NORD DRIVESYSTEMS looks back on positive developments in a challenging year. Just before the turn of the years 2022-2023, the drive manufacturer passed the €1 billion sales threshold for the first time, increased its number of employees to 4,900, and opened new production locations worldwide.

“2022 was a very successful year, but at the same time characterized by crises,” says Gernot Zarp, Sales Manager, NORD DRIVESYSTEMS. “The customers’ feedback, however, was very positive as despite the bottlenecks in the supply chains, we always tried to make everything possible for our customers.”

 Focus topics and products

In 2022, the focus was mainly on innovative, energy-saving drive solutions to significantly reduce the energy consumption in industrial applications and to appropriately respond to the increasing energy costs—for example, by using the patented DuoDrive and the high-efficiency IE5+ motors. The NORD ECO service supported companies in finding the most efficient drive solutions. In addition, the NORD Group focused on the topic of sustainability: internal processes have been made more efficient, but also further aspects have been shifted into focus, such as environmental protection, the training and promotion of employees, human rights in the supply chain, certificates (EcoVadis and ISO 14001), and the signing of the UN Global Compact.

Investments and growth

In 2022, the company invested heavily in the extension of its capacities in Germany and abroad. The new office and administration building in Bargteheide was built, the production location in Yizheng, China, was completed, and in the first quarter of 2023, the company’s fourth global assembly plant for industrial gear units will be opened in India to map the local growth. Furthermore, the manufacturer plans to extend the electronic production at its Aurich location and significantly increase the capacities of the motor factory in Poland.

 Prospects for 2023

“The last years have shown that companies must position themselves more broadly. This is why the topic of multisourcing will get a higher priority, especially in the fields of supply chain and production, but also in the global orientation of the target industries,” explains Zarp. In 2023, the focus will be on industries such as post and parcel, airport, warehouse logistics, bakery and packaging industry, and applications on bulk handling or mixing and agitating.

“Currently, energy-efficient solutions such as our patented DuoDrive and IE5+ motors are very popular as they provide a particular customer benefit. The same applies to our MAXXDRIVE® XD or the NORDAC ON industrial gear units frequency inverters, the power ranges of which we will expand to 3 kW,” states Zarp. Topics such as factory automation and digitalization will also play an important role this year, particularly with regard to the growing Asian market. “All in all, we look optimistically to the new year and assume a further improvement of the supply situation and further growth,” he further adds. In the field of electromechanical motors and geared motors, the manufacturer is already back to pre-crisis level with its standard delivery times achieved and a reliability of more than 90 percent. “We all yearn for normality and stability instead of crises,” concludes Zarp.

For more information: www.nord.com