EMS celebrates 20th birthday
An
EMS product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Sep 1, 2005
Twenty years ago today a new company began trading in the small drives market.
1st September 1985 saw a new company start trading in the small drives market named Electro Mechanical Systems - EMS for short.
The concept was to provide electromechanical systems and not just components to the UK small drives market.
The range of products to be sold would be limited to a maximum power of about 250W.
The foundation of the company owes much to the support of Minimotor of Switzerland, which appointed EMS as its sole UK agent to sell its range of precision ironless DC motors, gearheads and encoders.
After a few months EMS was able to win the UK sole agency for Magnetic Elektromotoren to sell its range of linear actuators and lifting columns.
Over the next 5 years EMS attracted other European manufacturers, and built up a broad portfolio of small drives.
However, the system side of the plan was not happening, and competing in what was essentially a small components market saw margins begin to erode.
To answer the systems question and counter the margin challenge it was decided to set up a UK manufacturing base for systems and special mechanisms production.
Rather than starting from scratch EMS bought HL Instruments (HLI) which manufactured remote hand tooling for the handling and processing of nuclear and other hazardous materials.
HLI had the basic machinery and skills to produce the sort of products EMS had in mind, but also had an income stream to ensure it did not become a drain on resources in the early years.
From one unit at purchase, this operation has now grown to seven units, manufacturing custom design mechanisms for industries as diverse as stairlifts to medical devices.
Entering its 21st year, EMS still represents Minimotor, but also represents most of the products from the rest of what has come to be called the Faulhaber Group.
Magnetic was bought-out by SKF, but EMS remains a specialised distributor for its products.
Other key companies represented by EMS include Japan Servo, Valeo SWF, Kaehlig and Magnetic Autocontrol.
Some 45 people now work for EMS, and drive an annual turnover of just short of GBP 10 million.
Not what you're looking for? Search the site.
Contact EMS
Tel +44 118 9817 391
Other EMS stories
-
EMS expands manufacturing facility
Electro Mechanical Systems (EMS) continues to develop and evolve the manufacturing arm of its business. -
Piezomotor releases ant-sized walking machine
Piezomotor's Piezo Legs one-piece walking machine is about the size of an ant but almost 1,000 times stronger. -
Faulhaber adds to brushless DC servomotor range
Faulhaber has announced the latest addition to the BX4 series of high torque brushless DC servomotors. -
Nidec offers brushless three-phase motors
Nidec has unveiled a range of brushless 12 or 24V DC three-phase motors. -
DC servomotor offers simple construction
The combined moulding of the coil, PCB and hall-effect sensors guarantees a reliable, robust construction.
Browse by category
-
Capital Equipment (3,495)
- Capital Equipment (1)
- Compressors and Air Treatment (534)
- Electrical hardware (131)
- Electronics Manufacturing, Tools, Instruments (192)
- Machinery and Production Equipment (1,125)
- Manufacturing Machinery and Plant Equipment (474)
- Production line blowers and fans (73)
- Robotics, Handling and Storage (965)
- Consultancy and Services (919)
-
Control and Instrumentation (5,108)
- Cabling, Conduit, Signal Conditioning (813)
- CNC and Motion Controllers (188)
- Control and Instrumentation (2)
- HMIs/Operator Interfaces (296)
- Logic Controllers, Timers and Relays (96)
- Mid-range and Large PLCs (203)
- Plant- and Machine-Wide Communications (1,197)
- Plantwide control (1,350)
- Power Supplies, Uninterruptible Power (573)
- Smaller-Sized PLCs (390)
-
Drives, Motors and Controls (3,428)
- Drives, Motors and Controls (2)
- Industrial Drives/Controls (1,290)
- Industrial Motors (501)
- Linear Drives and Motors (119)
- Precision Motors and Gears (428)
- Stepper and Servo Drives, Motors, Controls (1,086)
-
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4,280)
- Batteries, chargers and circuit protection (576)
- Connectors, Terminals, Busbars, Slip Rings (711)
- Electrical and Electronic Components (647)
- Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (3)
- Electrical and Electronic Subassemblies (374)
- Enclosures and Equipment Cooling Fans (720)
- Knobs, Handles and Enclosure Hardware (428)
- PCs and Embedded Systems (821)
-
Engineering Design Software (6,326)
- 2D CAD software (202)
- 3D CAD software (1,180)
- CAM, CNC, production management software (576)
- Data, document management software (321)
- Electrical design software (165)
- Engineering Design Software (17)
- FEA and structural analysis software (376)
- File conversion software, data capture (358)
- Fluid, thermal, noise, vibration software (338)
- Materials design and moulding design software (152)
- Maths, charting, statistics, QA software (324)
- PLM and collaboration software (659)
- Process, instrumentation, automation software (269)
- Publishing and documentation software (234)
- Rendering, visualisation, styling software (206)
- Simulation, modelling, validation software (949)
-
Engineering Industry News, Resources (6,200)
- Electronic Resources for Engineers (278)
- Engineering Business News, Views (388)
- Engineering Conferences (435)
- Engineering Education, Resources, Standards (849)
- Engineering Exhibitions, Events (575)
- Engineering Guides, Newsletters (365)
- Engineering Industry Developments, Awards (636)
- Engineering Industry News, Resources (4)
- Engineering Industry Reports, Surveys (597)
- Engineering Recruitment, Employment (219)
- Engineering Seminars (414)
- Engineering Training Courses (457)
- Health and Safety Consultancy, Software (180)
- Health and Safety Events, Training, News (285)
- Health and Safety Legislation (403)
- Health and Safety Strategy, Risk Assessment (115)
- Machine Building (4,606)
-
Materials and Processing (3,021)
- Materials and components (2,259)
- Materials and Processing (5)
- Materials processing and testing (291)
- Rapid Prototyping (466)
-
Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (5,624)
- Data Acquisition Hardware and PC I/O Boards (486)
- Data acquisition Software and Communications (503)
- Data loggers (425)
- Electrical and Electronic Testing, PAT Equipment (641)
- Form/co-ordinate, optical, vision instruments (757)
- Gauges, Indicators and Instruments (448)
- Materials testing equipment (430)
- Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (1)
- Telecomms/network test equipment, software etc (158)
- Testing and Calibration Services and Information (518)
- Testing, analysing and monitoring equipment (1,257)
-
Powertrain Design (3,698)
- Bearings (976)
- Chains and belts (333)
- Gears, brakes, couplings and engines (1,470)
- Hydraulic Components (474)
- Lubricants (441)
- Powertrain Design (3)
-
Sensors (7,249)
- Accelerometers and Vibration Sensors (447)
- Barcode Sensors (103)
- Flowmeters and Flow Sensors (638)
- Gas, Chemical, Radiation, Magnetic Sensors (289)
- Humidity and Environmental Sensors (157)
- Level Sensors and Leak Detectors (537)
- Linear Position Sensors (412)
- Loadcells, Force Sensors, Torque Sensors (725)
- Pressure sensors (635)
- Proximity Sensors (711)
- Rotary Position, Tilt and Angular Sensors (559)
- Sensors (10)
- Temperature sensors (621)
- Vision and Colour Sensors (1,405)
- Small Mechanical Components, Joining, Tools (2,027)
- Valves, Pumps, Process Hardware (3,713)
