KINEX

Kinex is a Slovak bearing brand with its origins in Bytča, Slovakia in 1906. Bytča remains the current headquarters of Kinex. The city of Bytča has a rich history of over 100 years in the engineering machinery industry, and the wooden vernier caliper introduced in 1898 symbolizes the development of the industry in Bytča. In its early years, Kinex primarily manufactured iron furniture and measuring instruments. In 1948, the company established its second factory in Kysucké Nové Mesto. In 1953, the company was nationalized and officially registered as Kinex in 1960.

Currently, Kinex has two factories located in Bytča and Kysucké Nové Mesto, Slovakia. The production of rolling bearings in Slovakia began in 1950 at Kinex's factory in Kysucký Nové Mesto. Initially, the factory produced steel balls and ball bearings and later introduced roller and cylindrical roller bearings. In 1959, the factory started producing single-row cylindrical roller bearings for railway use, which continues to this day. In 1965, the Bytča factory began manufacturing special double-row bearings. Initially, the bearing range only included bearings for the textile industry, but in 1978 and 1987, engine water pump bearings and bicycle wheel hub bearings were added, respectively. In 2008, the production of bearings for the aviation industry was also transferred to the Bytča factory.

These milestones have shaped the current focus of Kinex's Bytča factory, which specializes in producing bearings for the textile industry, engine water pumps, and aerospace applications. The Kysucké Nové Mesto factory specializes in producing bearings for the railway industry and standard catalog bearings. The four major application areas of Kinex bearings include railways, textiles, water pumps, and aerospace. Ball bearings and cylindrical roller bearings are used in passenger and freight cars, electric and diesel locomotives, gearboxes, generators, motors, and compressors.

Kinex is among the leading suppliers of specialized bearings for the textile industry, producing special double-row ball bearings for textile machinery, instrument assembly-specific double-row ball bearings, VL-type single-row roller bearings, and E-type detachable single-row ball bearings. Kinex is also a major manufacturer of automotive engine water pump bearings in Europe, producing special single-row and double-row water pump bearings. For aerospace applications, Kinex supplies single-row deep groove ball bearings, single-row angular contact ball bearings with separable inner rings, single-row or double-row angular contact ball bearings, and single-row cylindrical roller bearings for aircraft turbine jet engines, turboprop engines, gearboxes, main propeller units, and starter generators.

In terms of internationalization, Kinex has established sales subsidiaries in Russia, India, and China. The Chinese sales company, located in Shanghai, was established in 2013. In 2020, Kinex was acquired by NEI, an Indian bearing company, and became part of the Indian multinational enterprise CK Birla Group. This acquisition was primarily driven by market expansion, as Kinex and NEI have strong complementarity in terms of bearing market applications and product lines.

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