Carter Manufacturing Company

What Carter Manufacturing Company does

Carter Manufacturing Company (doing business as Carter Bearings) is a privately held U.S. manufacturer of high precision needle bearings headquartered and produced at a single facility in Grand Haven, Michigan. The company has operated for over 50 years (founded 1959 per firmographics) and holds ISO 9001:2015 certification covering all production. Its product portfolio spans standard cam followers and yoke rollers, heavy cylindrical double-row roller bearings, chrome plated bearings, Xtenda™ stainless steel bearings for food-grade and washdown environments, Neverlube™ self-lubricating bearings, Hi-Roller™ heavy-duty bearings and idler rollers, and polyurethane-coated bearings, plus a custom bearings service for discontinued, obsolete, or unique applications.

Carter sells primarily to industrial B2B customers across at least six verticals: food and beverage processing, heavy equipment and machinery, robotics and automation, industrial packaging and conveying, medical equipment, and general industrial manufacturing (oil and gas, machine tools, pulp and paper, can manufacturing). Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed; the company drives leads via a request-a-quote form, phone/fax/email, state-based sales representatives covering the United States, and a global industrial distributor network. A web-based cross-reference tool lets buyers map discontinued McGill, RBC, Smith, Torrington, and Osborn part numbers to Carter equivalents, and the company supports it with in-house engineering, quality control, and customer service under one roof.

Revenue mechanics are concentrated in two streams — precision bearing sales and custom bearing engineering — both realized as hardware sales with no software, subscription, or service-revenue component disclosed. Carter Aerospace operates as an affiliated company targeting aerospace applications, and Active Manufacturing is a corporate affiliate providing additional manufacturing capacity within the same family of companies. The company is privately held, has no disclosed funding rounds or institutional investors, and does not publish revenue, headcount trend, or contract data.

Name

Carter Manufacturing Company

Legal name

Carter Manufacturing Company, Inc.

Website

https://carterbearings.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1970

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Carter Manufacturing Company (Carter Bearings) is a privately held, ISO 9001:2015-certified U.S. manufacturer of high precision needle bearings — including cam followers, cylindrical rollers, and proprietary Xtenda™, Neverlube™, and Hi-Roller™ lines — serving industrial B2B customers across food processing, heavy equipment, robotics, packaging, medical, and general industrial manufacturing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Grand Haven

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Precision Bearing Sales: Revenue generated from the manufacture and sale of high precision bearings including Standard Cam Followers, Chrome Plated Bearings, Hi-Rollers, Neverlube, Poly Coated Bearings, and Xtenda Stainless Steel Bearings. Products are sold directly to industrial customers and through distribution channels.
2. Custom Bearing Engineering: Custom engineering solutions for discontinued, obsolete, or unique bearing requirements, providing tailored products for specific customer needs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Carter Manufacturing Company designs, engineers, and manufactures high-precision needle bearings, including cam followers, yoke rollers, heavy cylindrical roller bearings, and specialized bearings (stainless steel, chrome plated, polyurethane coated, and self-lubricating) at its Grand Haven, Michigan facility. The company produces both standard catalog bearings and custom-engineered bearing solutions for discontinued, obsolete, or unique industrial requirements, serving manufacturers in food processing, heavy equipment, robotics, packaging, and medical equipment.

