Business View Magazine - Sept 2023

171 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 9 LENZE AMERICAS Lenze company, he adds. Another facet focuses on higher-level control products that go into systems and various types of automation applications around the world. This includes everything from touch-panel HMI’s (human- machine interface) to PLC (programmable logic controller) products to cloud-based data- gathering and analytics, as Harper informs. “We like to say that we control everything from the shaft to the cloud within an automation system for a customer,” he observes. “That’s a broad brush of who we are.” Though Hans Lenze has been gone for 60 years now, he doubtless would be very proud of how his company has evolved and prospered. Harper says the company has been around now in North America for about 35 years. “We were established as a remote-service organization for our German parent company early on,” he adds, citing a close partnership between German and American operations, with different facets and functions of the company that worked well together and continue to do so. With growth, says Harper, came the realization that the Americas were going to become a valuable player in the OEM (or original equipment manufacturer) market. Around 2000, Lenze made a key strategic investment in a Massachusetts- based company called AC Tech. By investing in AC Tech which specializes in providing sales and technical support for AC inverters, servo drives, and motor products, the business has been on an impressive upward trajectory. This proactive approach reflects a direct push by Lenze to increase local manufacturing, which in time has resulted in reducing the company’s lead times while further providing superior customer service. Keeping on top of supply chain issues has helped the already successful company to forge ahead to the leading position Lenze Americas enjoys in the market today. “If we look at where we are a little over 20 years later, we now manufacture more