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Bearing manufacturer INA and its staff are celebrating the operation's golden jubilee this month, marking its establishment in Great Britain back in 1955. The Sutton Coldfield and Llanelli based operations are holding a series of events to commemorate the bearing giant's 50th anniversary. The events will observe the company's UK history as well as celebrate the foresight of its German founders in the 1940s.
A stroke of engineering genius in 1946 laid the foundations for what is now one of the world's leading engineering businesses.
The idea was to develop a cage to guide needle roller bearings, which up to that time had a tendency to skew and increase frictional resistance or lock.
Georg Schaeffler and his brother's Wilhelm's successful development of the cage guided needle roller bearing brought about rapid expansion of the company and on 26th October 1955, INA Needle Bearing Co opened the doors of its London office for business.
The company's ongoing accomplishments led to a move to the UK's industrial heartland in the Midlands in 1968, and in 1979 INA invested in its own office complex in Sutton Coldfield.
INA's expansion within the automotive industry saw the company move from the production of bearings to the design, development and manufacture of a wide range of engineered components.
In 1966 a new factory, designed to meet the needs of the UK vehicle manufacturing industry, was opened at Bynea, Llanelli.
Its ongoing success led to the expansion of the factory in 1986, 1989 and again in 1991.
Bynea today remains a centre of excellence for the production of a wide range of mechanical tappets for the global automotive industry.
The development of the cage guided needle roller bearing - which is still in use in its original form - provided the bedrock for the growth of the INA organisation.
INA is a member of the Schaeffler Group, which today employs 58,000 people at over 180 locations throughout the world and has group sales of over Eur 7 billion.
Overseeing the UK celebrations this week will be Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler, the company's private family owner, who will be visiting from the German headquarters, and Kate Hartigan, INA UK's Managing Director.
Hartigan commented on how INA has been able to grow its business despite a decline in the UK manufacturing sector over recent years: 'INA has counteracted the effects of the struggling market by seeking to consolidate and increase business with our current customers'.
'We do this by developing close working relationships with them which enables us to deliver complete solutions to their engineering problems'.
'We feel there is a lot more to our business than just selling bearings'.
'Our aim is to work in partnership with customers to help them develop their businesses'.
The latest chapter in INA's development was the acquisition of competitor FAG, another global bearing company which also owes its existence to the genius of a German engineer 100 years ago.
The INA and FAG product ranges fully complement each other - and INA and FAG now operate in harmony under the Schaeffler Group banner.
Together they comprise a global engineering organisation with the capacity to meet virtually any bearing requirement for any application and the genuine capability of keeping the world in motion.
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| RCJ1-3/4 bearing | 44.45 | 137.5 | 58.9 |
| RCJ1-3/8 bearing | 34.925 | 118.5 | 53.3 |