One-third to One-Half the Lead Time of Conventional Ball Screws for Tailor-made Design Specifications Premium Lead Time Ball Screws NSK Ltd. (NSK; Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO: Toshihiro Uchiyama) today announced that it has developed Premium Lead Time ball screws in response to its customer's new development and maintenance needs. The new product lineup of ball screws is made-to-order for tailor-made designs, but it provides for a shorter lead time than conventional made-to-order ball screws. NSK is targeting global sales of 300 million yen in 2018 for this new product line. The demand for shorter lead times is ever increasing for ball screws for prototype evaluation machines, automobile-related devices, and maintenance components. To meet these needs, NSK has created a new line of ball screws called Premium Lead Time that shorten the lead time over conventional made-to-order ball screws. Premium Lead Time Features 1. 20-day lead time from point of agreement of design specifications NSK has a dedicated digital drawing creation system along with a dedicated line for high-mix, low-volume production to achieve shorter lead times for made-to-order ball screws. This has made it possible to cut conventional made-to-order lead times by 1/3 to 1/2 the time required, or a reduction from 40 to 70 days, down to 20 days. 2. Gradual expansion of ball screw nut specs NSK is gradually expanding the types of ball screws that is provides, starting with the high-demand type of large tube ball screws. NSK was the first company in the industry back in the 1980s to create a lineup of standard ball screws for general use conditions and environments in terms of nut and shaft length, as well as shaft end shape and dimensions. This resulted in shorter lead times for ball screws. NSK maintains an inventory of these standard stock ball screws, resulting in a lead time of about three days. In addition, NSK implemented a new web system called Click!Speedy™ in February 2016, making it possible to freely select the length of the shaft and the shape/dimensions of the shaft end using the same nut specifications as standard ball screws in about 10 days. In this way, NSK is answering the needs of customers to create individual design specifications while still having a short lead time. NSK is committed to continuing to implement new measures to further shorten lead times going forward.