NTN Corp. (Japan) announced it will establish at least three new Research and Development centers by 2006, part of an effort to dramatically reduce time-to-market and at the same time meet OEM automakers' demand for quicker product launch cycles. The company currently operates three R&D centers outside Japan -- two in the United States and on in France. In addition to the new R&D facilities planned for Japan, China and Germany, NTN said it will beef up its ranks of engineers and researchers worldwide to over 1,300, also by 2006. A new, centralized, R&D center is already underway at NTN's home facility in Iwata, Shizuoka Prefecture. Scheduled for completion by November 2005, it will merge several separate and autonomous R&D operations around Iwata. Projected to cost at least ¥3 billion (USD $29 million), Iwata's 16,800 square meter R&D facility will eventually employ at least 300 engineers and researchers. Iwata's R&D focus will not only be on Japanese-market bearing and CV joint products, but also the increasingly important area of value-added electronic components. In China, NTN already has an R&D facility under construction at its new venture, Changzhou NTN-Guangyang Corporation, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province. The business is a new joint venture between NTN and Changzhou Guangyang Bearing Co. Ltd., NTN's first in China. • article: NTN in Chinese joint venture with Changzhou Guangyang By 2006, however, NTN said it expects to have a second R&D facility in China, in an as-yet-unreleased location. The third all-new R&D center is planned for Germany, the company's first in Europe. It will be located outside Dusseldorf and should be operational by early 2006. Integrating the work and efforts across all of the company's R&D facilities, for maximum synergy and access to expertise, is a key area of attention. By linking the facilities, sharing information and even projects themselves, NTN expects the majority of its reduced time-to-market and customer-centered rapid-development requirements will be met.