This year Boston Gear celebrates 135 years in business, longer than such venerable companies as I.B.M., Coca-Cola, General Electric and Ford. It's been around longer than the light bulb, radio, movies, automobiles, and the airplane. Boston Gear, part of Altra Industrial Motion, is a global supplier of quality power transmission products to most major industrial markets including food processing, packaging machinery and material handling. From its 193,000 square foot state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, Boston Gear offers a wider range of products than any competing company in its field. Many companies worldwide rely upon Boston Gear as their single-source supplier of motion control products.

Boston Gear was founded in 1877 as a small machine shop manufacturing gear-cutting machines. Early on, Boston Gear introduced the concepts of gear standardization and stock gears - innovations of enormous benefit to power transmission designers, specifiers and users. By 1929, Boston Gear was established as the world's largest manufacturer of stock gears. Today, products like the new 2000 Series gear motors help Boston Gear maintain its position as the go-to company in its field. The 2000 Series, sets new standards in performance and design flexibility. And Boston's 700 Series speed reducers, available in both cast iron and stainless steel, have long been the industry standard for food processing and material handling applications.

Boston Gear survived a national depression in the late 1800s, the Great Depression of the 1930s, numerous recessions, and several changes of ownership. And during World War II, the company worked round the clock, contributing to the U.S. war effort. In appreciation, the employees of Boston Gear were awarded the Army-Navy Production Award for high achievement in 1943.

More recently, Boston Gear has faced radical changes in the global marketplace. "Just 20 years ago we competed primarily with companies based in North America," said Vice President & General Manager Ed Novotny. "But now we face competition from companies worldwide. This globalization has opened up many new opportunities for us."

Carl Christenson, president & CEO of Boston's parent company, Altra Industrial Motion, has an answer to that question. "We're an extremely customer focused company," Christenson said. "Our associates are committed to satisfying the customer. We service the marketplace with above average industry performance standards in quality, delivery, and product innovation."