For over 150 years, Magmotor Technologies has been doing something increasingly rare in American manufacturing: quietly adapting.

Founded in 1876 as Kendrick and Davis (K&D) in Lebanon, New Hampshire, the company has spent generations designing and manufacturing custom electric motors while weathering economic upheavals, technological revolutions, and dramatic shifts in global industry. From the horse-and-buggy era to the dawn of robotics and space exploration, Magmotor has endured by embracing change without abandoning the principles that built its reputation.

In 1978, during the company’s 102nd year, Herbert Peterson purchased the business, renamed it K&D Magmotor, and moved operations to Worcester, Massachusetts. Today, as Magmotor approaches its sesquicentennial milestone, the company is preparing for another transformative chapter.

Executives are currently developing plans for a significant expansion that could eventually triple both revenue and workforce. While details remain under wraps, company leaders view the initiative as the next step in a long tradition of reinvention.

The strength of Magmotor’s business, however, has never rested solely on products. It has also been built on people.

Jamie Willigar, Director of Manufacturing and Operations, has spent 21 years with the company. Director of Engineering and Operations Scott Cerra is approaching his twentieth anniversary. Several members of the production team have accumulated more than a quarter-century of service. That level of continuity has become increasingly uncommon in modern manufacturing, but it has helped preserve a culture of institutional knowledge that continues to shape the company’s success.

Many of Magmotor’s customers have demonstrated similar loyalty. Organizations operating in aerospace, defense, advanced technology, and even NASA have maintained relationships with the company for years, sometimes decades.

The reason is straightforward: reliability.

Many Magmotor products remain operational for 15 to 20 years with little or no maintenance issues. A reputation for durable engineering, attentive customer service, and a willingness to solve unusual technical challenges has allowed the company to survive while countless manufacturers have disappeared.

That ability to evolve has carried Magmotor from producing motors during the age of horse-drawn transportation to designing systems that support modern aerospace applications.

Willigar notes that workforce training has historically been relatively simple because experienced employees have remained with the company for so long. Yet that dynamic is beginning to change. As veteran workers approach retirement, Magmotor is preparing to recruit and train a new generation of employees who can learn directly from those with decades of experience before that knowledge leaves the workforce.

The transition comes at an opportune time. Demand continues to grow, new opportunities are emerging, and company leadership believes Magmotor’s future is every bit as promising as its past.

Cerra explains that one area where Magmotor continues to distinguish itself is its commitment to brushed motor technology. While many manufacturers have shifted heavily toward brushless systems, Magmotor remains deeply involved in the brushed motor market because many legacy applications still require them.

In fact, some of the industries most associated with cutting-edge innovation continue to rely on brushed motors. Their proven reliability makes them particularly attractive for aerospace and space applications, where dependability often matters more than novelty.

The company’s primary focus remains customized engineering solutions. Rather than competing in the crowded marketplace of mass-produced motors, Magmotor specializes in designing products tailored to specific operational requirements. These are often motors that cannot simply be purchased off the shelf.

That niche has helped insulate the company from direct competition.

Following the decision by former President Bill Clinton to grant China Most-Favored-Nation status, Magmotor gradually shifted much of its production to manufacturing partners in China. According to Willigar, those partnerships have successfully maintained the quality standards customers expect.

“That’s why we do all the design work in-house,” he said.

Cerra notes that final assembly still takes place domestically and that the company would like to bring at least a portion of manufacturing back to the United States.

“We still do the final assembly in-house and would like to bring at least some manufacturing back to the States, at least on a smaller scale to support U.S. sales,” Cerra said. “But there is a lot of overhead and costs involved to do so. It also takes time and personnel.”

Over the years, Magmotor products have appeared in a remarkably diverse range of applications.

Its brushed motors were used in NASA’s Mars Rover program and have powered competitors in the popular BattleBots robotics competition. More recently, an Italian company adopted Magmotor motors for robots designed to clean the hulls of ships.

Other applications include elevators, diving equipment, electric lawnmowers, GPS-guided machinery, and numerous industrial systems.

