Business View Magazine - Sept 2023

195 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 9 STOBER DRIVES Adapting to Industry Trends As STOBER Drives continues to evolve, the company is keenly aware of the importance of staying abreast of industry trends. Dunnavan shares one such trend that STOBER has been implementing: vertical lift modules. “What would originally take maybe 1000ft² to store products now would take 100ft². So, as we’ve been expanding our product line and getting new generations of products and custom configurations of products, we have run low on storage space. To improve that, we have gone to these vertical lift modules,” he explains. The shift to online operations during the Covid-19 pandemic has also had a significant impact on STOBER Drives, particularly in the area of sales. Neff discusses how the company has adapted to this new reality. “When Covid-19 emerged, we quickly learned how to operate effectively in a remote work setup. It really pushed us to quickly innovate and adopt digital communication and tools,” he says. To facilitate communication in this new remote environment, STOBER Drives has turned to digital platforms. “Microsoft Teams is the platform we use to facilitate communication. We use Microsoft Teams frequently. Whether it’s for internal communication or it could be interactions between our engineers, sales team and customers. It has become an invaluable communication resource for us.” Charting the Future As STOBER Drives looks to the future, the company’s top priority is clear: to become a one-stop shop for perfect motion. Dunnavan shares this ambitious goal. “Our goal as a company, what we’re moving towards, is to be a one-stop shop for perfect motion. If you have a motion need, STOBER wants to be able to take all of your requirements, give you a gearbox, a servo motor, and potentially a drive in the future, and be that one-stop shop to get you the perfect motion that you need for whatever project you have,” he states. Mellenkamp adds to this vision from a product management perspective. “Many organizations had to move quickly and adapt and innovate. We also needed to increase the turnaround time for products and be