Control Techniques

Manufacturer information and published contact details

Control Techniques contact details

Head office, manufacturing and R&D

The Gro
Newtown, Powys SY16 3BE
United Kingdom

Telephone +44 1686 612000

Email controltechniques@mail.nidec.com

Website moen.nidec.com/drives

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Contact details as published by Nidec Corporation, checked 2026-10-30. Specify Motion is not affiliated with Nidec Corporation.

Control Techniques product lines

Who Control Techniques is

Control Techniques is a British manufacturer of variable speed drives and servo systems, designed and built in Newtown, Powys, in Mid Wales. It is part of the Nidec group and now trades under the Nidec Drives name, but the Control Techniques brand and its product names, Unidrive, Digitax, Commander and Mentor, remain widely specified on machines in the UK and abroad.

For machine builders, the company is known for drives that cover both induction and servo motors in one platform, for strong on-drive intelligence (motion control and PLC functions inside the drive) and for long product continuity, with upgrade paths from older Unidrive SP installations to the current Unidrive M family.

History and ownership

The company began in 1973, when Ken Briggs, Trevor Wheatley and Kevin Curran started a business called KTK in Newtown. Its first product, a 415 V DC thyristor drive, followed the next year. In 1985 the business moved to larger premises and took the name Control Techniques. Its own history credits it with a run of firsts: Mentor in 1986, described as the first fully digital DC drive; the Commander CD flux vector AC drive in 1989; and the Unidrive “universal” AC drive in 1995.

Servo motor know-how came through acquisition. Moore Reed & Co, a servo component maker founded in 1962 and based in Andover from 1964, was bought by Control Techniques in 1989 and became Control Techniques Dynamics in 1993. In 1995 Control Techniques and Control Techniques Dynamics became part of Emerson Electric Co.

Emerson sold Control Techniques and Leroy-Somer to Nidec Corporation for 1.2 billion US dollars, completing the sale in early 2017. Since 2025 Control Techniques Dynamics has been aligned with Control Techniques and KB Electronics under the Nidec Drives name. The company marked its 50th year in 2023 and says it has grown from three people to about 1,400 employees.

Product portfolio

Servo and high-performance drives

The Unidrive M700 family runs from 0.75 kW to 2.8 MW across 200, 400, 575 and 690 V classes. The M700 and M702 have two switched Ethernet ports with RTMoE drive-to-drive synchronisation at 250 µs, the M701 keeps RS485 as an upgrade path from Unidrive SP, and the M702 adds a second Safe Torque Off input. The current loop updates every 62 µs, and two encoder inputs accept resolvers, SinCos, EnDat, SSI, HIPERFACE and BiSS-C devices.

The Digitax HD servo drives are the compact servo option, from 0.25 to 7.5 kW (1.5 to 16 A continuous, 48 A peak) in 200 V and 400 V classes. They come in four functionality levels: M750 Ethernet, M751 Base, M753 EtherCAT and M754 with an on-board MCi machine controller.

Servo motors

The Unimotor hd servo motors are low-inertia motors in frames 060 to 190, with rated torque from 0.64 to 85 Nm, peak torque up to 255 Nm, rated speeds from 1,000 to 6,000 rpm and IP65 when mounted and connected. Feedback choices include resolver, incremental, inductive absolute and EnDat encoders, with a SIL 3 safety encoder option. An ultra-low voltage version is also listed.

Machine control

The MCi210 machine control module adds a second processor to a Unidrive M700 or Digitax HD for PLC programs and multi-axis coordination, with two further Ethernet ports. For PC-based control, the MCz201 and MCz601 controllers are fanless industrial PCs running CODESYS V3.5 with Softmotion, with Celeron or Core i7 processors and four gigabit Ethernet ports. Our motion controller hub and servo drive hub explain where drive-based and PC-based control each fit.

Technologies and standards

Safe Torque Off on Unidrive M is independently assessed by TÜV to IEC 61800-5-2 at SIL 3 and to EN ISO 13849-1 at PL e. The MiS210 option adds safe motion functions such as safe limited speed and safe direction, and network safety runs over CIP Safety or Safety over EtherCAT. RTMoE uses IEEE 1588 V2 precision time protocol to synchronise drives over standard Ethernet, and PLCopen motion blocks are supported in the machine control tools. Unidrive M is built to EN 61800-3, EN 61800-5-1 and UL 508C.

Industries served

The drive pages describe uses ranging from spindles and centrifuges (Unidrive output above 600 Hz) to pulse-duty servo axes and torque control (Unimotor hd). Nidec Drives also offers dedicated elevator and HVAC variants of its drives. Typical servo uses include packaging, printing and material handling; see our packaging and food market page.

Global and UK presence

Control Techniques is one of the few major drive makers headquartered in the UK. Head office, manufacturing and R&D are at The Gro, Newtown, Powys SY16 3BE, telephone +44 1686 612000. The company reports 23 Drive Centres worldwide and a partner network in 70 countries. UK engineers can reach the company through the web contact form, and products are also sold through its partner network.

Sourcing Control Techniques parts through Specify Motion

Specify Motion is independent of Control Techniques and Nidec and is not affiliated with either. We can help you source Unidrive, Digitax HD and Unimotor parts for an existing machine, or propose equivalent drives and motors from our supply network on published figures. Send a part number through the find a replacement form.

Control Techniques history: key dates

1. 1973Ken Briggs, Trevor Wheatley and Kevin Curran start KTK in Newtown, Powys
2. 1985Move to larger premises and rename to Control Techniques
3. 1986Mentor, described as the world's first fully digital DC drive, launched
4. 1989Commander CD flux vector AC drive launched; Control Techniques acquires servo maker Moore Reed & Co
5. 1995Unidrive universal AC drive introduced; Control Techniques becomes part of Emerson Electric Co.
6. 2017Emerson completes the sale of Control Techniques and Leroy-Somer to Nidec Corporation
7. 2022Commander S released with the Marshal app and on-board NFC
8. 2023Company marks its 50th year

Control Techniques servo drives

AC servo drive

Digitax HD servo drives

Compact servo drives from 0.25 to 7.5 kW (1.5–16 A, 48 A peak) in 200 V and 400 V classes, in Ethernet (M750), base (M751), EtherCAT (M753) and on-board machine control (M754 MCi) versions.

AC servo drive

Unidrive M700 / M701 / M702

High-performance AC and servo drive from 0.75 kW to 2.8 MW across 200–690 V classes, with RTMoE drive-to-drive Ethernet at 250 µs, a 62 µs current loop, dual encoder inputs and STO to SIL 3 / PL e.

Control Techniques servo motors

AC servo motor

Unimotor hd servo motors

Low-inertia servo motors in frames 060 to 190 with rated torque from 0.64 to 85 Nm and 255 Nm peak, rated speeds from 1,000 to 6,000 rpm and IP65, matched to Digitax HD and Unidrive M70x.

Control Techniques controllers, plcs and hmis

Motion controller

MCi210 machine control module

Option module that adds a second processor to Unidrive M700 or Digitax HD for PLC programs and multi-axis control, with two switched Ethernet ports, RTMoE (IEEE 1588) and Modbus TCP master.

Motion controller

MCz201 / MCz601 machine controllers

Fanless industrial PC machine controllers running CODESYS V3.5 with Softmotion, Celeron (MCz201) or Core i7 (MCz601) processors and four gigabit Ethernet ports with IEEE 1588.