SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—A Japanese manufacturer of precision gears and other industrial automation solutions has proposed to setup a facility here to produce key components for industrial robots.
Nidec-Shimpo Corp. (Japan), a wholly owned company of Japan’s Nidec Corp. and sister company of Nidec Subic Philippine Corp., will build reduction gears considered vital in controlling the speed and traction of electronic equipment.
The company, which has affiliated units worldwide, is engaged in the manufacture and sales of variable speed drive and speed reducers, factory automation systems, ceramic equipment, electronic instruments, DC brushless motors, press machines and fee attachments, dies, and other machinery and tools.
Nidec-Shimpo Corporate Planning Manager Tadahiro Togami, Corporate Planning Chief Manager Otoharu Tomita, and Vice President for Administration Tetsuya Nakao presented their plan to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma Eisma last week, saying they will initially hire 100 workers to start the project.
They assured Eisma the operations would eventually involve as many as 1,000 workers when the facility is fully completed.
Eisma welcomed the proposal, noting that aside from proving the continuing investor confidence in this special economic zone, the entry of Nidec-Shimpo “will further elevate Subic’s place in high-end manufacturing and increase the stature of local workers in the areas of precision engineering and technology.”
She added Japanese companies here at the Subic Technology Park are now among the leading innovators and manufacturers in the field of technology in the country.
The reduction gears that Nidec-Shimpo will produce in Subic will reportedly be intended for export to Europe. Currently, Nidec-Shimpo has plants and marketing offices in the US, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Korea, India, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
SBMA Business and Investment Department for Manufacturing and Maritime Head Karen Magno said Nidec-Shimpo’s sister firm in Subic is now the world’s top manufacturer of small precision motors.
She said Nidec Subic Philippines currently holds the largest market share in the world for spindle motors, which rotate disks and are at the heart of hard-disk drives used in personal computers.