SEW-Eurodrive vs NORD DRIVESYSTEMS — Complete Comparison Guide

SEW-Eurodrive vs NORD DRIVESYSTEMS — Which Geared Motor Is Right for Your Application?

SEW-Eurodrive and NORD DRIVESYSTEMS are two of Germany’s most respected manufacturers of geared motors and drive technology. Both produce high-quality products that meet the same international standards — but there are important differences in design philosophy, pricing, availability and application suitability that every maintenance engineer and procurement manager should understand.

VBN Vertriebs GmbH supplies both SEW-Eurodrive and NORD DRIVESYSTEMS products from Germany to customers in Nigeria, UAE, Indonesia and Israel.

Company Background

SEW-Eurodrive

SEW-Eurodrive GmbH & Co. KG was founded in 1931 in Bruchsal, Germany. With over 21,000 employees and manufacturing plants on every continent, SEW is the world’s largest manufacturer of geared motors. SEW products are found in virtually every industry and their MOVIMOT and MOVIDRIVE variable frequency drive systems are widely specified by OEM machine builders worldwide. SEW has its own service network and manufacturing facilities in many countries including Indonesia and UAE.

NORD DRIVESYSTEMS

NORD DRIVESYSTEMS (Getriebebau NORD GmbH & Co. KG) was founded in 1965 in Bargteheide near Hamburg. With around 5,000 employees and production facilities in Germany, USA and other countries, NORD is a strong second-tier competitor to SEW. NORD is well-known for their innovative UNICASE single-piece gearbox housing and their decentralised drive concept (NORDAC ON/ACCESS). NORD is particularly strong in the food & beverage, logistics and packaging sectors.

Technical Comparison — SEW vs NORD

Gearbox Design

SEW-Eurodrive uses a modular design where the motor and gearbox are separate units bolted together. This gives flexibility in combining different motor sizes with different gear ratios, but creates a potential weak point at the motor-gearbox interface under high shock loads.

NORD DRIVESYSTEMS uses the patented UNICASE design — a one-piece gearbox housing machined from a single casting, with the motor shaft directly supported by the gearbox bearings. This eliminates the flange joint entirely, giving greater rigidity and longer bearing life in demanding applications such as conveyor drives and agitators.

Variable Frequency Drives

SEW-Eurodrive MOVIMOT (motor-mounted inverter) and MOVIDRIVE (cabinet inverter) are industry-leading products with extensive fieldbus connectivity and application software. However, spare parts for SEW electronics are expensive and typically only available through SEW directly.

NORD DRIVESYSTEMS NORDAC ON (motor-mounted) and NORDAC FLEX (cabinet) inverters offer comparable functionality at more competitive pricing. NORD inverters support all major fieldbus protocols and are produced at NORD’s dedicated electronics plant in Germany.

Energy Efficiency

Both SEW and NORD offer IE3 and IE4 efficiency class motors as standard. NORD’s DUODUR surface hardening process for gear teeth gives particularly long service life in heavily loaded applications.

Price Comparison

In most standard applications, NORD DRIVESYSTEMS products are 10–25% less expensive than equivalent SEW-Eurodrive products. This difference is most significant for:

Standard helical and bevel-helical geared motors in common sizes
Frequency inverters and motor-mounted drives
Spare parts and replacement units

For highly specialised SEW products such as MOVIMOT or MOVIDRIVE with application-specific software, there is no direct NORD equivalent and replacement is more complex.

When to Choose SEW-Eurodrive

The machine OEM has specified SEW and the drive is integrated with SEW MOVILINK or MOVIAXIS systems
You need SEW MOVIMOT decentralised drives with existing SEW fieldbus infrastructure
Local SEW service support is important and a SEW service centre is nearby
The application requires SEW-specific safety functions (MOVISAFE)

When to Choose NORD DRIVESYSTEMS

Standard conveyor, mixer, agitator or pump drive applications where the brand is not specified
High shock load applications — UNICASE housing is more robust than SEW modular design
Budget-sensitive projects where 10–25% cost saving is important
Food & beverage applications — NORD hygienic design range is particularly strong
New installations where you are free to choose the supplier

Ordering SEW-Eurodrive or NORD DRIVESYSTEMS from VBN

VBN Vertriebs GmbH supplies both SEW-Eurodrive and NORD DRIVESYSTEMS products from Germany to customers in Nigeria, UAE, Indonesia and Israel. Send us your technical requirements or the existing motor nameplate data and we will recommend the most suitable and cost-effective solution within 24 hours.

SEW-Eurodrive Spare Parts from Germany
NORD DRIVESYSTEMS from Germany
Bosch Rexroth Drive Technology from Germany
Request a Quote — SEW or NORD — response within 24 hours