Motor manufacturer Nidec has made significant expansions to its capabilities recently through two corporate acquisitions plus adding new manufacturing plants in India and Serbia. All involve various degrees of magnetic technology and add new dimensions to Nidec’s market presence. It has:
- acquired Houma Armature, a motor and generator service company in the USA;
- acquired Midori Precisions, a producer of potentiometers and encoders in Japan;
- opened two new factories in Serbia to meet growing demand for automotive motors and inverters in Europe while establishing a center for a cluster of future manufacturing operations;
- added a new manufacturing plant in India for producing e-bike motors.
In December, it held an opening ceremony for the new, second building of its existing factory in Neemrana, India where it will now manufacture drive motors for electric bikes with an output of 30kW or less. The existing factory produces automotive, appliance, commercial, and industrial motors. Global sales of electric two-wheel vehicles are expected to grow from 2.6 million units in 2020 to 13 million units in 2030. Nidec plans to tap into the demand by manufacturing 90,000 e-bike motors per month at the factory.
The purchase of Houma Armature Works, a motor and generator service company in Houma, Louisiana was completed in July. The acquisition fits in with the strategy of group company Nidec Motor Corporation (NMC) to operate both in product manufacturing and as an aftermarket service partner for end-users. The deal enables NMC to enhance its service offering, including expanding its share within its own U.S. installed base, and Houma will be able to provide services to NMC customers.
With about 90 employees and $31 million in annual sales, Houma remanufactures motors and generators and provides field service to oil and gas producers, operating out of Louisiana and Texas. The end-users they service are on- and off-shore drilling, marine and wind renewable energy power generator manufacturers, including Kato Engineering, Leroy-Somer, and US Motors, all of which are under the Nidec umbrella. In addition to providing services for various motor manufacturers, Houma has bases near the most active oil and gas extraction areas in the U.S. and Mexico, able to provide speedy services to many of the largest oil and gas producers.
Two major new factories are coming online in Serbia with a corporate vision for more there in the future. Nidec Electric Motor Serbia plans to mass-produce automotive motors, and Nidec Elesys Europe plans to mass-produce automotive inverters and electronic control modules. Along with producing existing product lines, the plants fit into Nidec’s goal to mass produce e-axle traction motors for electric vehicles in Europe in the future, building an industrial cluster of automotive motors for the European market. The new factories are positioned to establish a centralized base for the Nidec Group’s production activities, and multiple businesses of the group are scheduled to expand into the local area in the future.
The motor plant will have about a thousand employees initially on a site area of 59,760 square meters, the motor and control unit plant will employ about 200 initially and has a site area of 35,000 square meters. Both located in Novi Sad, about 90 km northwest of the capital Belgrade, they were officially opened in May.
The Midori Precision acquisition came in spring 2023, bringing new products and technological capabilities with potentiometers and encoders into the operations of Nidec Copal Electronics, a manufacturer of small-size and precison motors. Going forward, Nidec Copal plans to invest more into the Midori position sensing business to grow it into a major pillar of the company..
Nidec Copal makes small precision motors, brushless DC motors, brushed motors and stepping motors that are used in IT, office automation equipment, appliances, audio visual products and automobiles. Founded in 1952 in Japan as the manufacturer of electro-mechanical transducers, Midori introduced in the 1990’s a contactless potentiometer line which adapted the Hall Effect IC as the sensing element and now develops a wide range of position sensing solutions for aerospace, automotive construction, marine, off-road machinery, manufacturing automation, and medical equipment industries.
Based in Kyoto, Nidec Corporation is composed of some 340 group companies employing more than 100,000 people worldwide. A comprehensive electric motor manufacturer, it produces motors ranging from micro-size to super large, as well as application products and services in IT, automation, home appliances, automobiles, commercial and industrial systems, environmental, energy, and many other businesses. With headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, Nidec Motor Corporation (NMC) manufactures commercial, industrial, and appliance motors and controls. See www.nidec.com.
