Lessons Learned at Motion + Power Technology Expo 2025
MPT Expo 2025 welcomed 4,425 industry professionals including executives, engineers, plant managers, supply chain experts, military personnel and more. Some personal highlights:
Celebrate Your Wins in Gear Manufacturing
A great story coming out of MPT Expo was Vector Companies’ acquisition of Northend Gear & Machine. Vector has an exciting story to tell and this acquisition reenforces their mission to deliver a unified platform of products and technologies. While many manufacturing companies are closing their doors, Vector’s Northend Gear & Machine acquisition expands their portfolio to include large-diameter gears, heavy shafts, precision wire EDM and full gearbox repair and remanufacturing. This is but one example of how collaboration and diversification will be key to long-term growth in gear manufacturing.
Tedious Tasks a Thing of the Past?
My conversation with Rahul Garg, vice president industrial machinery vertical at Siemens Digital Industries Software, for the Ask the Expert series reenforced the need for more automation and robotics across all industrial segments including gear and power transmission. While some remain concerned that conveying systems, cobots, AMRs and humanoids are replacing good manufacturing jobs for humans, you can’t argue with the productivity gains when it comes to tedious tasks on the shop floor.
Case in point: Chik-Fil-A’s renowned lemonade was once processed by factory workers tasked with sorting, examining and manually squeezing each individual piece of fruit. Today, the company relies on driverless forklifts and robotic arms to sort, squeeze and package the lemons saving the company 10,000+ work hours per day. Another example of using robotics and automation to take on monotonous and dangerous jobs freeing shop workers to focus on more appropriate tasks.
Culture Is Just as Important as Quality
If you were lucky enough to attend Forest City Gear president Kika Young’s presentation at the Solution Center, “The Human Side of Precision: Why Culture & Story Are Your Competitive Edge,” you learned how company culture as well as prioritizing the values, beliefs and behaviors of your staff are key to building a successful organization. What we need more than anything in manufacturing today is to embrace originality, diversity, critical thinking and dare I say a little more humor and humility.
Markets fluctuate, egos run amok, it’s criminally underrated to support every member of the organization as each one brings their own story, work ethic, knowledge and unique qualifications to work every day. I’ve watched this play out at FCG since 2007 and it’s no surprise that the company has been so successful for 70+ years in gear manufacturing.
