NORD continues to enhance its digital tools, making it easier than ever to configure, select, and order gear drives, motors, and spare parts, all in one place.NORD DRIVESYSTEMS has rolled out the latest updates to the myNORD online customer portal, simplifying how engineering, purchasing, and maintenance teams manage drive systems from start to finish. These enhancements help users work faster, more efficiently, and with less friction when selecting and ordering gear units, geared motors, variable frequency drives (VFDs), and other drive components. A comprehensive tutorial video is also available, offering a guided overview of the new features and navigation within the myNORD platform.Easier Account Setup and Team CollaborationThe updated myNORD sign-in and registration process enables new users to quickly create secure accounts, verify company information, and begin managing projects. Teams can access saved configurations, view real-time pricing, and track orders seamlessly within the portal.Smarter Tools for Product Search and ConfigurationThis release introduces a redesigned configuration experience that speeds up building systems tailored to your specific needs. The enhanced Product Search and Product Configurator tools allow filtering by output speed, torque, power, motor efficiency, housing design, and more—with real-time updates based on your specifications and regional requirements. Whether starting fresh or working from known data, you can generate formal quotes and instantly download CAD files, pricing, and technical documents—all from the portal. For existing units, simply enter the serial or order number, or scan the QR code to instantly access manuals, certificates, and spare parts lists. Built-in support features and direct contact to NORD’s expert team ensure help is always available. These improvements reflect NORD’s commitment to intuitive, reliable tools that simplify every step from configuration to order.More Control Over Projects and QuotesThe Project List helps you stay organized across multiple projects. Easily sort by product type, track revisions, and convert configurations into quotes or orders with one click. Custom project tags and naming options allow you to label projects with your own references, such as job names, material numbers, or customer IDs, making them easy to find later. You can also name individual line items within a project for better trackability and consistency. Revision history provides transparency for teams managing complex or large-scale applications.Fast, Accurate Spare Parts OrderingThe Parts Shop makes it easy to identify and order exact spare parts using a gearbox serial number or QR code. Exploded-view diagrams and complete material lists help you locate components like gears, seals, bearings, motors, and inverters (VFDs). You’ll see real-time inventory from all U.S. warehouses, and every portal order includes free standard shipping, with an express shipping option also available. For added convenience, you can download your cart as a PDF with full pricing details.Instant Access to Documentation and Order TrackingThe Serial Number Documentation tool provides immediate access to manuals, certificates, product data sheets, and service documents. Just enter or scan the serial number. The Order Tracking feature delivers real-time updates on shipping, invoicing, and fulfillment, keeping your team fully informed throughout the process.Built for What’s NextNORD is committed to the continuous evolution of the myNORD platform, ensuring it remains a powerful, reliable resource for customers today and into the future. The rollout of the new Product Configurator lays the foundation for enhanced functionality and ease of use. NORD’s focus remains on delivering meaningful improvements that support your team at every stage, from configuration and quoting to ordering and ongoing support.About NORD DRIVESYSTEMS® GroupWith more than 4,900 employees, NORD DRIVESYSTEMS has been developing, producing, and selling drive technology for over 50 years, and it is a global leader among full-service providers in the industry. In addition to standard drives, NORD delivers application-specific designs and solutions for special requirements, such as energy-saving drives or explosion-protected systems. NORD has subsidiaries and sales partners in 80 countries worldwide. The dense sales and service network guarantees optimal availability, enabling short delivery times, and customer-oriented service. NORD produces a very diverse range of drives for torques from 88 lb-in to more than 2.5 million lb-in, provides motors in the power range of 0.16 – 1,341 hp, and manufactures frequency inverters with the required power electronics of up to 200 hp. Inverter solutions are available for conventional control cabinet installations as well as for decentralized, fully-integrated drive units. Visit nord.com.ContactNORD Gear Corp – United StatesMember of the NORD DRIVESYSTEMS GroupArielle SPOTTS608-850-1444Arielle.Spotts@nord.com