Willigar believes robotics could become one of the company’s most promising growth markets.

“We believe our motors will have increasing utility in the robotics industry,” he said.

Part of that appeal comes from the company’s use of neodymium magnets, which allow engineers to extract greater power from relatively compact motors.

Magmotor’s smallest units measure approximately one-and-a-half inches by two inches. At the other end of the spectrum, some models weigh as much as 65 pounds and can operate at speeds approaching 6,000 revolutions per minute.

For Willigar, the diversity of the motor industry has changed the way he views competitors.

There was a time, he says, when he regarded other manufacturers as rivals. Experience eventually led him to a different conclusion.

“The motor industry is large,” said Willigar. “It should be conducive to our working together rather than being cutthroat to our mutual disadvantage. The motor industry serves many other industries, and the motors which we—and they—manufacture often save lives and make progress possible. After all, motors are used everywhere, and robotics is opening up an entirely new field for the motor industry.”

The company’s willingness to evolve is evident in its product roadmap.

Although Magmotor has not manufactured AC motors for many years, Cerra says the company is actively considering a return to that market. Leadership is also exploring expanded production of brushless motors.

Neither shift represents a radical departure from the company’s expertise, but both require substantial engineering investment and product development. Even so, Magmotor has no intention of abandoning brushed motors, which remain a cornerstone of its business.

For Willigar, technological advancement should never come at the expense of customer relationships.

“At Magmotor, it is really not just about modernization or pushing the newest technology,” he said. “For us, it is more about being present and truly supporting the customer’s needs for the long term. If we cannot provide exactly what a customer needs, we will do our best to help point them in the right direction or connect them with someone who can.”

That philosophy extends across the company’s customer base.

Many manufacturers prioritize high-volume orders and large contracts. Magmotor often takes a different approach, working with organizations of vastly different sizes.

“One thing that makes Magmotor different is that we are willing to work on projects that a lot of manufacturers will not even look at unless there is high volume or large upfront spending involved,” Willigar said. “We work with everyone from small mom-and-pop companies all the way to multimillion-dollar corporations, and we try to treat them all the same.”

He points to a husband-and-wife business in the United Kingdom that is currently collaborating with Magmotor on custom motor solutions. The company approaches that relationship with the same level of commitment it would offer a major industrial client.

Cerra says a growing segment of Magmotor’s business involves helping customers overcome supply-chain disruptions and equipment failures.

“We recently had a customer whose entire system was down because their original motor supplier no longer supported the product,” he explained. “They came to us with the old motor, and we engineered a replacement that improved performance, durability, and overall build quality while getting their equipment back up and running. That is the kind of real-world problem solving we focus on every day.”

The company has also expanded partnerships with U.S.-based suppliers of encoders, brakes, gearboxes, and other motion-control technologies in order to offer more comprehensive integrated solutions.

Internally, Magmotor is increasing inventories of commonly requested motors to reduce lead times and minimize customer downtime. The company also encourages blanket purchase orders that help ensure a steady flow of products through the supply chain.

At the same time, engineers continue refining designs, improving performance, and working closely with customers to ensure that every motor is properly matched to its intended application.

“Our goal is not just to sell a motor,” said Willigar. “It is to help customers build reliable systems that perform better and last longer.”

That perspective helps explain how a company founded during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant remains relevant in an era increasingly defined by automation, robotics, and advanced manufacturing.

Magmotor’s history is ultimately a story about continuity amid constant change. The people overseeing day-to-day operations today are also the ones planning for the decades ahead. Their ambitions include potentially tripling the size of the company while preserving the customer-first culture that has sustained it for over 150 years.

In many ways, Magmotor represents a distinctly American manufacturing story. It is a story of adaptation, technical expertise, long-term relationships, and a belief that innovation does not always require reinvention. Sometimes it simply requires doing difficult things well, consistently, for generations.

As the company enters its next chapter, Magmotor appears determined to prove that even in a rapidly changing world, durability remains one of the most valuable technologies of all.