NSK Ltd. (6471.TO, NPSKY) plans to begin South Korean output of high-precision bearings for automobile transmissions next year at 80% of the production cost in Japan, the Nikkei reports in its Dec. 24 edition.

Previously, the company made most of these bearings at its Saitama factory in Japan because they require high-quality steel and precision processing. But it began churning them out in China after developing technology for manufacturing bearings comparable in quality to Japanese-made products while using lower-priced steel.

NSK seeks to generate three billion yen ($35.6 million) in sales from the low-cost, high-precision bearings in 2015 by supplying them to Japanese and local auto makers for their rapidly growing auto production in Asia.

The company estimates that world-wide demand for automobile-transmission systems will increase at least 30% by 2019.

-2017 China(Guangzhou) Int’l Bearing and Equipment Exhibition