FORT SMITH, Ark. — Hytrol Conveyor Company is proud to welcome Louis Cowie as Vice President of Manufacturing Operations at the company’s Fort Smith facility.With more than 35 years of experience in manufacturing, Cowie brings a proven track record of operational excellence, employee engagement and a passion for continuous improvement. A native of Paris, Arkansas, he was drawn to Hytrol because of its deep community roots, strong values and focus on faith and family.“I was drawn to Hytrol because of its strong foundation as a locally rooted, privately held company with a clear commitment to faith and community involvement,” said Cowie. “Hytrol’s dedication to employee empowerment, engagement and continuous learning aligns perfectly with my professional values and goals. I’m excited about the opportunity to contribute to a company that fosters both personal and organizational growth.”Cowie holds an MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University and brings a diverse background across multiple industries. His previous roles include Production Manager at General Motors, Director of Manufacturing for Haworth Office Furniture, Vice President of Operations for VIP Cinema Seating, Vice President of Production for The Shade Store and Chief Operating Officer for Balfour & Co.Throughout his career, Cowie has been recognized for excellence, earning the Best of the Best Award at General Motors and the Chairman’s Honor Award at Haworth. In his new role at Hytrol, Cowie will oversee manufacturing operations in Fort Smith with a focus on employee attraction and retention, increasing production capacity and meeting the company’s growing demand. He plans to work closely with COO Jason Peters, Todd McClung (VP of Manufacturing Operations) and other Jonesboro and Fort Smith operations leaders to ensure continued operational success.“Louis brings exceptional experience and a leadership approach that aligns with Hytrol’s core values,” said Jason Peters, Chief Operations Officer. “His focus on people, process and purpose will help strengthen our operations in Fort Smith and support our continued growth.” Cowie is passionate about fostering a culture of continuous learning, teamwork and civic responsibility, ensuring that Hytrol continues to be a company which employees are proud to be part of. Outside of work, Louis and his wife Eva enjoy cooking, home projects, motorcycling, riding side by side and playing golf. They have four children and two grandchildren, and Cowie remains close with his six siblings, most of whom still live nearby.About HytrolHytrol Conveyor Company, Inc. is a world leader in the design and manufacturing of material handling systems for a wide range of industries. Since its founding, the company has been committed to advancing the material handling industry through innovation and continuous improvement. As the largest conveyor manufacturer in the United States, Hytrol designs, develops, and delivers some of the most advanced systems available. These solutions are supported by Hytrol’s Integration Partner Network—a group of more than 100 independent businesses worldwide that work directly with customers to design, implement, and maintain systems tailored to their needs. For more information on Hytrol, visit hytrol.com.ContactPaige PhillipsDirector of Marketingpphillips@hytrol.com870.972.8917

