Newsletter
NEW YORK, N.Y., USA: This year’s Greater New York Dental Meeting marks a first anniversary for NSK Dental, which launched its expanded presence in the United States and Canada in November 2011 with a broadened distribution channel and the opening of a service and support center. “Looking back, it’s been a great year for us,” NSK Dental President Mirco Stiehle told Dental Tribune America during the 2012 meeting.
“We saw very nice growth every month this year and did even better than we were expecting with our expanded distribution channels,” Stiehle said.
NSK products continue to be designed and built in Japan, with virtually every phase of the process taking place in house — from product concept through each step of the manufacturing process. With the opening of the service and support center just outside of Chicago, all product support activities for North American sales are now handled domestically. The North American service center was key in supporting NSK’s shift from an exclusive distributor relationship to working with all of the major dental-product distributors in North America.
The market has been receptive to NSK’s larger presence. That wasn’t surprising given the company’s global expansion record of accomplishment. Yet there have been at least a couple surprises that market analysis didn’t reveal ahead of time.
“One big surprise for us has been the popularity of our electric handpieces,” Stiehle said. “The U.S. is traditionally a high-speed, air-driven market, but we have been extremely successful with the electric too. There seems to be a real customer need for it.”
Stiehle said the NSK reputation for high quality, combined with the lighter weights, friendly ergonomics and an attractive price point have resonated with customers. The company’s Ti-Max Z series of electric handpieces, for example, offers dentists the smallest head and slimmest neck in electric attachments.
“We see this trend continuing,” Stiehle said of the surprising amount of interest in the electric-motor products. “It’s obviously hitting an untapped demand in the marketplace.”
On the air-drive side, the S-Max Pico has been another nice surprise for the company. Originally designed to help dentists in Asian countries who were often working with patients with smaller mouths, the S-Max Pico has been widely embraced by dentists working with children. It boasts the industry’s smallest head and neck size of any handpiece, and has been one of the company’s most popular products in North America.
Stiehle said dental professionals could expect more new products from NSK in 2013, with new ideas always in play based on feedback and requests the company receives from customers.
“That’s what NSK stands for. We believe in innovation — and new products,” Stiehle said.
