Nidec Center for Industrial Science Starts Operations

After a year of construction, the first section of the new Nidec Center for Industrial Science in Seika-cho, Kyoto prefecture has been completed. Under the direction of Professor Masafumi Maeda of the University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science, the new facility, which started operations in late February, will bring together companies, research institutions and universities from all around the world and serve as a global hub for research and development of technology aimed at making manufacturing more efficient.

The emergence of industry 4.0 is having a dramatic impact on manufacturing, with new technologies such as AI, IoT, robotics, advanced logistics and smart technologies. In a January interview with a Japanese newspaper, Nidec's founder and CEO Shigenobu Nagamori outlined his prediction that “a global full-scale move towards completely automated factories will start gaining traction as early as 2030.”

Manufacturing technology and factory automation have been major topics of research and development at Nidec for the past couple of years and the construction of the Nidec Center for Industrial Science is the next step in advancing the company’s strategy for IoT and smart technologies for use in factories, logistics and the energy sector. The center will also assist in building the technological foundation that will enable the Nidec Group to achieve its 2020 net sales goal of 2 trillion yen, and its 2030 net sales goal of 10 trillion yen.

Initially, the center will be staffed by 350 researchers and administrative staff. After the second section is completed, this number will be expanded to 1000. The total investment amount is approximately 30 billion yen (including land, building, equipment, construction of the second section etc). The building has 6 floors and a large triple-layered atrium that will house a pilot production line area. The design was supervised by Professor Kotaro Imai at Imai Laboratory in the Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo, famed for its wealth of experience in the design of research and development facilities.