ABB acquires NEMA motors business from Siemens

Aug. 11, 2022
The global NEMA motor industry, about $2.7 billion, comprises industrial electric motors primarily used within North America. NEMA motors are components used to run equipment in industries such as food and beverage, oil and gas, mining & manfacturing

ABB has expanded its low-voltage NEMA motor business by acquiring Siemens’ group in a deal announced Thursday.

Swiss-based ABB, which already held a substantial NEMA business after its acquisition from Baldor Electric several years ago. The acquisition will be accretive to the ABB Motion business.

“We have long appreciated the quality and design of these motors,” Jesse Henson, President of ABB’s NEMA motors division, said. “Now that we have met the leadership team behind them, I am even more confident that together we can grow our combined businesses faster than either of us could alone. We look forward to adding the Siemens low voltage NEMA motor portfolio to our existing offering of ABB and Baldor-Reliance® industrial electric motors.”

The existing ABB NEMA motors are produced at a plant in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The Siemens’ unit being acquired has manufacturing operations in Guadalajara, Mexico, and holds a strong market and sales foothold in the Americas, the company says.

The business employs around 600 people and generated revenues of approximately $63 million in 2021. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2023

The global NEMA motor industry, roughly $2.7 billion in size, comprises industrial electric motors primarily used within North America. NEMA motors are components used to run equipment in industries such as food and beverage, oil and gas, mining & aggregate, and water & wastewater and in applications like those which move air, liquids, and units.

The Fort Smith facility supplies millions of electric motors, from 1 to 500 horsepower, for functions from cooling fans to fluid pumps and heavy duty tools. The new generation of facility motors are considered a key element in energy efficiency, considering that buildings use a sizable portion of energy and emit greenhouse gas emissions in the process.

“Ninety-six percent of our customers in the U.S. are investing in energy efficiency,” Henson, during an exclusive interview with EnergyTech prior to the ABB Formula E NYC E-Prix electric auto races in Brooklyn, New York. “The most sustainable solution is never to use the energy in the first place.”

About the Author

Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.