NN, Inc.: Keep on rolling

There is something nostalgic about companies that manufacture hard tactual things that exist in the physical world. Such manufactures conjure images of the robber-baron years of yore, where huge industrial monoliths created blush-inducing wealth and powered the U.S. economy at a pace China can only imagine.

Of course, those days have long been relegated to historical contemplation; U.S gross domestic now trundles along at a 3% to 4% annual pace (if we're lucky) and most of the industrial manufacturing might has been supplanted by things ephemeral and ambiguous like cyberspace and silicone.

But that's OK; plenty of U.S. companies still thrive on manufacturing hard, tactual things—they just do it on a smaller, more environmentally friendly scale. NN, Inc. (Nasdaq: NNBR) is one of these smaller, more environmentally friendly manufacturers. Specifically, it manufactures high-precision ball-and-roller bearings, steel balls, cylindrical rollers, and plastic and metal retainers. The company's output can be found in such diverse machinery as automotive gearboxes, wheel bearings, hydraulic pumps, electronic instrument and fluid control components.

Since its formation in 1980, NN has grown primarily by acquiring other bearing manufacturers (think an ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) strategy, but on a more modest scale). Today, the business encompasses a diversified customer base spread across Europe (59% of sales), North America (30%) and Asia (11%) that's served by an equally diversified production base spread across the United States, Europe and China.

This production base was further spread and diversified last November with the purchase of Whirlaway Corp., a manufacturer of precision metal components and fluid control assemblies, for $45.6 million. Whirlaway is expected to add another $70 million to $75 million to a top-line that has grown at a 17.8% average annual clip over the past decade.   

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