In 1939 the increasing development and the use of vehicles of all kinds and new machines led to the founding of the North German ball bearing factory called Norddeutsche Kugellagerfabrik Brandt & Co. KG (NKF).

After 1945 (end of the 2nd World War), the ball bearing factory was confiscated by the Soviet Union for reparation payment purposes. Within the first two years all produced bearings were delivered exclusively to the Soviet Union.

From 1947 onwards urgently needed bearings were again made available for the German market.

Since the beginning of the 1960s the first completely automatic flow line had been used in the Berlin plant.

In the 1970s, the Berlin ball bearing plant was merged into the VEB (Volksseigener Betrieb) Kombinat Wälzlager und Normteile, with all bearing factories located in the GDR, headquartered in Karl-Marx-Stadt.

The first NC machines were installed in the 1980s.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, all 8 existing bearing plants of the GDR were merged into Deutsche Kugellagerfabriken GmbH (DKFL) based in Leipzig.

In 1991, due to the privatization process of all nationally owned companies the FAG Kugelfischer Georg Schäfer KGaA (merged into the Schaeffler Group in 2011) took over all German bearing plants belonging to Deutsche Kugellagefabriken Leipzig. After insolvency proceedings on all plants of DKFL in 1993, some individual bearing plants are continued as an independent company.

The company NKF Kugel- und Rollenlagerfabrik GmbH continues the more than 70 years old tradition of manufacturing ball bearings at its location in Berlin-Lichtenberg. Today, all types and sizes of roller and ball bearings are developed and produced by NKF.