Established in 1965, NORD Drivesystems is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of drive technology – for mechanical and electronic solutions. The complete drive solutions consisting of gear units, electric motors and drive electronics are complemented by competent advice and worldwide service in more than 80 countries. In this interview, Dhanraj Kalbhor, Managing Director, NORD Drivesystems Pvt Ltd, elaborates on the importance of drives in improving the efficiency of the overall system and the company’s plans for India.

As a global leader in drive systems, how is NORD serving its customers in India? Which industries are driving demand at present?
With approximately 5000 employees worldwide, NORD innovates, develops & produces a market driven technology and is one of the industry’s leading international suppliers of all-in-one drive solutions. In addition to standard drives, NORD supplies application-specific solutions, including concepts that fulfil special requirements such as energy-saving drives and explosion-proof systems. Founded in 1965, NORD presently has 46 subsidiaries in 38 countries worldwide.

In India, NORD Drivesystems was incorporated in the year 2005 and is 100-per cent subsidiary of Getriebebau NORD in Germany. We have a full-fledged gearbox & geared motor production plant in Hinjewadi, Pune with capacity of 42000 plus units per year. We cater to pan India market & SAARC countries. Material handling, steel & metals, warehouse automation, pharma, food & beverage etc are the key industries growing in India and NORD has good presence in them.

Could you please highlight some of your latest innovative products & solutions?
With our high energy efficient drive technology, we believe in offering system solutions to our customers and we work towards application engineering to provide optimum solutions. With UNICASE design and virtually leak-proof gear boxes, we ensure maximum comprehensive efficiency. Now with IE4, IE5 motor options and new innovative products like NORDAC Link, Duo Drive & our decentralised drives, we can offer highly efficient solutions.

Our decentralised drive is a unique product with a combination of gear box, motor & inverters. The NORDAC FLEX, the all-rounder among decentralised frequency inverters, has established itself in almost all areas of engineering and industry.

With the need for sustainability becoming a necessity, how is NORD helping its customers in achieving their green goals?

Working towards preserving environment includes developing efficient products which is part of our corporate policy that elaborates the sustainability approach in more details. To quote – “Environment Economic, profit-oriented development and protection of our environment and energy savings are not understood as conflicting interests but rather a common goal”. For this reason, we are committed to protection of the environment and prevent environmental pollution to the best of our ability. Our environmental management system is focused on the following aspects of our business activities:

Reduction and substitution, or careful handling of water pollutants, in particular in production processes such as painting.

Resource-efficient product design of new products and packaging materials

Reduction of greenhouse gases in logistics processes, the use of heating methods, electricity consumption or business trips

Reduction of waste, in particular hazardous waste from production processes

Coordination of manufacturing methods for purchased components and their delivery

Our environmental management system includes stipulation of environmental targets for improvement in development of new products or production methods. In product development, we also take care that our products contribute to the reduction of energy and other resources when they are used by our customers. Wherever possible we minimise our emissions and waste products, as well as the use of energy, water and other resources in our production and logistic processes. In the context of our management system, we regularly monitor our use of resources and emissions such as noise and air pollution, and report on specific developments.

What kinds of trends are you seeing in the industry at present?
We are seeing growing trends of customers adapting to automation practices and are inclined for better energy efficient & sustainable products. India being a big consumer market as well, we see good opportunities in end user sectors.

How important are drive systems in making factories smart & intelligent?
It is very important as drive system plays crucial role. Being heart of any machine, it definitely helps to improve overall performance of the system as well as increase output accuracy & quality, and reduce down time. Our products including gear drives & electronics drive solutions are Industry 4.0 ready, and we can offer predictive maintenance as well.

What are your growth plans for NORD in India?
In 2022, globally we crossed one billion Euro annual sales and all at NORD group were quite excited to witness the moment. Important is, it’s coming earlier than we had earlier estimated, underlining continued growing customer confidence in NORD products. India is being looked up as fastest growing economic in 2023 and, keeping up the expectations; we really have good plans lined up to better support India’s development & customers. In line with this plan, we have already started production of large size Maxxdrive (industrial gearbox), in both regular designs as well as in XD. Also, over the year, we will continue to expand our current production capacities to cater increasing market demand from various sectors.