International. Nidec Global Appliance, holder of the Embraco brand, announced the investment of 70 million dollars to leverage and start up new production lines of refrigeration compressors and condensing units in various parts of the world.
The new lines will increase annual production capacity by more than 10 million units, which will add to the current capacity of 45 million compressors and condensing units per year. The investment goes to manufacturing plants producing Embraco solutions in Austria, China, Brazil and Mexico.
"This investment is motivated by a composition of factors, one of them being a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic: as people around the world spend more time at home, it has become increasingly important to reevaluate the level of quality and energy efficiency of residential appliances. In parallel, more people in the household mean more consumption of fresh food, which increases the demand for refrigeration in the food retail sector, such as supermarkets and convenience stores," explained Nidec Global Appliance CEO Valter Taranzano. Refrigeration is also a key factor in the healthcare and science industries, two sectors that had an increase in refrigeration demand due to Covid-19.
With three business units, one dedicated to solutions for commercial refrigeration equipment, another to compressors and motors for residential appliances and another to components for HVAC systems, Nidec Global Appliance, a division of Nidec Corporation, has a solid plan to continue expanding its portfolio as well as operations, which currently involves 15,000 employees in 16 manufacturing plants.
Investments in the Americas are focused on traditional refrigeration systems and compressors.
In Brazil, the Joinville-based manufacturing facility will receive $21 million in investments to add a third EM compressor production line and deliver an additional 2.5 million units per year, in addition to a $4 million investment already underway to increase productivity. The EM family is one of Embraco's best-selling brands and is used in residential and light commercial applications worldwide. The new production line will deliver the most advanced generations of the family (EM2 and EM3), combining high cooling capacity, energy efficiency and competitiveness, and will respond mainly to high levels of demand in Brazil and Latin America. It is a fixed-speed compressor powered by natural refrigerants R600a and R290, suitable for a variety of applications, such as home refrigerators, supermarket refrigeration equipment, professional kitchens and displays.
In Mexico, the production site in the city of Apodaca is receiving investments of 35 million dollars to build a new production line of ES compressors, increasing the production capacity of the site by 60%. It will focus on responding to North American market demand, supporting the transition to natural refrigerants in this region, with the addition of increased cooling capacity compared to previous families. In total, Nidec Global Appliance is investing nearly $70 million in its plants in Mexico, focused on the aforementioned capacity increase and process automation.
Another investment is being made in expanding the production capacity of condensing units. The offer of these cooling systems is a strategy that Nidec Global Appliance intends to expand. Then it will invest around 2 million dollars in the manufacture of its Itaiópolis, in Brazil. The investment will increase production capacity by 25%, mainly serving the Brazilian, Latin American and North American markets, with a smaller portion destined for Europe and Asia. The Itaiópolis plant produces condensing units of all sizes, from those used in water treatment plants to those of 6HP capacity, used in cold rooms.
