Nidec Corporation
Type of Business: Development, manufacturing, and sales of small precision motors, automotive, appliance, commercial, and industrial motors, machinery and equipment, electronic and optical components and other related products
Address: Kyoto, Japan
Number of employees: 101,112 (as of March 31, 2024)
Nidec Corporation is a global comprehensive motor manufacturer specializing in solutions for “everything that spins and moves,” with a core focus on motor technology. The extensive product lineup, ranging from small precision motors to ultra-large models, leverages the technological strengths of approximately 340 group companies across 46 countries. These products are utilized in a wide range of fields, including IT equipment, automobiles, motorcycles, commercial applications, and industrial machinery. Nidec Corporation continues to deliver essential products and solutions globally with competitive speed, driven by a commitment to compact, lightweight, and highly efficient technologies.
- Challenge
- Scope 3 emissions management is extremely labor-intensive due to the vast number of products and heavy reliance on Excel spreadsheets
- Data collection and centralization is difficult with over 200 sites in 40 countries reporting on energy, waste, and water usage
- Communication costs are high due to the need for feedback and coordination with numerous global sites
- Solution
- ASUENE: Decarbonization and environmental data management platform
- Impact
- Efficiently calculates Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions
- Easily manages over 400 users with a clear overview and granular permission controls
- Enables staff to easily calculate CO2 emissions through an intuitive and user-friendly interface
Overcoming Data Collection Challenges Amid Rapid Global Growth and M&A
Nidec Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells motors under the corporate concept of “Moving the world. Changing the future.” The manufactured motors serve as essential components in various everyday applications, including automotive systems such as EV engines, seat adjustments, power windows, and steering, as well as home appliances, IT equipment, electronics, and industrial machinery. These products are indispensable to modern society.
To address global environmental concerns, management has formulated and implemented medium-term environmental conservation plans every three years since fiscal 2004. In 2021, Nidec Corporation established “Vision 2025,” a medium-term strategic goal focused on being recognized for outstanding ESG performance. In April 2022, the company established the Environmental Management Department, a specialized division to promote environmental management. At that time, the environmental data collection rate stood at approximately 50%, making the initial focus the thorough collection of data from over 200 sites across approximately 40 countries worldwide.
However, considering the potential increase in the scope of calculation due to future M&A activities, management recognized the limitations of the existing system and Excel-based management. Anticipating further growth in the number of sites, Nidec Corporation needed to streamline data collection and began exploring the implementation of a system that could centrally manage data from each location.
Leveraging ASUENE to Improve Efficiency and Enhance Visibility into CO2 Emissions
As a company listed on the Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Nidec Corporation is obligated to disclose its CO2 emissions. However, the previous system could only calculate Scope 1 and 2 emissions, while Scope 3 emissions had to be calculated manually using Excel. Management sought a system that could calculate Scope 1 through 3 emissions more accurately and efficiently.
In 2023, the team learned that ASUENE had expanded its functionality to include environmental data management for waste and water alongside CO2, and that the platform supported multiple languages. After comparing and evaluating approximately ten different systems from large enterprises, startups, and both Japanese and foreign providers, Nidec Corporation concluded that ASUENE was the best solution to address the corporate challenges and decided to implement it.
One of the deciding factors was the intuitive interface, which is easily understandable for any user, a critical requirement for collecting data from over 200 factories in 40 countries. With ASUENE, simply inputting data such as fuel consumption and electricity usage allows CO2 emissions to be visualized on a dashboard and grasped at a glance. The immediate visualization of CO2 emissions not only enhances usability but also fosters a sense of ownership among the personnel responsible at each factory.
Furthermore, user management has become significantly easier. The company registers two users per site: a data entry person and an administrator. ASUENE provides a user list that allows for simple management of user permissions, which has proven highly convenient. Nidec Corporation is currently preparing for the system rollout to each site, which includes providing supplementary training to address any knowledge gaps regarding CO2 emissions calculations.
Contributing to a Decarbonized Society Through High-Efficiency Product Development
Nidec Corporation has seen an increase in requests from business partners for disclosure regarding climate change initiatives, targets, and CO2 emissions reduction roadmaps, as well as calculations of the Corporate Carbon Footprint (CFP). To understand current challenges and identify necessary actions, the company began by visualizing its current status using ASUENE.
The visualized data is disclosed on the corporate website and through CDP to customers. However, management believes it is essential to actively communicate with other stakeholders as well. Information from customers is crucial for calculating Scope 3 supply chain emissions. Moving forward, Nidec Corporation aims to visualize and reduce Scope 3 emissions by engaging with customers and suppliers to build partnerships and drive global change.
In March 2024, Nidec Corporation announced a long-term goal of achieving net-zero emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and 3 by fiscal 2050. According to data published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 2011, motors account for half of the world’s electricity consumption. Because motors convert electricity into motion, they lead to significant energy consumption. By developing higher-efficiency motors and reducing resource consumption and transportation burdens, the company aims to protect the livelihoods of future generations.
Currently, Nidec Corporation is strengthening the development of water-cooled modules for data centers. Cooling systems are essential for data centers in the digital age, and water-cooled modules can reduce power consumption compared to conventional air-cooled fans. Through these products and solutions that contribute to CO2 emissions reduction, Nidec Corporation continues to support climate change mitigation and the realization of a prosperous society.
