Supply Chain Research

Electric motor maker Nidec reported a 6.6% year over year drop in sales in Q2 as a result of a halving of its sales to the autos sector. Longer term the firm is still confident in the sector’s growth opportunity with CEO Shigenobu Nagamori stating the firm is ready for a “dramatic shift” to electric vehicles which use the firm’s motors. U.S. seaborne imports linked to the firm’s automotive subsidiary dropped by 13.3% year over year in Q2 including a 53.8% slump in shipments of permanent magnets. By contrast imports of permanent magnets associated with Harman only declined by 5.6% while H...