March 2020

SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC has announced plans for a multi-million pound upgrade and expansion of its Leeds and Scarborough manufacturing sites in response to the growing demand for green technologies. It is also planning to create an innovation hub in Leeds, showcasing its energy management technologies. The Leeds and Scarborough sites currently specialise in the production of high-, medium- and low-voltage switchgear. The new investment will enable them to produce Schneider’s WI switchgear, which is used to transmit power from offshore windfarms to the grid. The factories will also start to produce technologies for use inside turbines. The Leeds plant will boost its production by 10%, creating new jobs and adding a new test cell and assembly line. Scarborough will add 1,000m 2 of space, as well as a painting line. Schneider is also planning to build a new innovation hub in Leeds, which will combine creative, production and manufacturing facilities. The hub will include a customer experience zone, a product innovation zone and an EcoStruxure control centre, focusing on sustainable energy management techniques. “We believe there is huge potential to enhance the skills, capabilities and production facilities in our Leeds and Scarborough sites to support the UK’s transition to renewable energy with high-quality products and technology manufactured here in the UK,” says Mike Hughes, zone president for Schneider Electric UK & Ireland. “Whilst the UK economy may be showing signs of slowing down, we believe there has never been a better time to invest in renewables technology production.” THE JAPANESE motor-maker Nidec has announced ambitious plans that, it hopes, will make it the global leader in motors and drivetrains for electric vehicles. It is investing around 200bn yen (£1.4bn) in three new plants in China, Poland and Mexico, which will have a combined output of around 10 million EV drives per year, with aim of catapulting its global market share from 4% at present to 35% within a decade. Nidec’s aim is to boost its total annual revenues from 1.55 trillion yen (£11bn) at present, to 5 trillion (£35bn) by 2025. The company’s founder and CEO, Shigenobu Nagamori, has set a goal of becoming a 10 trillion yen (£70bn) company by 2030. Currently, automotive products account for around 21% of Nidec’s revenues, with the largest share of its income (36%) still coming frommotors for appliances, and commercial and industrial applications, and 28.9% coming from its traditional market for small and precision motors. Around 10% of its income is derived frommotors for computer hard drives, but this market is shrinking as solid-state memory takes over. About 10% of Nidec’s revenues currently come from the machinery sector, including robots, factory automation systems and power transmission equipment. Contributing to this are Nidec’s drives subsidiary Control Techniques, and its French motor manufacturer, Leroy-Somer. Nagamori said last month that to achieve his 10 trillion yen target, Nidec will need to expand all of its businesses, adding that the biggest growth will come from products that are “completely novel”. He pointed out that by 2030, EVs will represent around 30% of the 90 million vehicles expected to be sold around the world. “I will build a manufacturing foundation that can respond to this sharp rise in demand,” he declared, adding that the traction motors needed to make this happen will “require unprecedented technological innovation”. Nidec recently announced 50kW and 200kW additions to its existing portfolio of EV drivetrains which combine motors, gearboxes and inverters. With the new models – due to enter production in 2022 and 2023 – Nidec estimates it can cater for 98% of the existing EV motor market. Nagamori believes that he will be able to sell EV motors for 30–50% less than his rivals. Nidec has already orders for more than 10 million of its “e- axles” that are due for delivery by 2025. Nidec already has an EV drivetrain joint venture with the PSA Group (owner of Peugeot, Citroen and Opel) which began operations last year and is expected to produce 120,000 systems this year and 180,000 in 2021, before reaching an eventual target of 900,000 drivetrains per year. Nagamori has earmarked around 500bn yen (£3.5bn) to continue his aggressive programme of mergers and acquisitions covering all parts of Nidec’s business. Last year, for example, it acquired a 90% stake in Roboteq, the US-based developer of ultra-low voltage drives for applications such as AGVs. www.nidec.com n NEWS 6 March 2020 www.drivesncontrols.com Nidec invests billions to take the lead in EV motors market Schneider expands two UK plants to meet renewables demand p SKF is planning to close its development centre in Livingston, Scotland, as part of a strategy to speed up its development of cloud- based condition-monitoring technologies, and to focus these activities in Sweden and France. It is planning to close the Livingston site, which employs around 50 people, by the end of 2021. p Fanuc is to supply BMW with 3,500 robots for new production lines and plants for existing and future models. The robots will be used mainly in body shops and for the production of doors and bonnets. They will include models customised to meet BMW’s needs. p Melrose Industries is looking to sell its Brush Electrical Machines business, according to a report from Bloomberg, which says the business could be worth around £100m. Melrose acquired Loughborough- based Brush in 2008 as part of FKI . It makes motors, generators and transformers. p The global market for simulation software will be worth more than $2.5bn by 2025, driven by new uses such as demonstrating regulatory compliance, accelerating product development, and testing new concepts, according to ABI Research . It predicts that the number of simulation software users will rise from 60,000 in 2018 to 172,000 by 2030. www.abiresearch.com p Bosch has consolidated its Internet of Things (IoT) activities in a new subsidiary called Bosch.IO , which will employ more than 900 people working in areas such as consulting, implementation and operation. Software and hardware developers will work on IoT projects with cloud specialists and others. p Global demand for packaging machinery will expand by 4.5% a year in the period to 2023, when it will be worth $60.4bn, according to new analysis by the Freedonia Group . More than half (56%) of this demand will come from makers of food and beverage products. www.freedoniagroup.com p Addnode Group , which supplies software and services for design and engineering activities and owns Symetri , has acquired UK-based Excitech , which supplies CAD, BIM, PDM software, training and consultancy services to the manufacturing and construction sectors. Excitech has more than 3,500 customers and 150 staff, and net sales of more than £50m. p The global market for Scada products is expanding at about 7.5% a year and will exceed $50bn by 2026, according to a new report from Global Market Insights . It says that the emergence of cloud-based Scada systems is providing new market opportunities, and cutting maintenance and installation costs. www.gminsights.com Nidec’s recently announced 200kW EV drivetrain weighs just 95kg, but can deliver 4.2kNm of torque