Nidec to launch factory automation robots

Nidec is to start selling factory automation and robotics systems some time this year, according to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review. 

Japanese company Nidec already has a strong presence in the industrial space, and is a huge supplier of motors.

In the company’s own words, it specialises in and handles motor application products based on “everything that spins and moves”, and says its business is “centred on motors”. 

There are many type of motors and they are used in many different sectors, but they are mainly to found in industrial and automotive applications.

According to the report in Nikkei, Nidec will develop and test the robots it builds in its own factories first before offering them to outside companies.

Nidec’s vice chairman Mikio Katayama is said to have a vision of restructuring the business around the “smart factory” concept.

A smart factory is one where all machines and infrastructure is connected, automated and digitalised.

Some companies have built highly automated factories which are classed as smart factories but the trend is relatively new, and difficult to achieve without advanced technology and entirely new skills, often in software development, as opposed to skills in hardware development, the traditional strongpoint for the industrial sector.

Nidec is also developing service robots for cleaning, security, and customer relations.