Founded in Germany in the 1930s, SEW-EURODRIVE manufactures and distributes geared motors, as well as a range of electronics, frequency inverters, and servo drives, and a comprehensive range of heavy industrial gears. Employing over 16,000 people worldwide, SEW-EURODRIVE opened its first Australian office in Australia in 1982 and has been growing steadily in the local market ever since.
Proudly proclaiming to be global yet local, the company prides itself on providing the best of both worlds. The CEO Magazine spoke to managing director of SEW-EURODRIVE Australia Robert Merola about how the company has expanded in Australia, its investment in facilities, extensive training for staff and customers, and why SEW-EURODRIVE has foresight where its competitors may not.
The CEO Magazine: What was your professional background prior to coming to SEW-EURODRIVE?
Robert: I was an apprentice fitter and turner back in the early 70s with an Australian manufacturer called McKay Dynamics. I spent the first 10 years of my working life with them. I ran the machine shop for a while, progressed to the drawing office, then into internal sales, and finally as a sales engineer out on the road. I was retrenched during a recession in the early 80s, so after that I got a job with a company called William Adams. They were a distributor for the company that I was previously working for, and I worked in an internal sales role with them for about a year.
