A ball bearing with a 0.6mm bore, smaller than a sesame seed. One firm in a former coal town in Hokkaido reportedly makes around 70% of the world's sub-millimeter bearings. Here's how.
Sanyo Special Steel, Japan's No.1 maker of bearing steel and a world leader in steel cleanliness, will be absorbed by Nippon Steel and dissolved on April 1, 2027. The model for the famous novel The Grand Family, it once suffered postwar Japan's largest bankruptcy. Why give up the name now? A look at China's steel glut and an unexpected Swedish thread.