Products

Pursue product safety and quality

Basic stance

As a manufacturer featuring an extensive product line-up and large supply volume, Nidec has a duty besides simply providing products; we must ensure safety in every aspect, from the selection of parts in light of environmental friendliness to the safety of products, as well as disposal and recycling. We believe that we can help create sustainable social infrastructure by providing our customers with products that can be used in a safe and dependable manner. To realize this idea, it is necessary to maintain a high level of product performance in terms of environmental friendliness, requiring a database that serves as a guide to selecting materials at the time of component design.
　Moreover, now that the automotive products business has developed into a major segment accounting for over 20% of the Nidec Group’s consolidated net sales, in order to satisfy the quality needs of all customers in the automotive industry, it is important to establish a globally unified quality assurance system.

Initiatives in FY2022

By utilizing the material selection database that was completed in FY2021, the Small Platform Motor & Solutions Business Unit recommended the use of materials with less environmental impact within the Business Unit, and it began using low-lead materials for some customers. The Business Unit will further promote this activity and contribute to reducing the use of environmentally hazardous substances. The Business Unit is expanding the scope of its efforts and has initiated the development of new materials to reduce the use of organofluorine compounds, which have recently been viewed as problematic.
　The Automotive Motor & Electronic Control Business Unit has been implementing management reforms related to quality since FY2021, with the aim of establishing an overall quality management organization and system by FY2025. As a result, the Global Quality Management Division was established on January 1, 2023 as a horizontal function to oversee quality assurance not only for the automotive-related business but also for the entire Nidec Group. Currently, the Division is working in collaboration with the quality assurance department in each business unit.

Toward the future

The Small Platform Motor & Solutions Business Unit will continue to utilize the material selection database mentioned above to develop products that meet customer needs, such as reducing environmentally hazardous substances.
　The Automotive Motor & Electronic Control Business Unit will continue to conduct assessment of all newly developed products and all products in the manufacturing process to reduce product safety risks.
　The newly established Global Quality Management Division will hold regular meetings attended by the Quality Assurance Departments of Nidec Group companies to ascertain the quality status of each company and to share good practices throughout the Group. We have already started to establish basic quality assurance practices and standard documents to guide them in the product development flow of the entire Nidec Group, from understanding customer requirements to product and manufacturing process design, and after-sales service after mass production. We aim to establish a system in which the Global Quality Management Division will take overall control of quality assurance for the entire Nidec Group, regardless of business division or company boundaries.

Respond to changes in the technological environment and the industrial structure

Basic stance

Toward the realization of a sustainable society, Nidec is committed to promoting product development and R&D to solve global social issues through its products and business activities. We regard business fields related to issues that need to be given priority for solutions as promising growth markets, namely, the “Five Big Waves,” and we are making a concerted effort to strengthen technology development to continuously launch new products in these fields.

For more information on the “Five Big Waves,” please click the URL below.
https://www.nidec.com/en/ir/management/strategy/

Initiatives in FY2022

To promote activities to reduce CO₂ emissions through continuous product development and business activities, we worked to quantify the environmental impact of our major products, i.e., the amount of CO₂ emitted by the products, based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). We have also created a technology roadmap that incorporates environmental response indicators for our major products, and we are working to promote environmental value in product development and to foster and spread awareness.

Toward the future

In order to provide products and system solutions that contribute to reducing environmental impact, we will strive to develop design and production technologies that take into account the reduction of environmental impact of products. In pursuit of environmental value, we will promote research and development that enable energy saving, resource saving, and recycling (use of recycled materials) by encouraging group-wide application of the Group companies’ technologies conducive to environmental conservation and effective use of resources.

Research and development to support the sustainable growth of the company

As the world’s leading comprehensive motor manufacturer, the Nidec Group has established R&D facilities that collaborate globally with the aim of contributing to a wide range of industrial fields. We have also undertaken laboratory reforms to enhance our unique technologies. As part of such efforts, we further strengthened the foundation of product and production technologies and pursued products with high added value and environmental performance. The missions of the R&D facilities are to develop innovative products that accelerate the growth of the Nidec Group, to advance and upgrade production technology to strengthen the foundation of manufacturing, and to create and disseminate technologies conducive to solving social issues.
　With its eyes focused on the needs of future society and the seeds of Nidec, the Nidec Product Technology R&D Center puts its energies into research and development to create new products and technologies that will realize a sustainable society, as well as into research in the motor application field that will lead the growth of the Nidec Group. The Nidec Center for Production Technology R&D promotes research and development to achieve more efficient manufacturing by pursuing material and process innovation and developing cutting-edge production technology that utilizes digital transformation and AI. The Nidec System Manufacturing Engineering Center develops production methods that accompany technological innovation and supports the implementation of such methods in order to realize manufacturing excellence with a system that integrates the entire process, from the starting stage of product development to mass production.
　The Platform Development Center is accelerating the development of E-Axle, a drive motor system for next-generation electric vehicles, to further strengthen our competitiveness. The Nidec Semiconductor Solutions Center, which was established in May 2022, is conducting development with a view to establishing a sustainable semiconductor supply chain and providing high-value-added solutions through synergy between semiconductors and motors.
　We are confident that we will continue to contribute to the development of society by providing solutions through our products and technological development. The Nidec Group has more than 330 business companies in and outside Japan, featuring the accumulation of diverse technologies. We will continue to aim to create new innovations by sharing and utilizing the knowledge that each Group company has cultivated to date and by conducting further research and development.

Protect and utilize intellectual properties

Basic stance

Aiming to contribute to the growth of its business through the creation of intellectual added value, Nidec endeavors to improve the value of its intellectual properties by establishing and reinforcing a professional IP organization and an internationally competitive IP portfolio. Specifically, our activities include portfolio management and rights utilization suited to each stage of the product lifecycle. In addition, to carry out business activities while respecting intellectual property rights of other companies, we conduct in-depth research on other companies’ intellectual property rights in advance. Meanwhile, toward the realization of a sustainable society, we are working on developing products to solve social issues, such as SDGs, focusing mainly on the Five Big Waves. We will develop an IP portfolio that can protect these products and ensure competitive advantages and will transform our IP portfolio to one tailored to our business.

Initiatives in FY2022

We promoted IP portfolio building and transformation with a focus on products related to the Five Big Waves, increasing the ratio of those products to 56% of our IP portfolio. In particular, we promoted patent application and acquisition mainly for products in the early stages of growth, such as the “E-Axle” drive motor system for electric vehicles in the “wave of decarbonization” and water-cooling modules in the “wave of 5G & thermal solutions,” to transform our IP portfolio to one that meets market needs. In addition, the number of our patent applications that have been externally evaluated as SDG-related^* has been increasing every year. We believe that this is a result of our proactive efforts to address social themes such as the SDGs.
　In recognition of these activities, in 2022 Nidec was selected as one of the Clarivate Top 100 Global Innovators 2023. This award analyzes intellectual property, based on four evaluation criteria, namely, success rate, globality, impact, and rarity, and selects the top 100 innovative companies and institutions in the world, and Nidec received a high evaluation.

* Number of cases based on LexisNexis’ analysis tool “PatentSight^®”

Toward the future

We will strengthen our information gathering and analytical capabilities by further utilizing analytical tools, etc., and promote business activities strategically while analyzing the intellectual property information obtained, toward realizing a sustainable society. Furthermore, in addition to making Group-wide concerted efforts to build an IP portfolio to ensure a competitive advantage, we will actively publicize these activities to make known to external parties our technological and patent strengths that can contribute to society.