News –
Anniversary: 60 years of NORD
From family business to global player
NORD DRIVESYSTEMS was founded on 1 April 1965 by G. A. Küchenmeister and Günter Schlicht. Since then, the family business has evolved into an important system provider for mechanical and electronic drive technology with more than 4,800 employees worldwide. This year, the drive specialists celebrate their 60th company anniversary.
Brampton, ON, 2025-04-01
60 years of NORD – this milestone is a special one. The company is characterised by long-term experience, extensive know-how in more than 100 industries, own production facilities, great production depth, and a global network. Thanks to its qualified employees, NORD can provide its customers worldwide with individual drive solutions from a comprehensive range of modular products and high quality standards.
Company history in retrospect
After the foundation in 1965, today’s Zahnradwerk NORD was built in Glinde in 1977 for the manufacturing of gear components. In 1979, the first foreign subsidiaries have been founded in the USA, France and Sweden. Today, NORD serves the international market with 48 of its own subsidiaries in 36 countries and further sales partners in more than 50 countries. This allows for service, advice, storing and assembly directly on site – always close to the customers.
NORD has expanded its production by in-house manufacturing of electric motors, and shortly afterwards started the production of electronic components in Aurich. Due to the high demand, the NORD Electronic Drivesystems subsidiary in Aurich, Lower Saxony, has grown ever since. In 1991, Fertigungstechnik NORD was founded in Gadebusch – a plant for machining for the manufacture of housings and shafts. The plants in Germany, Italy, Poland, the USA and China are steadily expanded and modernised. The headquarters in Bargteheide, where a modern administration building has recently been built, is also in continuous development.
Technological highlights
In 1981, NORD has developed the UNICASE™ housing concept, a groundbreaking invention for the industrial production of gear unit housings, which is still international standard. In 2000, the focus was on the product launch of decentralised drive technology.
Other milestones:
- 2002 – NORD modular worm gear unit products
- 2009 – NORD MAXXDRIVE® XC industrial gear units
- 2016 – NORDAC LINK Field Distribution System (FDS)
- 2019 – NORDAC PRO SK 500P, NORDCON APP, and NORDAC ACCESS BT Bluetooth stick
- 2021 – the highly efficient NORD IE5+ synchronous motor, NORDAC ON/ON+, and DuoDrive
- 2025 – NXD BASIC® and NXD tupH®
Success expressed in figures: sales of one billion euros
Innovations pay off: Just before the turn of the years 2022/2023, NORD passed the one billion euro sales threshold for the first time in the company's history. This shows, how well the manufacturer’s drive solutions meet the requirements from different industries and how much NORD is appreciated as a strong and reliable partner – expressed in 2023 by the company’s claim “Our Solution. Your Success.”
Sustainability and digitalisation
With its sustainability strategy for 2025, NORD promises to consequently act in an ecological, economic and socially responsible manner. The manufacturer’s efficient drive solutions significantly contribute to the reduction of energy consumption and CO₂ emissions in industry. Furthermore, the drive experts support companies with consultation services such as the efficiency analysis programme or the NORD ECO service.
With the digital myNORD platform, NORD also provides a service solution with which the company significantly increases the accessibility of its services, while streamlining processes and facilitating configuration and ordering of drive technology.
Outlook after 60 years
2025 will be a very special year for the NORD DRIVESYSTEMS Group: For more than 60 years, NORD has been representing reliable and innovative drive solutions. Despite the current economic challenges and uncertainties in the global markets, the company looks ahead confidently. Innovative drive solutions, industry expertise, international orientation, high quality standards and a strong global network form the basis for sustainable growth. The anniversary is not only a reason to celebrate but also an incentive to further set new industry standards and to further convince customers with powerful solutions.