High-quality gear motors from NORD DRIVESYSTEMS are a crucial piece of the manufacturing puzzle for this Georgia-based automation provider.Consider the following scenario: guided by vision sensors, a robot spots a product on a moving conveyor, determines its exact position and, in one fluid motion, picks it up and places it into a waiting assembly, carrier tray, or shipping container. What human operators once found tiring—or at least tedious—the robot performs flawlessly, hour after hour, even long after its flesh-and-blood coworkers have gone home for the evening.Given the ongoing shortage of skilled workers, we can expect to see many more such scenarios, especially as the U.S. ramps up its reshoring efforts. That's where John London, Director of Operations at MESH Automation, comes in. "Getting parts and products positioned precisely without fail—there's little room for error," he says. “That’s long been one of the primary challenges with many competing automation systems. But not for us.”Since its founding in 1999, MESH Automation of Dawsonville, Georgia, has been meeting these and other automation challenges head-on. The company designs and builds robotic palletizing, machine tending, material handling, and warehouse control systems for an eclectic mix of customers across practically every industrial manufacturing sector.Whether they’re building solutions for automakers and their tier suppliers or food processors, roofing material producers, fertilizer manufacturers and many others, MESH and its 40+ employees work to provide robust and reliable automation systems by focusing on craftsmanship, attention to detail, and commitment to excellence.Proud PartnershipsPart of this success stems from strategic partnerships with some of the leading names in automation. These include FANUC, Siemens, and Cognex, to name a few, all of which contribute to MESH Automation's reputation for quality and dependability. But with automation comes the equally important need to bring products and materials to and from the machine tool, packing station, or inspection system, and do so without fail.For this critical task, MESH depends on a supplier with equivalent recognition throughout the industry: NORD DRIVESYSTEMS. “I like to tell people that, even though we build conveyors, we're not a conveyor company,” says London. “Still, we make a lot of them, and pretty much all are located within 30 feet or so of a robot.”For the past three years, he adds, each of these conveyors has used NORD helical worm gear motors tomove whatever’s sitting on top of it.This particular partnership began thanks to a COVID-induced supply chain disruption; after MESH Automation’s previous gearmotor supplier ran into inventory problems, London and his team reached out to their distributor, Motion Automation Intelligence of Birmingham. The sales representative there suggested they give NORD a try. Unfortunately, the very first shipment hit a snag—the motors arrived damaged in transit."That's when I knew NORD would be a good company to work with," London says. “Their standard lead time was six weeks at the time, but they were able to deliver replacement motors in just two, keeping us on schedule. That told me a lot about their emphasis on customer service.”This support level continues to this day. In one recent example, a MESH apprentice accidentally wired three motors incorrectly, causing them to burn out during startup. After being notified of the situation, NORD's Charlotte plant prepared replacements within a few hours, allowing a MESH project manager to pick them up that afternoon. "That was a big deal for us, and it reinforced what I already knew: NORD DRIVESYSTEMS is a solid company, as is our relationship with them," London says.Diverse NeedsThe partnership with NORD has served them well. As noted earlier, MESH enjoys a diverse customer base, with no industry segment exceeding 25% of its business. “We don't want just one industry feeding us," London explains. "Despite their differing needs, however, we're able to cost-effectively deliver automated systems to each of these industries due to our use of pre-engineered platforms, which we can easily modify for specific applications.” He laughs. “No two are identical, although we do use terms around here like 'half identical’ and ‘three-quarters identical’ to describe the level of customization needed to meet customer requirements.”NORD helps in this respect as well. For instance, MESH technicians can quickly change the gear ratio on any motor, a normally onerous chore made possible by NORD's modular, interchangeable components. This flexibility allows them to easily adjust the speed and torque to match the application without having to stock additional components. And when a special order is called for, notes London, "They've pretty much had whatever we need in stock or available within a couple of weeks."Whatever the customization level, these platforms often fall under the “MAC” family of automation cells—the MACTend for machine tending, the MACPac for packaging tasks, the MACGrind for finishing small- to medium-sized parts, and so on. Together with its assortment of process-specific “bolt-on” modules, each offers a starting point for MESH engineers to design what are effectively custom solutions but without the associated price point.Prove ItAmong the many customer success stories posted on the company website is a manufacturer of carpet tiles, which needed to feed "master" tiles to a press that cuts them into smaller pieces, a step known as "planking." Here, MESH delivered a cell containing a pair of vision-equipped robots and custom end-of-arm tooling ableto replicate the delicate but ergonomically taxing motions of a human operator.In another, a company that constructs hurricane-proof sheds wanted an automated way to screw the wall and roof panels to the wooden frame. In the past, this operation proved both labor-intensive and error-prone. Yet MESH designed a system with two robots, each armed with a screw gun to fasten the panels, following pre-programmed paths and working around window and door openings while ensuring consistent attachmentquality.And a company supplying machined components to its automotive customer desired to augment its human workforce by going “lights out” for three days at a time. This endeavor wouldn't be notable except for the fact that two different castings were used to produce six different part numbers, which meant that the system had to be "smart" enough to identify each workpiece before loading it into the CNC lathe. MESH accommodated this requirement by integrating a vision inspection system into the cell, reading each casting number and tracking it both during and after machining.Each of these solutions and many others share a common theme: the need for dependable conveyors to move products, parts, and materials into and out of the cell. Without them, nothing happens, which is why the company continues to rely on NORD products, despite their being a bit more expensive than those of the previous supplier.Says London, “We buy around seventy NORD gear motors each year and are actually paying slightly more than we did before, but the partnership we've built is well worth the extra money. We’re not one to beat someone up on price and then run away when there's an issue—instead, we place great value on suppliers who offer a fair price and stand behind their products. That’s what NORD does.”Fast MoversMESH's latest project may be its most ambitious yet: a robotic induction system for e-commerce sortation, which debuted at the recent ProMat 2025 trade show. The system uses a vision-guided robot to pick items from bins, scan barcodes on either side of the box, package, or envelope, and place each on a high-speed conveyor feeding a bomb bay-style sorter. Here again, the system depends on NORD worm gear motors to keep everything moving.London notes that the scanning capability eliminates a key limitation of current systems, where operators must place items with barcodes facing upward. “Our system doesn't care which way the label faces. It also picks 1,800 items per hour—well beyond what a human operator can achieve. We think it’s the first such solution on the market.”When asked a question that’s at the top of mind for many—whether automation is putting people out of work—London pushes back. “Our robotic cells don't replace people—they move them to better jobs. For example, I’ve seen how the companies that implement automation can often expand their quality control efforts. They put more energy into making sure products meet higher standards. And because workers no longer have to perform the repetitive, oftentimes strenuous tasks common in manufacturing, they’re able to spend more time on process improvement, oversight, and other value-added activities. It's better for everyone involved and makes the company more profitable to boot. That's what automation delivers.”About NORD DRIVESYSTEMSWith more than 4,900 employees, NORD DRIVESYSTEMS has been developing, producing, and selling drive technology for over 50 years, and it is a global leader among full-service providers in the industry. In addition to standard drives, NORD delivers application-specific designs and solutions for special requirements, such as energy-saving drives or explosion-protected systems. NORD has subsidiaries and sales partners in 80 countries worldwide. The dense sales and service network guarantees optimal availability, enabling short delivery times, and customer-oriented service. NORD produces a very diverse range of drives for torques from 88 lb-in to more than 2.5 million lb-in, provides motors in the power range of 0.16 – 1,341 hp, and manufactures frequency inverters with the required power electronics of up to 200 hp. Inverter solutions are available for conventional control cabinet installations as well as for decentralized, fully-integrated drive units. Visit nord.com.ContactArielle SPOTTS608-850-1444Arielle.Spotts@nord.com

