‘Tremendous Victory’ for Slumping Industry : Pentagon to Require American-Made Bearings

The Defense Department will try to prop up the slumping U.S. bearing industry with a requirement that makers of jets, submarines and other military systems use only American-made bearings.

The “Buy-American” regulation, due to be published today in the Federal Register, would be in place for at least three years, said Rep. Nancy L. Johnson, R-Conn., who pushed for the rule. She called it a “tremendous victory” for U.S. bearing makers.

The domestic industry has been severely eroded by foreign competition in recent years.

Nearly 65% of ball bearings sold in the United States come from abroad, and 40% of the roller bearing sales are from imports.

The Defense Department is a major buyer of bearings, making up nearly 19% of the U.S. market. The Pentagon buys a majority of the super-precision bearings used in jets and submarines.

Congressional proponents warn that the sagging domestic industry would be unable to gear up for wartime production. They point to a 1986 Pentagon study that said the bearing industry is critical to the nation’s defense and warned that domestic manufacturers were in “imminent danger of being unable to support national defense needs.”

“This action is clearly needed to halt a trend that directly jeopardizes our ability to defend ourselves,” said Johnson, a founder of the Congressional Bearing Caucus whose western Connecticut district includes several major bearing employers.

“This new policy will prevent the loss of even more business overseas and give our bearings companies the breathing room they need to regain their competitive edge,” she said.

The new regulations would cover only combat-related systems and not non-military items bought by the Pentagon such as bearings for automobiles, according to Johnson aide Caroline Willson. Military bearings make up more than half the bearings purchased by the department.

About $40 million of the $350 million in military-related bearings purchased by the Defense Department annually comes from foreign countries. And that trend has been increasing, Johnson said.

From 1980 to 1986, she said, the number of foreign manufacturers authorized to sell bearings to the Pentagon increased to 12 from two. Johnson said that would have climbed to 30 companies by 1990 without the new regulations.

Johnson and other industrial-area lawmakers are supporting an industry request to the Commerce Department urging restrictions on foreign imports.

Since 1980, the industry has lost 15,000 jobs, a 20% decrease. Thirty plant closings have left about 80 companies remaining and 43,000 employees, Willson said.