NSK America—with corporate HQ in Japan—manufactures machine tools spindles and hand tools for turning and machining centers. Chris Rezny, Sales Manager Industrial Division, explained to me that NSK’s unique logo is a combination of a dragonfly and one of the company’s hand tools—the hand tool being the “body” of the dragonfly. Chris told me that the dragonfly is an important symbol in Japanese culture. “It symbolizes summer and autumn and is admired and respected all over, so much so that the Samurai use it as a symbol of courage, power, agility and best of all—victory.”
Chris went on to explain that the NSK manufacturing facility in Japan filters the water that they use in the manufacturing process, multiple times and then the water from the plant returns to a pond in front of the plant. “This pond supports the breeding and lifecycle of coy fish as well as dragonflies,” he said. “Both of these species need clean water to breed and the coy fish—to live. The duality of the dragonfly and its meaning as courage, strength … and the fact that so many species breed and multiple by the NSK facility … has led to the symbol for NSK as the dragonfly.”
