elevated the company’s accumulated wealth of original technologies and know-how well above that of its competitors.
In addition to manufacturing and selling newly designed tools and providing engineering expertise, Nachi Fujikoshi has also been supplying regrinding/recoating services at the request of certain large customers. NPNC was established as a hub, along with other existing U.S. facilities, to launch full-scale product support services such as development, engineering, and in-plant support to build a foundation for new business.
Many automobile manufacturers and their parts/components suppliers have constructed factories in Southern U.S. states and are expanding production of transmissions and other components that involve high degrees of difficulty. Accordingly, the demand for accurate precision tools is increasing rapidly. Nachi Fujikoshi has responded to this growing demand by establishing NPNC to expand regrinding/recoating services for precision tools.
Utilizing NPNC and NMTC, which services the Midwest area, and also utilizing the resources of other U.S. bases such as NAI and NRS, the Nachi Fujikoshi Group will provide wide-ranging engineering and manufacturing services to meet all machining needs.
But the new site is just one sign of Nachi-Fujikoshi’s recent growth, with a number of exciting new technologies to add to its expanded physical and geographic footprint. The first of these is a new process for internal shaving, developed as a result of the company’s membership in the Gear Production Alliance (GPA) along with its customers Kanzaki and Kashifuji. In addition, Nachi and the GPA have achieved hard hobbing to finished quality after heat treatment on externally toothed gears. Nachi Fujikoshi has also invested a great deal of time and resources into improving the hard broaching process, resulting in its new model Hi-5010 high-speed hard broaching machine. These technologies will be on display at the company’s booth at IMTS.
All of these advances are proof of Nachi Fujikoshi’s commitment to developing new technologies, designing better machines, and especially to providing its customers with the services they require to maintain their edge in an increasingly competitive marketplace. With customers requiring greater accuracy than ever before, along with extended tool life, they can rely on Nachi’s engineering resources and its accumulated knowledge and expertise to develop cutting-edge technologies and products.
MORE INFO Call 586-263-0100, send e-mail to sales@nachimtc.com or visit the company’s website at www.nachimtc.com.
