Lenze Americas, a global manufacturer of electrical and mechanical drives, motion control and automation technology, today announced strong double-digit growth in sales for 2011, highlighted by many new and enhanced products launched throughout the year. "Customers trust our engineering expertise and have come to rely on our innovative product development. From the control system to the drive, we are the full service provider who makes motion engineering easy," states Chuck Edwards, president, Lenze Americas. "We are pleased with progress made toward diversifying and expanding our offerings to meet a wider range of industry needs in the packaging and material handling markets this year."

A packaging industry survey, initiated by Lenze Americas, showed rising demand for motor control innovation and overall positive expectations for industry growth. Early last year, Lenze Americas contracted a third-party consulting firm to conduct a telephone questionnaire of U.S. packaging industry corporations. Ninety-five percent of respondents were packaging OEMs and end users directly specifying and purchasing motor control products. Engineers, engineering VPs and management level personnel represented 50 percent of those surveyed; and, 44 percent held VP manufacturing or operations, management level packaging, regulatory, plant quality, and technical management job titles.

Survey participants credited numerous initiatives with driving growth in the packaging industry. Product innovation was most frequently cited (69 percent of respondents), followed closely by machine performance and efficiency (61 percent), with cost control ranking third (52 percent). A significant number of respondents also mentioned market demand in North America (36 percent) and globalization (25 percent) as drivers. Respondents familiar with Lenze solutions cited the company as being known within the industry for 'power-in-motion' expertise, packaging equipment, AC drives, frequency inverters, and automation systems. "Our drive and automation solutions are making a name in all manner of industries. Survey results reflected a high level of confidence in Lenze engineered solutions," added Edwards.

"Analyses show that a majority of our customers in the packaging engineering sector use complete solutions comprised of a range of Lenze products in their machines. Customers value the high reliability of our components, the harmonized and scalable product portfolio, and the uniformly efficient and cost-cutting savings of intelligent drive system dimensioning."