A leading international manufacturer of ink needed an explosion proof loading dock leveler. The CA levelers would provide the same ease of use, push button operation as a hydraulic leveler, but would not require any additional explosion proof add-ons. This is because the CA utilizes compressed air with an industrial automotive-grade bellows system to lift the leveler and does not have any motors in the pit.

With the Easy Arm® system, VDG operators were able to enjoy the benefits of automation without sacrificing precision.

RTI’s VanishPoint products have a unique retractable syringe and are used to administer the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. RTI was previously using monorails over their injection molding machines and forklifts on the ground for transportation, but they found this to be inefficient because the fixed monorail beams did not offer any side-to-side movement capability of the trolley. OMi Crane Systems, Inc. recommended the installation of three cranes from R&M Materials Handling, Inc. OMi supplied RTI with 3-ton capacity, top-running single girder bridge cranes that feature an electric chain hoist and motorized trolley.

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A commonly used term that designates a hoist that derives its lifting and lowering power from a mechanical setup involving a gear set and pneumatic or electric motor.

An electric motor driven conveyor sortation device. See Pneumatic pusher .

A motor driven hoist whose power is derived from pneumatically powered motors. These hoist are often used in areas where electrical sparks are undesirable due to the possibility of explosion of fumes or materials.

This is a paid advertisement. The new NORD high-efficiency portfolio includes the DuoDrive integrated motor and gear unit, one of the most efficient geared motors in its power class, the NORDAC ON/ON+ decentralized VFDs with flexible Ethernet interface, and IE5+ synchronous motors, offering 0.47 – 1.5 HP and 14.2 – 42.5 lb-in. of torque in a single motor frame with several industry-standard mounting options.

This is a paid advertisement. Southeastern Technology Automation relies on Brother Gearmotors to ensure top performance and reliability in their custom build projects.