Technology

Creating proprietary materials at the molecular level to support safety and comfort

NOK conducts in-house research and development of proprietary rubber, urethane, adhesives, and other materials.

At the heart of this work is material design technology at the molecular level, drawing on expertise in organic chemistry. The extensive compounding data accumulated over many years is a key source of NOK’s value, enabling precise control of material properties according to the conditions in which each product will be used.

NOK is also expanding the use of materials informatics, the application of information science to materials development, to shorten development times and improve prediction accuracy.

Creating the optimal materials to meet increasingly diverse and sophisticated needs provides a solid foundation for NOK products that support safety and comfort.

Combining conflicting functions at a high level through interface control

At the core of NOK’s design technology is precise control of the interfaces where objects come into contact. NOK continues to advance its research into interface phenomena such as friction and lubrication.

Based on this research, NOK combines optimized shape designs at the micron scale with surface designs using coatings to precisely control fluids, enabling high-performance sealing and lubrication simultaneously, despite their inherently conflicting requirements.

NOK is also applying its proprietary design technologies to the development of low-friction products that help reduce environmental impact by minimizing energy loss.

Reliably supplying a diverse range of products worldwide with consistent quality

NOK produces approximately 50 million units worldwide every day. Despite this enormous volume and variety, NOK consistently manufactures products to high quality standards. This is made possible by an integrated system covering everything from materials development through mass production, supported by advanced manufacturing and production technologies.

By leveraging expertise accumulated across NOK Group manufacturing sites and deploying production equipment designed and developed in-house worldwide, NOK has established a global system for the stable supply of high-performance products.

In recent years, NOK has continued to automate equipment and optimize production processes to further improve production efficiency.