Product category:
Industrial Motors
News Release from: WEG Electric Motors (UK)
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 21 August 2006
Hundred millionth motor is museum piece
WEG has achieved the landmark manufacturing figure of 100 million motors produced.
WEG has achieved the landmark manufacturing figure of 100 million motors produced The company is marking the occasion by installing the hundred millionth machine, an IEC225 S/M frame size motor- manufactured as part of WEG's Extra Long Life range - in its company museum in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 1 Aug 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Induction motors chosen for water treatment plant
The pumps and motor sets are fitted with variable speed drives and can also vary the duty cycles, with one, two or three pumps working as required.
Motors chosen for blast furnace job
The 415V, three-phase AC motors range from 15 to 315kW and are being used on Weir Pumps in slag slurry, slag granulation, cooling circuit water and recirculation duties via vee belt drive trains.
"We took 45 years to produce our first 100-million motors".
"However, we will take less than 10 years to double that number", said Decio da Silva, CEO and President of WEG.
"This projection takes into account the yearly average growth that WEG has enjoyed over the last few years, which is about 25%".
"The achievement of this manufacturing milestone ably demonstrates how technological improvements result in higher productivity, enabling manufacturing entities to achieve more output in shorter time periods", said da Silva.
"To put this in context: in WEG's first year of operation, 1961, the company produced 146 motors, increasing to 5000 the following year".
"After 10 years, total production had increased to 200,000".
"In 2005, over 8 million motors were produced in all WEG manufacturing plants worldwide, including Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Portugal and China".
Even with its present record levels of production, WEG is not standing still.
The company is currently in the middle of its largest investment in manufacturing to date, spending over US $500 million to more than double the capacity of its industrial park in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil - already the largest single manufacturing site in the world - from its present size of 430,000m2 to 868,000m2.
Although 60% of the new space is devoted to the production of electric motors, substantial additional investment is also being pumped-in to support rapid growth in WEG's other major product areas such as generators, drives, soft starts, control and switchgear, transformers, and industrial paints and varnishes.
These products are key to WEG's strategic plan of becoming one of the world's leading suppliers of automation components and systems.
WEG's determination in this respect is underlined by the company's recent acquisition of a new manufacturing plant in China.
The acquisition is designed to bring WEG closer to its Asian customers, ensuring optimised lead times in an increasingly demanding market.
• WEG Electric Motors (UK): contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Engineeringtalk email newsletter
• Engineeringtalk Home Page
