Sealing company NOK Corporation recently opened its NFC Technology Centre in Wuxi, China, to strengthen its locally-led development structure and accelerate its response to future growth areas such as the electric vehicle (EV) market.
?
The technology centre is managed by NOK-Freudenberg China, which oversees NOK Group’s seal business in China, and was established in a new building (Building C) in the first factory of Wuxi NOK-Freudenberg Oilseal Co (WNF), the largest production base under its umbrella.
The 24,630 sq m centre also houses a factory space, which allows for 20% expansion of production capacity in the future. The technology centre consolidates the design department, production technology department, and testing equipment that were previously dispersed within WNF’s factory building, and the sales department has also been placed in the same building to strengthen cooperation between departments.
Currently, approximately 200 employees are working at the centre.
The technology centre will also function as a core base in China for technical collaboration with NOK and Freudenberg. NFC will develop new products and technologies and work to create new growth drivers. In addition to EV products, centring on high-performance seal products for mobility suspension and batteries, the company will also focus on developing products for new energy sources and general industrial equipment such as robots.
The new building was completed in March this year and WNF also celebrated its 30th anniversary in conjunction with the opening ceremony of the Technology Centre.
WNF was established in 1995 as a joint venture between NOK and Freudenberg (Germany). It provides sealing products such as oil seals and O-rings to Japanese and Western automobile manufacturers producing in China.
In recent years, in response to the expansion of the EV market in China, it has been focusing on product development that utilises the interface control technology, which is the strength of the NOK Group.
Currently, products designed and developed in China are becoming the mainstay, and EV products such as battery seals and thermal management seals are growing.