Nord Gear Corp. has begun a facility-wide renovation and expansion project at its North American headquarters in Waunakee, WI, in response to record customer demand and a doubling of sales and production in North America over the past five years.
Founded in 1965, Nord is global manufacturer energy-saving AC drives, gearboxes, electric motors and AC vector drives. Nord has 35 assembly factories worldwide, sales and support are available in more than 60 countries.
The first phase of Nord’s expansion project saw the construction of 55,000 sq. feet of additional manufacturing space in December. All areas of the facility will see improvements, including motor assembly, machining and distributor training facilities. The expansion is designed to improve quality, efficiency and lead times for customers, according to Mark Jones, vice president of Engineering & Marketing.
As part of the expansion project, the entire motor assembly department will be redesigned to increase the company’s rotor production capabilities and improve testing, volume and turnaround.
Nord is also expanding its AC drive facility by constructing state-of-the-art testing and demonstration labs. The company says this will improve customer application development, allow more substantial product demonstration and expand training capabilities.
The update to Nord’s machining department includes a greater number of machines on-site. In addition to increased production capabilities, the updates will also increase the capacity of short lot size shaft production to serve unique customer needs, including special orders and small-quantity requirements.
Improvements to Nord’s distribution training facility will enable additional on-site training for distributors. After the expansion, the training area will more than double in size. In addition to the increased space, state-of-the-art technologies will also be incorporated into the training process.
Because of the expansion’s magnitude, the project has been divided into three phases. The first phase, which included constructing the additional manufacturing space, concluded in mid-December. Nord expects final touches on the renovation to be completed in May/June 2013.
