Automation-gear maker ambitious

Shanghai Moons' Electric Co Ltd, a major designer and manufacturer of automation equipment in China, is focusing on greater growth in the North American market, buoyed by the acquisition of two motor producers in California.

In June 2015, Moons' acquired Lin Engineering Inc, based in Morgan Hill. As the world's leading manufacturer of the 0.9 degree hybrid stepper motor, Lin Engineering manufactured 550,000 stepper motors in 2014. Its products are mainly applied in medical instrumentation, high-level security monitoring devices and aerospace avionics.

With the acquisition, Moons' will be able to increase the number of 0.9 degree hybrid stepper motors in its own mix of products, improve the products' performance, boost sales revenue and expand production size, said Moons' President James Chang while visiting the headquarters of Lin Engineering in July 2015.

Lin Engineering's patent technology also is expected to help Moons' explore the medical instrumentation and aerospace avionics market and then shift from the current market in North America to a more upscale market where product-qualification requirements are extremely strict, said Moons' in a statement following the acquisition.

Moons' large production scale means the 0.9 degree hybrid stepper motor has the potential to become a leading product in the global market, the company said.

Lin Engineering has its own supply chain in the US, Chinese mainland and Taiwan. The acquisition will enable the two companies to share and integrate resources and achieve a more effective performance, Moons' said.

"This partnership didn't happen by accident," said Ted Lin, founder of Lin Engineering. He was the first engineer who had designed an 0.9 degree stepper motor to meet the high track density, accuracy and fast access time for hard disk-drive requirements in 2014.

"We have built a reputation to attract many companies. Moons' definitely is the right partner for us. I am excited about this transition and looking forward to what it will enable us to do," he said.

The significance of acquiring Lin Engineering lies in building a "real operation system of motor business" in North America to attain mutual growth in production, supply-chain management and sales channels for both companies, Chang said.

He also said that Moons' will increase investment in and give full support to Lin Engineering, from production and R&D to human resources and funding.

In 2014 Moons' acquired Watsonville-based Applied Motion Products, Inc (AMP). It was founded in 1978 and specializes in providing advanced stepper motor and servo motor drives to a broad range of industrial and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) customers.

"Our acquisition of AMP complements our overall product offering of stepper, servo, brushless DC motors by providing enhanced drives and software. This investment represents an important strategic opportunity to offer complete motion solutions for our customers in North America and globally," said Chang.

The acquisition is an expansion of a joint venture started in 2007 by which AMP and Moons' shared technology and R&D to develop motor drives.

"We are pleased to see AMP become part of Moons' team," said Don Macleod, CEO of AMP. "In a globally competitive marketplace, AMP's brand and leading-edge motion technology combined with Moons' broad product offering, world-class manufacturing capability and resources provides us with a sustainable competitive advantage."

Since its founding in 1994, Moons' has been focusing on developing products that conserve energy and are efficient.

It is the world's fourth-largest manufacturer of hybrid stepper motors with annual revenue of more than $200 million.

Shanghai-based Moons' has nine branch offices and an international trading company in China, and four overseas subsidiaries in the US, Italy, Singapore and Japan.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com