INA Dedicates New Corporate R&D Facility

¡¡ INA Schaeffler KG (Germany) has officially opened its new Research and Development Center in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Since its 2002 acquisition of FAG, INA is now the world's second-largest bearing manufacturer behind SKF AB (Sweden). The new R&D center, covering more than 7,500 square meters (over 81,000 square feet) is now home to over 500 engineers and staff. Worldwide, INA has over 1,500 people dedicated to R&D across all of its product lines. Seven stories tall, the building took more than 18 months to build and cost more than 24 million (USD $27 million). INA's owner and controlling shareholder, Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler, said at the opening, "The INA Group's constant growth has always been characterized by in-house innovations. Every year, INA introduces over 1,000 product innovations and this successful tradition will continue with the Research and Development Center." In addition to bearing-related R&D, the center also houses R&D activities for several of INA's other business ventures such as valve train systems, mechatronics and electronic monitoring systems.