What NTN Bearing Corporation of America makes

NTN Bearing Corporation of America (NBCA) is the US operating and sales arm of NTN Corporation, the Japan-based bearing maker the company describes as the third largest in the world. NBCA supplies the full anti-friction range: ball bearings, tapered, cylindrical, spherical, and needle roller bearings, mounted units and pillow blocks, high-precision bearings, linear motion products, and automotive wheel hubs and constant velocity joints. It sells under four brands, NTN, Bower, BCA, and SNR, the latter two acquired from Federal-Mogul in the 1980s and 1990s to round out the tapered and cylindrical roller, clutch release, and agricultural bearing lines.

The customer base spans both sides of the market. NBCA is an original equipment bearing supplier to automotive, agriculture, heavy-duty truck, construction, machine tool, rail and transit, wind energy, and electric motor manufacturers, and it serves the aftermarket through more than 6,000 authorized distributors across the Americas. Product development is increasingly aimed at electric vehicles and e-mobility, alongside the corrosion-resistant and sealed lines the company promotes for harsh-environment applications.

US manufacturing footprint

NBCA is not a pure importer. The company states that over 80 percent of the products it sells in North America are made at the ten plants it operates in the United States and Canada. Those facilities include American NTN Bearing Manufacturing (Schiller Park and Elgin, Illinois), NTN Driveshaft (Columbus and Anderson, Indiana), NTA Precision Axle (Carol Stream, Illinois), NTN-NTK Precision Axle (Frankfort, Indiana), and NTN-Bower (Macomb, Illinois and Hamilton, Alabama), plus a plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Distribution centers in Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, and Nevada support the aftermarket network. This spread of ball, roller, driveshaft, and axle plants is why NBCA reads as a domestic manufacturer with an import tail rather than a distributor of finished goods.

Ownership and history

NTN Bearing Corporation of America was established in 1963 to support local sales of NTN bearings in the American market, and it grew into manufacturing through the acquisitions of Bower and BCA and the buildout of North American plants. The parent, NTN Corporation, traces to 1918 and is publicly listed in Japan; NTN USA Corporation now serves as the holding company for NTN's entities across the Americas, with NBCA as its principal US operating subsidiary.

In September 2025, NBCA moved its corporate headquarters to the Schaumburg Corporate Center at 1501 East Woodfield Road, Schaumburg, Illinois, ending a 34-year run in Mount Prospect. The search began in early 2022, the Schaumburg site was chosen in January 2025, and all employees moved in on September 10, 2025. Leading the company is Thomas Mohrdieck, named President and CEO in June 2025 after a 35-year NTN career that began as an application engineer in 1990 and most recently ran the Industrial OEM business unit. NBCA is a member of MEMA, and its staff sit on the association's aftermarket supplier councils.

Certifications and quality

NTN traces its quality culture to 1954, when it became the first Japanese industrial manufacturer awarded the Deming Prize for statistical quality control. Today NBCA publishes plant-level certificates on its Quality Documentation page: its US plants in Elgin, Columbus, Anderson, Carol Stream, Macomb, and Frankfort carry combinations of IATF 16949, ISO 9001, and ISO 14001, the automotive quality and environmental standards expected of an OE bearing supplier. The Aguascalientes, Mexico plant is IATF 16949 and ISO 14001 registered as well. Certificates are held per facility, which is the sector norm for a multi-plant Tier 1 and Tier 2 supplier.

Known customers

NBCA describes itself as the OEM bearing supplier to some of the largest names in manufacturing, but it does not publish specific US customer programs at the subsidiary level, which is normal for a component supplier serving OE accounts under confidentiality. No single customer relationship clears the documented-evidence bar for this entity, so the profile reports the market framing rather than named programs.

For readers weighing nearshoring and domestic-content strategies, the more useful fact is the footprint: bearings and hubs made across ten North American plants, with parent-group parts filling the balance.

Sourcing evidence

NBCA's US import record is large and current: the primary import entity shows 12,103 sea shipments on record, with the most recent dated September 25, 2026, and a second manufacturing entity in Elgin adds roughly 1,983 more. The pattern is distinctive. The top shippers are dominated by NTN's own global affiliates, including Shanghai NTN and Guangzhou NTN Yulon Drivetrain, alongside established suppliers such as Tung Pei Industrial. That mix is the signature of a subsidiary moving parent-group product and components into a domestic finishing and distribution operation, rather than an arms-length importer buying from unrelated factories.

Coverage caveats apply. These are US ocean-freight bill-of-lading records only; air, truck, and rail movements do not appear, some records name freight intermediaries rather than manufacturers, and product categories come from declared manifest codes, which are noisy. A detailed monthly trend and full origin breakdown were not pulled for this profile. Absence of a record is not evidence of absence.

Frequently asked questions

What does NTN Bearing Corporation of America make?

NTN Bearing Corporation of America makes and supplies precision bearings and related components: ball bearings, tapered, cylindrical, spherical, and needle roller bearings, mounted units and pillow blocks, high-precision bearings, linear motion products, and automotive wheel hubs and constant velocity joints. It sells under the NTN, Bower, BCA, and SNR brands to both OEM and aftermarket customers.

Who owns NTN Bearing Corporation of America?

NTN Bearing Corporation of America is the US subsidiary of NTN Corporation, a publicly listed Japanese bearing manufacturer founded in 1918 that the company describes as the third largest in the world. The US entity was established in 1963, and NTN USA Corporation serves as the Americas holding company.

Where is NTN Bearing Corporation of America headquartered?

NTN Bearing Corporation of America is headquartered at 1501 East Woodfield Road, Schaumburg, Illinois 60173. It relocated there in September 2025 from Mount Prospect, Illinois, where it had operated for 34 years.

How many employees and plants does NTN Bearing Corporation of America have?

Third-party directories place the US workforce in a 1,000 to 5,000 band; the company does not publish an exact figure. NBCA operates ten manufacturing plants across the United States and Canada, plus one in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and says over 80 percent of the NTN products it sells in North America are made at those plants.

What certifications does NTN Bearing Corporation of America hold?

Its US plants hold combinations of IATF 16949, ISO 9001, and ISO 14001, published per facility on the company's Quality Documentation page. NTN was the first Japanese industrial manufacturer to win the Deming Prize for quality control, in 1954.

Who is the CEO of NTN Bearing Corporation of America?

Thomas Mohrdieck was named President and CEO of NTN Bearing Corporation of America in June 2025. He joined NTN in 1990 as an application engineer and previously led the company's Industrial OEM business unit.

Last verified September 28, 2026. Is this your company? Request a correction.