Factories look and feel completely different from just a handful of years ago. Almost every repetitive, mind-numbing task—feeding parts, stacking boxes, wrapping pallets—has been handed over to machines. The work keeps moving steadily now, without people wearing themselves out doing the exact same motion hour after hour. Management wants bigger numbers coming off the line,…

Industrial motors really are the unsung workhorses inside factories everywhere you look. Just about every production line leans on them in some way—whether it’s turning the rollers on a conveyor belt so parts keep flowing from one station to the next, spinning the blades in a big mixer that blends raw materials in a food…