Nord can solve problems and deliver product all over the world in the same standard.

Gernot Zarp, Managing Director Sales, Nord Drivesystems

How do you look at the global gear box market progressing? What are the demand drivers that you see for the gearbox industry?

As you know our product is gear motors and frequency invertors and IGUs. We always look at global development of basically every kind of machine builder demand. What we see is the demand drivers, for many years, now are growing automation. For example, warehousing, used to be a lot of manual work. People sorting whatever it is by hand manually or with a manual forklift. Nowadays in many countries, there is shortage of labour and therefore there is a demand to automate warehouses in particular. That is only one example. This trend of automisation is growing in all industries. That is one driver. The other is, there is a trend of electrifying applications. For a fairly long time, we see hydraulic also some pneumatic applications are now solved by electromechanical solutions. For example, gear motors and frequency invertors. Last but not the least, we also see demand driver as energy efficiency. Energy if I look at Europe in particular, it is a very important topic, it is a moment and will be in the future as well. So, the correct sizing of a geared motor with a right motor and with a frequency invertor is becoming very important and therefore we see energy efficiency as demand driver for our product.

What differentiates Nord for other competitive players in the industry?

Nord as a company, from day zero, has always been customer and market focused. We focus on what our demand for the customer is – whether this a short delivery time or whether it is global presence. There is also one differentiation, we can solve problems and deliver product all over the world in the same standard. That is one of the differentiators. I have been with Nord for a long time – over 20 years. The founder of the company has always really made clear that we need to focus on the customer and then we will be successful. We have always followed this path and so far, it has been successful.

What are your views about Nord India in terms of the progress it has made specially in this part of the world?

In India, we have been for quite some time and it has been a very successful journey. All of us from the Nord group are very happy and proud to see the development. We have reached 200 crores now. We have been achieving this milestone and also now is the time for India. For Nord India, it is one thing, but for India as a market in recent times has been lot of investments going on, a lot of developments from within India and also from outside of India. I can say when you go through our workshop, you will see it looks the same all over the world. At all Nord workshops, we have the same procedures, same quality standards all over the world. That has been one thing we have focused.

What are your future prospects for Nord India with the infrastructure and construction boom that is happening in India?

With our products we can solve, maybe, over 100 different applications. Part of them is infrastructure. However, as a company, we are long term orientated. If there is a short-term boom in the construction industry it is good and we have right products for it. For us, it is the long-term goal. That is why in construction industry, we have good application in terms of asphalt production, cement industry, railroad construction, mast climbers, and so on. We have good 100 different applications and solutions. So, we are ready and we have a big stock of components and we are ready to deliver in short lead time.

What are the challenges in the Gear Box industry?

One thing that of course worries us is the global trend of decoupling. There is a lot of discussion going on. That worries us. If we follow our path and focus on customers, I am sure we can manage any challenge. In the last two years there has been availability of certain components. The market has been difficult to get some parts. This is the history, now we are fully back-on-track when it comes to short lead times. Of course, what we also hope is that there will be a better coordination between different countries when it comes to standards of motor efficiency. This has been a challenge. Every country has come up with their own efficiency regulation and this is where, we hope, it is standardized and that would make things easier.

Where do you see Nord in the next five years?

What we do see is higher percentage of applications that are controlled with frequency invertors. We see Nord, in
next five years, as being a gear box manufacturer and frequency invertor manufacturer and becoming a system provider. And we will also continue our heavy investments. So, we are investing into our own production capacities worldwide to be always able to have a capacity reserve for short delivery times. We will continue to do this and most of the components are produced on our own. We only buy standard parts like bearings or the seals and so on. Everything else, we have philosophy of making as much as we can on our own.

Is there anything you would like to add?

We would like to highlight is we are geared up to support the market, increase demand from customers which includes product supply. One example of being ready to supply and investments.

We focus on our facility in India. For example, this year we have launched our industry gearbox assembly. That was an investment for the larger industry gearboxes that we can assemble them here in India. We don’t need to import but we can make in India and ship to market in short delivery times. That is one of the investments we have done and commitment to the market. We will continue to do so.

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