By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat Nidec-Shimpo Corporation (Japan) yesterday launched a new line at its Subic Freeport factory for the mass production of robot components. Nidec-Shimpo is a leading innovator of precision-gearing solutions for robotics and industrial automation. Nidec-Shimpo First Senior Vice President Hitoshi Inoue said the wholly-owned company of Japan’s Nidec Corp. and sister-company of Nidec Subic Philippine Corp. will initially build speed reducers for high-precision motion control applications at the rate of 10,000 to 25,000 units per month. He pointed out that the Subic factory’s monthly product capacity is greater than the combined capacity of Nidec’s plants in Kyoto, which was at 30,000 units in 2018, and in Ueda, which is expected to reach 50,000 units in 2019. But the plant’s target production is expected to increase to 100,000 units per month at the end of this year, and to 120,000 units per month by March 2020, he added. The Subic-made products will be exported to Spain, the United States and Germany, he added. Inoue stressed that the gearless component parts to be produced in Subic are an entirely new product line that has not been manufactured elsewhere in the world. He described them as “super silent, and with zero backlash and smooth rotation.” The launch of Nidec-Shimpo operations was attended by Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda, Senator Richard Gordon, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma, and Assistant Secretary Rafaelita Aldaba of the Department of Trade and Industry. Haneda said Nidec’s expansion “demonstrates the continuing Japanese investor confidence in the Philippines’ business potential (and) shows the rigorous effort of Nidec to take advantage of opportunities and take on challenges to break new ground.”