Product overview

Carter Manufacturing Company (Carter Bearings) is a high precision bearings manufacturer offering a comprehensive portfolio of bearing products. The core product lines include Standard Cam Followers and Yoke Rollers, Heavy Cylindrical Roller Bearings (Cylindrical Double Row HD), Chrome Plated Bearings, Xtenda™ Stainless Steel Bearings, Hi-Roller™ Bearings and Idler Rollers, Poly Coated Bearings, and Neverlube™ Self-Lubricating Bearings. These products range from general-purpose standard bearings to specialized corrosion-resistant, high-load, and self-lubricating designs. Additionally, the company offers Custom Bearings for discontinued, obsolete, or unique requirements. Carter also provides a web-based Cross Reference Tool enabling customers to match Carter part numbers against competitor brands including McGill, RBC, Smith, Torrington, and Osborn.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Standard Cam Followers and Yoke Rollers Reliable needle bearing cam followers and yoke rollers for everyday industrial use, available in sealed and unsealed versions designed to reduce friction and extend service life. Intended for general industrial equipment manufacturers.
• Heavy Cylindrical Roller Bearings (Cylindrical Double Row HD) Heavy-duty cylindrical roller bearings engineered to handle the toughest loads for industrial equipment and heavy machinery applications.
• Chrome Plated Bearings Cam followers manufactured from high-strength bearing steel with thin dense chrome plate finish, providing improved wear behavior, higher load capacity than stainless steel, and superior corrosion resistance for demanding industrial environments.
• Xtenda™ Stainless Steel Bearings Stainless steel bearings built specifically for food-grade and washdown applications in food and beverage processing, designed to withstand frequent cleaning and corrosive environments.
• Hi-Roller™ Bearings and Idler Rollers Heavy-duty bearings and idler rollers designed for higher speeds and heavier loads, engineered with deep groove ball bearings for high-speed performance or tapered rollers for maximum load capacity. Suitable for conveyor systems, load transfer, and heavy-duty industrial equipment.
• Polyurethane Coated Bearings Bearings with polyurethane coating that provide quiet, non-marking, and clean operation for applications requiring minimal noise and surface marking.
• Neverlube™ Self-Lubricating Bearings Self-lubricating bearing design that eliminates the need for external lubrication, reducing maintenance requirements and extending operational uptime.
• Custom Bearing Solutions Tailored bearing solutions engineered for discontinued, obsolete, or unique application requirements, including custom specifications and laser etching included at no additional cost. Intended for industrial customers with specialized or hard-to-source bearing needs.

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered affiliated.

• Active ManufacturingaffiliatedOthersAffiliated company under the Carter Manufacturing corporate umbrella, providing additional manufacturing capabilities within the same corporate family.
• Carter AerospaceaffiliatedOthersAffiliated company specializing in aerospace bearings, part of the Carter Manufacturing family of companies with shared precision manufacturing expertise.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• McGill (Emerson/RBC): McGill is named in Carter's cross-reference list and is historically one of the closest direct competitors in cam followers and needle bearings, with overlapping industrial customer base and application coverage.
• RBC Bearings: RBC Bearings is a direct competitor explicitly named in Carter's cross-reference tool, manufacturing precision bearings including needle, cam followers, and roller bearings serving aerospace, defense, and industrial markets with comparable product breadth but at far greater scale.
• Smith Bearing: Smith Bearing is named in Carter's cross-reference tool and produces cam followers, needle rollers, and specialty bearings - a direct competitor in Carter's core product categories.
• Aurora Bearing: Aurora Bearing manufactures rod ends, spherical bearings, and custom-engineered bearings for similar industrial customers - a small specialty competitor with a similar bespoke-engineering orientation to Carter.
• Osborn (Lippert/Ingersoll-Rand): Osborn is named in Carter's cross-reference list and historically competes in cam followers, idler rollers, and brush products; relevant as another specialty bearing/roller brand competing for similar replacement and OEM industrial buyers.

Broad incumbents

• INA (Schaeffler Group): INA, part of Schaeffler, is a global leader in needle bearings and cam followers - directly competing with Carter's core offering as part of a much broader portfolio including automotive, industrial, and aftermarket divisions.
• SKF: SKF is the world's largest bearing manufacturer serving virtually every industrial vertical Carter targets, including food processing, heavy equipment, and material handling, with far greater scale and global service network.
• Timken (Torrington): Timken acquired the Torrington brand - explicitly named in Carter's cross-reference tool - making it a major incumbent competitor with deep industrial and automotive bearing portfolios and far greater distribution scale.
• NSK: NSK is a globally dominant bearing manufacturer with full-line needle roller, cam follower, and roller bearing coverage across industrial automation, food processing, and heavy equipment markets.
• NTN-SNR: NTN-SNR is a major global bearing and constant-velocity joint manufacturer with broad industrial bearing lines targeting automation, conveyors, and heavy equipment - comparable end customers to Carter's industrial base.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Carter Manufacturing Company