Drives & Controls September 2022

n NEWS September 2022 www.drivesncontrols.com 6 ABB ISBUYINGSIEMENS’low- voltage Nemamotors operation for an undisclosed sum. The business, which has manufacturing operations in Guadalajara, Mexico, produces motors mainly for the North Americamarket. It employs about 600 people and last year generated revenues worth around $63m. ABB says that the transaction is part of its growth strategy for its Motion business. The deal will enhance the product offering of its Nema motors division, expand its supply chain relationships, and improve support for North American customers. The Nema motor industry, worth roughly $2.7bn, consists of industrial electric motors mainly used in North America. ABB adds that the acquisition will further establish itself as a leader in the Nema motors market and deliver on its promise to expand into newmarkets and to grow its market share profitably. “This bolt-on acquisition creates strong value for ABB’s Nema motors division,”says ABB Motion president, Tarak Mehta. “Investing in the business and opening up sales opportunities in North America – and especially Mexico – will allow this business to be margin-accretive to the ABB Motion business within 24 months.” The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2023. • Blake Griffin, a senior analyst at Interact Analysis, points out that despite Siemens being the world’s second-largest motor manufacturer, its presence in the Americas is relatively small, giving it sixth position in the market. By Interact’s estimates, Siemens’ Nema operation represented only around 6% of its low-voltage motors business. Siemens has also been moving away from being an industrial components supplier towards providing industrial digitalisation software and services. Griffin believes that the sale of the Nema division is a move to exit markets non- essential to this strategy. ABB, on the other hand, has been building its Nema business. In 2011, it acquired Baldor Electric – at the time the largest motor supplier in North America. This made ABB the global market-leader in low- voltage industrial motors, as well as the largest supplier of Nema motors. The planned acquisition will put ABB’s share of the Nema market at 35–40% – much higher than its nearest rival. ABB buys Siemens’ Nema motors business, lifting its US presence p The global industrial automation industry was worth $196bn in 2021 and will grow to $443bn by 2031 – a CAGR of 8.7% – according to AlliedMarket Research . In a new report, Allied says that software accounted for more than 40% of the automation market in 2021, although it expects hardware to lead in terms of revenues by 2031. The fastest- growing segment is service, with an 11.7% CAGR. Sensors accounted for more than quarter of automation hardware sales in 2021, says Allied, with industrial robots being the fastest-growing technology with a predicted CAGR of 11.9% from 2022 to 2031. www.allliedmarketresearch.com p Insolvencies in the UK manufacturing sector have soared by 63% since last year, according to an analysis by the accountancy firm, Mazars . The number of manufacturers entering bankruptcy rose from 893 in 2020- 21 to 1,454 in 2021-22. Many more firms are likely to have been wound up voluntarily before becoming insolvent. The rise in insolvencies is being blamed on a combination of soaring energy prices, high interest rates and shrinking order books. www.mazars.co.uk p The Italian motor-maker Lafert is buying a factory previously operated by the corrosion- resistant equipment specialist Pfaudler as part of a long-term investment plan by its owner, Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI) to make Lafert a strategic hub for developing integrated products for SHI’s Emea Power Transmission Control (PTC) division. The development will include an r&d centre. The planned investment is in addition to €19m already being spent to boost Lafert’s production capacity, r&d department and sales network. This includes building an Industry 4.0 production plant. p Siemens is supplying automation technologies for new zero-emission production lines that Nissan is building at its Tochigi plant in Japan to manufacture its Ariya all-electric crossover vehicle. The lines will produce a new electric powertrain with standardised assembly. Profinet will provide comms from the field to the management level. Siemens’TIA Portal framework will be built into all automation devices, giving access to the entire digitised automation process, from planning to engineering and operation. NEWS BRIEFS Siemens’LV Nema motors business, which ABB is buying, has manufacturing operations in Mexico Construction has started on a £13m extension to the Oxfordshire Advanced Skills (OAS) training centre which will be used for new apprenticeship programmes in robotics, data science, cybersecurity, energy storage, power engineering and space. The OAS team is also developing a curriculum for a new automation and controls level 4 apprenticeship programme, which it expects to deliver from September 2023. The OAS, located at the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) Culham Science Centre, is a partnership between UKAEA and the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The extension is being funded by the Fusion Foundations Programme – a government initiative to enable the delivery of fusion energy by developing infrastructure, facilities and skills in the UK. “OAS aims to create the next generation of engineering talent and upskill the existing workforce,”says OAS director, David Martin.“It is an exciting time for OAS as we look to build on our success. The new courses will empower UK manufacturers to adopt transformative technology in space and robotics, helping businesses to better compete in the global marketplace.” The three-year-old facility will be extended by 2,355m 2 and will be ready to receive its first apprentices in September 2023, creating career- making opportunities for an 90 more apprentices in addition to the current 175. £13m extension will provide robotics and automation training