Hitachi acquires Illinois-based Joliet Electric Motors to boost sales and maintenance services in the United States, particularly for large electric motors. The Japanese giant finalized the deal on Friday, with the company's large industrial equipment unit Hitachi Industrial Products Corp. to oversee operations.

Joliet has been repairing and rebuilding large motors for the North American energy and heavy industry sectors for 90 years.

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Joliet has been a sales and distribution partner for Hitachi's oil drilling industry since 2002 and has delivered approximately 1,100 large motors in North America. With the acquisition, Hitachi hopes to strengthen its recurring business by expanding sales of large industrial equipment in North America, strengthening its repair services business for existing products, and entering the repair services business for products manufactured by other companies. The company is also working on electrification products to reduce CO2 emissions from energy.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's 2023 Energy Outlook, U.S. energy carbon dioxide emissions are expected to decrease by 2050 due to advances in electrification, improvements in equipment efficiency, and the expansion of renewable energy generation. However, growing global demand is expected to increase oil and gas production over the next 25 years.

Hitachi plans to work with Joliet to provide maintenance services for approximately 7,000 wind farm generators and large motors installed in Hitachi Group products in North America. By leveraging Joliet's sales channels, Hitachi hopes to accelerate the shift from fossil fuel-powered engines to electrified products in the drilling, refining, storage and transportation sectors.

Through its repair and rebuild business, Hitachi is shifting its advice to high-efficiency equipment, hoping to expand recurring business through management of CO2 emissions, collection and remanufacturing/reuse.

In the future, Hitachi aims to collect operating data of electrified products through sensing devices and develop applications for maintenance engineers using Lumada, Hitachi's digital transformation unit. Based on the knowledge and data gained through maintenance services, Hitachi will understand customers' potential needs and use artificial intelligence to make recommendations for equipment design and energy-optimized operations.

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