Bevel-helical speed reducer B4 tion Flender GmbH Flender MD Bevel helical g B4-SH-28-A

Flender/Flender Gear Units/Bevel-helical speed reducer B4

st part, with the product designer-generally foreign company. The cost of capital in Japan is perhaps the lowest of all the major gear-producing countries. Industry sources believe that capital costs are low because of the high Japanese saving rate and investors' relatively long investment horizon. 1 Other reasons that were cited were the integration of financial institutions and industry and the greater reliance on short-term rather than long-term 1 USITC staff interview with MM officials, Dec. 4, 1. 1" Stuart Auerbach, "Japanese Announce Trade Plan,' The Washington Post, Dec. 2, 1, . Fl. 1 Ibid. 1* USITC staff interviews with industry officials, West Germany, United Kingdom, France, and Italy, November-December, 1. financing. 1 Bank lending rates as measured by the IMF fell from 6.7 percent in 1 to 4.9 percent in 1. The age of Japanese gear machinery varies, depending on the market for which the gears and gear products are produced. Establishments producing for the shipbuilding industry have slowed their purchases of new machinery as the demand for their products has declined. Manufacturers supporting auto producers and other active industries have newer machinery. , io The transmission and assembly plants of the large automobile manufacturers, such as Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda, have highly automated gear hobbing, shaving, and heat-treating processes, as well as computerized quality control for gear production throughout the manufacturing process.1 The Japanese gear industry has made significant investment in plant and equipment For gear-cutting and finishing machine tools alone, expenditures totaled $4.4 million during 1-8. In 1, approximately 1 percent of total gear-cutting and finishing machines in Japan was 4 years old or less and 2 percent was between 5 and 9 years old. 1 Japan has number of gear-making machine tool builders that support their gear industry, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.