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MOTORS AND DRIVES
question, ‘What more could we be doing to help
our customers win?”
The answer was to form an innovative
approach to partnering, by “leveraging shared
resources, listening to our customers and finding
the growth opportunities in a negative industry
cycle,” says Duhamel. The 10-year duration of the
partnership agreement reflects the trust between
the two companies, and their commitment to
and electric power generation businesses
of Emerson Electric Co in August 2016.
Nidec said it has been “actively developing
a new growth platform with particular focus
on industrial and commercial business.” As
part of this strategy, the company has for a
number of years pursued acquisitions of
strategic businesses that enhance its new
growth platform. In October 2010, Nidec
moving the dial on productivity for customers.
The first site of integrated operations will be
Komatsu’s established service facility at
Welshpool, an inner south-eastern suburb of
acquired the Motors & Controls business,
currently known as Nidec Motor Corporation
(NMC), from Emerson. In order to further
strengthen the Nidec’s industrial and commercial
Perth in WA, to be followed closely by an
Australian east-coast integrated workshop in
Brisbane. Learnings from running these pilot
business, centred on NMC, the Company
acquired Ansaldo Sistemi Industriali SpA, a
manufacturer of large industrial motors, drives
and generators, in June 2012. Subsequently in
facilities will set the tone for other region-specific
ventures to support mining customers in South
Africa, Brazil and beyond.
At Welshpool, GE is leasing premises on the
Komatsu site, and investing millions of dollars in
equipment that enables electrical testing, full
machining capability, balancing, rewind and
vacuum pressure impregnation (VPI), says
Duhamel, who is overseeing design, fitout and
processes of the GE remanufacturing line. In the
west alone he anticipates workshop capacity to
be “somewhere around 300 overhauls a year,
depending on component mix” on an Australian
fleet of some 900 Komatsu electric-drive trucks.
Flotation drive reliability
A major global mineral and metals processing
equipment OEM needed reliable belt drive
solutions for its line of mining flotation cells
producing copper concentrate. A belt drive,
positioned over the top of the tank, is connected
to a shaft that extends down through the centre
of the tank to the agitator (impeller) that
continuously mixes the slurry solution.
The OEM contacted TB Wood’s based on a
long-term relationship, along with its reputation
for quality and on-time delivery. The TB Wood’s
engineering team provided technical support to
ensure that each drive system was sized correctly
to meet the requirements of the different sized
tanks within the customer’s line. TB Wood’s
manufactures hundreds of gray iron standard and
Made-to-Order (MTO) sheaves in a wide variety of
September 2012 the company also acquired
Avtron Industrial Automation, Inc, a manufacturer
of industrial encoders, and Kinetek Group Inc, a
manufacturer of commercial motors. Through
these acquisition initiatives, Nidec has gained
extensive geographic reach and product lineups
which complement the company’s existing
operations, essential in increasing the breadth and
depth of its industrial and commercial business. In
line with this strategy, the latest transaction enables
Nidec to further enhance its industrial and
commercial business and significantly grow Nidec’s
scale in this market so that Nidec can flexibly meet its
customers’ increasing needs.
The newly acquired Emerson business “has a
strong brand, solid business foundation and
excellent customer base, particularly in Europe
and North America. The business has
experienced a cyclical decline in recent
performance as a result of the significant drop in
oil prices and weak macro-economic conditirons;
however, Nidec expects the business to grow as
the cycle recovers and as synergies are realised
in the mid- to long-term perspective." The
Transaction combines Nidec’s medium-voltage
drives (motor controls) and the Emerson
business’s low-voltage drives, industry-leading
technologies and product lines, enhancing
Nidec’s product lineups and competitive position.
Nidec is an important player in mining drives,
particularly its SR range underground. Nidec SR
Schneider Electric has broadened its variable
speed drives offer with the launch of the new
Altivar Process 900 range
includes a solution for energy-intensive
applications in mining, minerals and metals
sectors. The new Altivar Process 900 range is
available for 230V and 460V supply in standalone drive modules through 250 hp. Drive
systems versions will be available later this year
through 900 hp. "Altivar Process drives provide
advanced operational intelligence to plant
operations and process professionals, while
offering embedded guidance for operations and
maintenance personnel. These standard features
help to optimise business performance by
reducing commissioning time and significantly
improving production uptime. In addition, Altivar
Process is designed to stringent reliability and
sustainability standards to ensure long
operating life and industry leading energy
optimisation during production, lowering
operating costs.”
Mike Brown, Director US Industry Applied
Offer Solutions, Schneider Electric: “Our
services-oriented drives concept allows
customers to easily make informed and
meaningful business decisions based on the
embedded intelligence of Altivar Process for
everything from single-drive projects to complex
multidrive applications involving advanced loadsharing functions.”
Altivar Process “is a unique drive offer that
provides meaningful and timely information to
industry specialists, such as petroleum engineers
or mining engineers, using terminology and
graphics familiar to these professionals, rather
than simply speaking the language of drives
specialists. The drive connects to the industrial
network, delivering process information directly
sizes. The 3- and 5-groove units for this
application ranged from 4.5" to 97" diameters.
All MTO sheaves were private branded by either
Drives Manufacturing Ltd based in the UK has
successfully utilised SR Drive switched
reluctance technology in its range of DIAMOND
drive systems for the underground coal industry.
casting or stamping the customer’s part number
on each unit. Mated QD bushings were also
shipped for each sheave. In all it involved a
DIAMOND drives installed within the mining
industry range from 35 kW to 300 kW and are
employed as drives on belt conveyors, armoured
steelworks. Altivar Process is able to
communicate real-time data through built-in
internet connectivity. This allows staff to adjust
solution for 130 complete belt drive systems.
face conveyors, traction systems and pumps.
Nidec acquires remaining Emerson
motors and drives business
Scheider enhances Altivar VSD offering
their operations, reducing energy usage and
improving production outputs. The connectivity
provided by Altivar Process isn’t limited to local
Schneider Electric has broadened its variable
speed drives offer with the launch of the new
Altivar Process 900 range. The updated range
operations. It also allows technical experts
located anywhere in the world to review output
information and provide advice to operators.” IM
In M&A activity the big news is that Nidec
Corporation recently acquired the motors, drives
58 International Mining | NOVEMBER 2016
to users’ fingertips. This helps optimise each
industrial process, whether it’s a conveyor belt in
a mine, pump for an oil well or process crane in a