Nidec Corp., a Japanese manufacturer of motors, motor parts and industrial equipment, will break ground on a P40-billion expansion facility in the third quarter to support increasing demand for its products, the Department of Trade and Industry said Thursday.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the expansion project would increase the company’s production capacity for strain wave gears by 50,000 units a month. It will also add 35,000 square feet to its production area of 3.5 hectares.
“As the only country in the world producing high-precision gear components, DTI, the primordial agency tasked with facilitating the entry of foreign direct investments to the Philippines, will lend support to Nidec’s aspiration to achieve number one status as global specialist in harmonic drive systems,” he said.
The added investments will bring the factories’ total combined monthly exports to the US, EU, India, Korea, China and Brazil to 80,000 units.
Nidec’s expansion will open up at least 400 job opportunities to supplement its workforce, which may reach 1,000 once the expanded facility opens.
Nidec first established a factory in the Philippines in 1995—a factory in Laguna followed by anotyher in Subic. Both are engaged in the manufacture of motors and reducer gears.
The company’s operations in the Philippines were previously devoted to the production of spindle motors and related products. It has since expanded to cover more high-tech gear products used in the aerospace, robotics and solar tracking industries.
Special trade representative and commercial counselor of the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo Dita Angara-Mathay said Nidec initially planned to increase production of components for hard disk drives. A contraction in the global market for small sized spindle motors led to a shift in corporate strategy.
Mathay said the company relocated all its planetary gear business from China to the Philippines. Subsidiary and sister company Nidec Shimpo, one of the biggest global innovators for precision gearing solutions, started mass production of robotic components developed in Japan and the Philippines. The components were described by developers as extremely silent with zero backlash and smooth rotation.
Lopez thanked Nidec for consistently upgrading the skills of Filipino workers and engineers.
“As robotic systems and automation related technology are increasingly defining the configuration and operational systems of factories around the world, DTI is grateful that Nidec has poured resources to training Filipino engineers develop skills related to the production of precision motors and reducers,” he said.