Challenge Fanuc! The motor giant first bought Mitsubishi Heavy Industries machine tools, and then bought machine tool manufacturer OKK

Following the completion of the acquisition of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tools, Nidec Japan Densan, the world's largest electric motor manufacturer, will acquire machine tool manufacturer OKK.

In February, Nikkei reported that motor maker Nidec would acquire the machine tool business of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which will own the assets and development rights of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tools for about 30 billion yen (about 1.8 billion yuan). The acquisition will enable Nidec to take over the development of automotive gears and become a complete propulsion solution provider for electric vehicles.

Recently, Japan Denco has made a new move, and it will acquire OKK, a long-established Japan machine tool manufacturer, in January 2022. It is understood that Japan Dec will invest 5.4 billion yen, with a stake ratio of about 67%, and by January 2022, OKK will officially become a subsidiary.

Founded in 1915, OKK is a well-known machine tool manufacturer in Japan, focusing on small and medium-sized "machining centers" that can automatically change a variety of tools and cut and drill at the same time, and has always been good at stainless steel and nickel alloys with high heat resistance and other materials that are difficult to cut with high precision.

Japan Densho, one of the world's largest motor manufacturers, also focuses on automotive business. In addition to traction motor drive systems for electric vehicles that integrate motors, inverters, and reducers, the company is also focusing on the equipment business of stamping machines and reducers, aiming to achieve sales of 10 trillion yen in FY2030.

Sales as of March 2021 were approximately 23 billion yen, more than half of which were domestic sales in Japan, and overseas business expansion remains a challenge. Therefore, in addition to expanding its overseas production and service bases, Japan Denco Machine Tool will increase its overseas sales ratio by leveraging Japan's global network.

In order to accelerate the achievement of this goal, Japan Denco completed the acquisition of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tools in August 2021 and began operations under the name "Japan Denco Machine Tools". Regarding the acquisition, Japan Denco said that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries leads the whole of Japan in gear cutting and grinding equipment for its automotive applications, and because the company expects greater demand for its automotive E-Axle traction motor systems, they want to have the capacity to produce these equipment, "hoping to use Mitsubishi Heavy Industries machine tool technology in future insourcing programs." Nidec previously announced that it plans to become the world's leading manufacturer of electric motors for electric vehicles. To this end, Nidec has made special investments in expanding production and purchasing the necessary assets. Nidec plans to invest approximately $10 billion by 2025.

Ambitious to compete with companies such as Fanuc

The acquisition of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which not only provides Japan Denko with experience in gear and gear manufacturing, but also in the production of basic industrial equipment for this market, making it a complete traction solution provider for electric vehicles.

Japanese media believe that the purpose of Densan's acquisition of Japan machine tool manufacturer OKK is to expand the existing machine tool lineup, broaden profit sources other than motors, and also to improve the competitiveness of machine tool motors that lag behind in market share competition, aiming at companies such as Fanuc, which are strong in this field.

China is the world's largest market for AC servo motors, and it will continue to expand in the future. The world's major AC servo motor manufacturers such as China and Japan are very competitive in this market.

To this end, in October last year, Japan Denko Sankyo officially began to expand sales of the S-FLAG II in China. The S-FLAGII. is the world's first AC servo motor with a built-in 23-bit magnetic encoder. Previously, the S-FLAGII. had been mass-produced at the Chinese plant in the same year. Japan Den's Sankyo aims to expand its market share through high-quality, durable products and price competitiveness. The company is a core company of the Japan Electricity Group.

The new product S-FLAGII. is the product of the mature technology and scale effect of the Japan Dec Group. The product was developed in Japan and is currently mass-produced at a plant in Guangdong Province, China. The S-FLAGII. has a rugged structure that can withstand harsh working conditions such as machine tools. In contrast to other companies that use optical encoders, Japan Denso Sankyo uses magnetic encoders. Magnetic encoders are completely unaffected by dust, while optical encoders are susceptible to this. In addition, the magnetic encoder is completely in-house, including the magnetization process. As a result, this makes Sankyo's products more price competitive.

At present, China ranks first in the world in terms of production volume of liquid crystal substrates and OLED substrates. All LCD and OLED substrate factories in China have deployed a large number of glass substrate handling robots that can handle substrates larger than a 3-meter-long square. Japan Denso Sankyo has an absolute market share of glass substrate handling robots. The robot uses an AC servo motor from Sankyo.

Challenge Fanuc! The motor giant first bought Mitsubishi Heavy Industries machine tools, and then bought machine tool manufacturer OKK

It is reported that Japan Denko's machine tool aims to achieve sales of 100 billion yen in the March 2026 period. In order to expand its machine tool business, Japan Denco will invest a total of 70 billion to 80 billion yen in two subsidiaries of Nidec Symposium and Nidec Machine Tool in the fiscal year ending March 2026, and plans to acquire and acquire new plants. The combined sales of the two companies will reach 250 billion yen, which is 2.6 times that of the fiscal year ended March 2021. "We are considering building a large plant in Europe or Asia, and we will determine the location of the plant within the next month, and we will start production in 2023 at the latest," said Nidec Machine Tool. ”

According to Japan Densho, the first step in expanding the production system of the machine tool business is to establish production bases in Europe and Asia. In addition, the company is considering the acquisition of a number of companies that are expected to create synergies, especially in Europe, which is home to a large number of machine tool manufacturers.

Japan Den: Aims to account for more than 40% of the global share by 2030

On October 26 this year, Japan Electronics announced that it expects its consolidated net profit (IAS) for the full year 2021 (ending March 2022) to increase by 21% year-on-year to 148 billion yen. Previously, the forecast was for a record high net profit of 140 billion yen, but this time it will be further raised.

Strong performance in businesses such as energy-saving motors for home appliances will offset the impact of reduced automobile production due to semiconductor shortages and shutdowns in Southeast Asia. Japan Denco also revealed that it is considering the construction of new plants in China and North America for electric vehicle (EV) motors.

At an online earnings briefing held on the 26th, Japan Dec Chairman Shigenobu Nagamori said, "We plan to build another plant in China and a plant in North America." The company aims to acquire more than 40% of the global market by 2030, including a plant in Zhejiang Province, China, which is already in operation.

Challenge Fanuc! The motor giant first bought Mitsubishi Heavy Industries machine tools, and then bought machine tool manufacturer OKK

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