A Heavy Lift

Tightly Focused

It’s a relationship that spans more than 25 years. At first, OMi began using NORD gearboxes and motors on a fairly selective basis, but the partnership deepened around 2011 when OMi started building its own hoists. That move called for bigger gearboxes and more horsepower—and it made ready-made drive solutions even more critical. NORD provides a complete, preassembled unit that fits neatly into OMi's production flow.

“We didn’t start using NORD almost exclusively until we started offering a complete hoist that we build in-house," Rue says. “A lot of suppliers in this industry will make a gearbox and then put a motor on it, and sometimes vice-versa, but not only does that slow everything down, it also makes it harder to get parts. We didn't want to go that route, so we decided to standardize on NORD gearmotors (motor, brake, and gearbox) roughly 15 years ago. Since then, we’ve found that using pre-engineered drive units directly from the catalog makes it easy to customize to our customers’ needs, which is where we differentiate ourselves from the competition.”

At its core, OMi specializes in the design and manufacturing of electric overhead traveling cranes. Unlike many suppliers that offer off-the-shelf systems, OMi takes a customized approach, tailoring every crane to the exact specifications of the building and the application it serves. "Yes, there are similarities between jobs and customers, but every crane fits a specific building layout and a specific application, so the ability to optimize each one is hugely important."

Most of OMi’s cranes are designed for indoor environments such as manufacturing plants and coil handling facilities. While the company can also produce outdoor gantry cranes, its primary focus remains on precision indoor lifting, with steel processing and warehousing centers representing its largest market share.

The demands of these industries are unique. Steel coils, for example, can weigh tens of thousands of pounds, and facilities often run 24/7 operations where a stalled crane can halt production. Many of OMi's customers require cranes that not only lift heavy loads but also perform a high number of cycles each day without overheating or wearing down prematurely. That makes the engineering behind each crane and its components critical to long-term reliability.

One of the standard and most requested options on an OMi crane is the company’s “built-up hoist and trolley” system. As Rue explains, these assemblies are often the most customized and technically demanding parts of the crane. “The hoist does all the work, which is why we’ll often use one of the bigger NORD units, such as the SK 10 with a hundred horsepower motor.”

Prove It!

Several recent projects show the scale of their partnership. One job in Bowling Green, Kentucky, required eight cranes and 56 NORD units, with motor ratings from three to 100 horsepower. Another in nearby Brandenburg involved 16 cranes and 110 NORD gear motors across six bays, while a third—this one supporting an aluminum processor—used five cranes and 50 NORD units.

Each facility came with its unique challenges. In Bowling Green, for example, OMi built the cranes for a completely automated coil handling system where cranes communicate with the facility’s ERP software to manage inventory movements without human input. In Brandenburg, the facility required high-speed coil stacking capabilities and extremely high service levels able to withstand the company’s continuous operation. And the aluminum processor project, though smaller, demanded precision movement with fine load control to protect delicate material during handling.

In every case, OMi designed each crane to fit the customer's plant layout, throughput needs, and uptime goals. "If a customer loses a motor or gearbox, NORD can usually get us a replacement very quickly, sometimes within a day or two,” Rue says. The service side has been just as strong. “With some vendors, we might have to call several times before we can get somebody on the line,” he adds. “With NORD, we don’t have that problem. Even when our primary contact is unavailable, we quickly get routed to someone who can help, avoiding costly downtime.”

OMi has never had to use NORD’s 911 emergency breakdown hotline despite running a high volume of the company's products over many years. Instead, their engineers work independently, sizing components, pulling drawings, and submitting orders directly through myNORD, NORD’s online customer portal, without having to stop and make phone calls to sales or technical support.

If a crane goes down, production can grind to a halt, Rue concludes. For OMi Cranes and its customers alike, having a reliable drive system supplier isn’t just about convenience—it’s about keeping material moving efficiently and without fail. “We’ve enjoyed very steady growth over the years. I attribute most of this to our employees—our engineering team, the sales and quoting people, and our team on the production floor. That said, NORD deserves at least some of the credit. They’ve been great to work with and have an equally solid product line. We’re quite pleased with the partnership.”