SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Some 5,000 jobs will be generated here with the expansion of Nidec Subic Philippines Corporation here soon.
This was disclosed by Nidec President Takeshi Yamamoto in a simple awarding ceremony of the Certificate of Registration (COR) with Incentives under the CREATE law to Japanese company Nidec Subic Philippines Corporation for its ₱4.2-billion expansion project.
While Nidec Subic currently has a workforce of 622 employees, the company’s expansion project is expected to generate close to 5,000 job opportunities until the last incentivized year.
Yamamoto proudly shared that the company chose Subic Bay Freeport for its expansion due to its strategic location, making it possible for them to market their product to the European Union, United States, Brazil, Korea and China.
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Jonathan D. Tan led the simple ceremony, together with Senior Deputy Administrator for Business and Investment (SDA) Renato Lee III and Business and Investment Department (BID) for Manufacturing and Maritime manager Karen Magno, in awarding the COR to Nidec Subic President Yamamoto and General Manager Marissa Tamayo.
Tan explained that Kinematix is a new product that is a high accuracy gearbox used as base, arm or shoulder for industrial robots for auto tool changer/ loader of machines. He added that the aim of the expansion of Nidec Subic Philippines is to produce these gearboxes outside of Japan.
“This is certainly a milestone for Subic Freeport as this new product will be solely manufactured by NidecSubic,” the official cited, adding that these gearboxes will be “Gawang Pinoy.”
He further stated that this is the first expansion of the company outside of Japan which was made possible due to the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE) law, revealing that the tax incentives have made it easier for them to expand in the Philippines.
Lee explained that the CREATE law has enabled the granting of the company tax incentives namely: a six-year income tax holiday; ten-year special corporate income tax; 16-year Customs Duty Exemption on Importation of Capital Equipment, Raw Materials, Spare Parts and Accessories; 16-year value-added tax (VAT) zero-rating on local purchase; and a 16-year VAT exemption on importation.
Meanwhile, Tamayo also averred that the company decided to expand its operations in the Philippines because of its highly-skilled and resilient Filipino labor force, plus the fact that the Philippines is an English-speaking country.
Nidec Subic is a Japanese manufacturing company that was established inside Subic Freeport on July 14, 1998. It is located at the Subic Technopark, Argonaut Highway, Boton Area, occupying a total of 96,472square meters of land area.
The expansion project dubbed as Project Kinematix aims to manufacture and assemble medium to large size gearboxes for industrial robotics gears. Valued at ₱5.065 billion, Nidec will be directly exporting 100% of its annual production of 288,000 gearboxes overseas.
