Before 1959
| 1918 | Began research and manufacture of ball bearings at Nishizono Ironworks. (Uchibori, Kuwana-cho, Kuwana-gun, Mie Pref.) |
| 1923 | Nishizono Ironworks and Tomoe Trading Co. (Nishi-ku, Osaka) began joint manufacture and sale of bearings under the brand name NTN. |
| 1927 | NTN Mfg. Co., Ltd. established with capital of 50,000 yen. |
| 1934 | Reorganized into a stock company with capital of 3,000,000 yen. |
| 1937 | Named the Toyo Bearing Mfg. Co., Ltd. Increased capital to 10,000,000 yen. Company stock traded publicly. |
| 1938 | Established Showa Bearing Mfg. Co., Ltd.(the present Takarazuka Works) in Muko-gun, Hyogo Pref. (Later, merged and company name changed to Mukogawa Works in 1939) (Later, company name changed to Takarazuka Works in 1962) |
| 1939 | Constructed Kuwana Plant.(the present Kuwana Works) |
| 1943 | Commenced production of steel balls at Kuwana Plant. |
| 1954 | Awarded the Deming Prize for statistical quality control for the first time in the Japanese machinery industry. |
