Nidec Minster Corporation embarks on $25M expansion

A metal machinery supplier in the Dayton region is embarking on a $25 million expansion at its headquarters. The expansion comes as the company has been experiencing rapid and continued growth.

Earlier this spring, Nidec Minster Corp. broke ground on a 23,900-square-foot expansion at its Minster headquarters. The scope of the $25 million project includes a 162-foot extension of two machining bays along with the purchase and installation of two world class, large capacity bridge mill machining centers, with the latest in machining technology.

Baumer Construction of Minster currently is underway at building the expansion.

In addition, Minster's largest machining bay will be converted to a climate-controlled facility as part of Nidec Minster’s commitment to the best possible quality in the machining of large press components where tolerances need to be held to within 0.001-inch – compared to a human hair, which typically measures 0.003-inch.

Metal grows and shrinks with temperature fluctuations; having a constant temperature in the facility allows material to maintain a constant size, thus allowing Nidec Minster to machine parts of up to 23-feet wide to extreme tolerances.

"As our business continues to grow, it's important that we match that growth with an investment in our facilities and state-of-the-art machine tools that will allow us to deliver industry-leading products and solutions to our customers," said Ronald Arling, Nidec Minster president. “This facility upgrade will not only improve the quality of our products, but will increase our efficiency and workflow.”

The expansion also includes an 80-ton crane in the large bay addition, a 50-ton crane in the smaller bay, along with a drive through loading/unloading area for semi truck traffic.

The expansion is part of a strategic growth initiative for Nidec Minste,r which has included an investment of more than $14 million in new machine tools over the past 18 months, all new energy-saving LED lighting, and the repainting of the facility interior. While Nidec Minster does not plan to hire any additional personnel with the expansion, the addition will allow the company to maintain and increase market share in the premium quality machine tool industry.

"We have been replacing aging machining technology, which has allowed us to bring several manufacturing processes back in-house, saving money and controlling quality," Arling said. "However, a major emphasis has also been on improving working conditions to help us retain and recruit exceptional employees."

Most recently, the company announced it had acquired Automatic Feed Company, a designer and manufacturer of coil processing machinery and systems based out of Napoleon. The company has primarily been recognized for providing automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1 suppliers with automated, high-speed blanking, cut-to-length, and laser blanking lines for surface-critical applications.

Additionally, Nidec Minster opened a 12,600-square-foot office facility in downtown Dayton last year, which has allowed the company to recruit professionals from a wider geographic area.

With more than 430 employees at their Ohio locations, Nidec Minster is also the world headquarters for Nidec Press & Automation, an integrated group of six product brands with 13 global locations.

Local employment