Dental Tribune U.S. Edition

DENTAL TRIBUNE | December 2011 Industry News 13A Focus on quality starts at the top In addition to supporting its mar- ket responsiveness, NSK’s keep-it-in- house philosophy enables it to relent- lessly control quality at every step of the development, testing and manu- facturing process. “Quality is really the top priority for us,” Stiehle said, “especially for Eiichi Nakanishi [NSK president and CEO].” Nakanishi, confirmed that state- ment: “Since the founding of the com- pany,” he said, “we have adhered to very strict quality controls to make sure our products earn dentists’ sat- isfaction. We have strong policies on manufacturing almost all compo- nents in-house. Currently about 90 percent of the mechanical compo- nents, including electric micromo- tors and high-speed ball bearings, are manufactured in-house. No other competitors can make ball bearings and micromotors in-house like we do. This is one of our biggest strengths and competitive advantages.” Based in Japan, but frequently trav- eling the world, Nakanishi described his core role at NSK as being to ensure the global organization has a strong, motivated team in place with a clear understanding of what it takes to delight customers. “We have the engineering excel- lence needed to enable dental profes- sionals to make their dream products real,” Nakanishi said. “We want to listen to the voices of dentists in order to develop very useful and wonderful products.” Stiehle said that responding to spe- cific customer demand isn’t limited to a product‘s purpose and function. “It’s not just that we offer a product in every category of dentistry from a clinical point of view,” Stiehle said. “It also means offering a range of price points.” Cost sensitivity also drives the company’s focus on providing one of the largest selections of coupler adapters available to make it easier for practitioners to test-drive and pur- chase an NSK handpiece. “Our intent is to make it as easy as possible to integrate an NSK handpiece into the practice,” Gochoel said. “By being compatible with virtually all competi- tor coupler systems, we eliminate the need to buy a lot of additional cou- plers or incur the expense of retrofit- ting all the operatories. It’s just one more example of a smart, customer- centric focus.” Rounding out the commitment to quality assurance, pricing options and responsiveness is awareness that the ultimate customer is the patient. “I am a strong believer in the need to be aware that we are a medical device company, and that with that comes a huge responsibility, not just in terms of quality, but also comfort and safety of the patient, Stiehle said. “When I am sitting in the dentist chair, I want to make sure that I am worked on with the best product out there. That’s what is most important to us: the safety and comfort of the patient.” DT NSK Dental LLC (800) 585-4675 info@nskamericacorp.com www.nskamerica.com (Source: NSK Dental) AD The S-Max Pico from NSK, with the world’s smallest head and neck size, owes its existence to dentists asking NSK for a better device to use with patients with smaller mouths. Now, the handpiece is also being praised by pediatric dentists.