Company Report: Automotion
Automotion Automotion has grown and thrived in its market through state-of-the-art automation and solid distribution partnerships

40 years ago, Automotion began its history as a distributor of conveyors and conveyor accessories. It quickly transformed itself into a manufacturer of those same products in order to better control its own processes and products.

Since then, the company has grown and prospered by adopting new world views about manufacturing automation, paired with a traditional focus on creating strong alliances with its distributors.

"What sets us apart from some of the others in our industry is our automated processes," says Joe O'Connor, director of marketing at Automotion in Oak Lawn, Ill. "The communications between engineering and production are seamless. In addition, we are always striving to provide the very best in quality, value, and service through our distribution network"

The Automation equation
At its inception, Automotion did much of its design, planning and implementation manually.

"In the old days, the manager kept everything in his head, and the place wouldn't run if he wasn't here," says John Polak, plant manager. "In those days, someone hand wrote the bill of materials, the work orders and the routings. Design drawings were stored in large books on the manufacturing floor that had to be searched manually."

Approximately two decades ago, though, the company realized that automation

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