Being well versed in the company’s products, customer base, and operational history, Cerra and Willigar are looking to not only to stabilize the company, but to grow it.
Two longtime employees of Worcester-based Magmotor Technologies are now leading the 150-year-old electric motor manufacturer, looking to stabilize and grow the company after the high-profile arrest of its owner in January.Jamie Willigar was appointed president, and Scott Cerra was named CEO of small manufacturer Magmotor on June 19. They replaced Gordon Goodarzi, who is awaiting trial for the alleged murder of his estranged wife in California, according to CBS News. Goodarzi pleaded not guilty and is being held in custody without bail in California.Willigar and Cerra have a strong belief in the company’s potential, having stuck with it through multiple ownership changes and the fallout from Goodarzi’s arrest, which has become fodder for tabloids. Combined, the duo have about 40 years of experience at the firm, which produces servo motors used across a wide variety of industries, including defense, aerospace, and robotics. The firm's motors have powered a NASA Mars rover, appeared in combat robots competing on BattleBots, and been incorporated into products by companies including Gerber Technology of Connecticut and Haas Automation of California.Goodarzi’s sons Navid and Milad are now in majority control of the company. Their father purchased the company in 2008 from SatCon Technology Corp., a now defunct Cambridge-based firm focused on energy and power technologies. Being well versed in the company’s products, customer base, and operational history, Cerra and Willigar are looking to not only to stabilize the company, but to grow it. Demand for the motors the company produces is high, driven by automation, electrification, and increased applications in the defense and aerospace industries. The global electric motor market is projected to surpass $250 billion by 2035, according to Future Market Insights, growing from its current value of $150.9 billion.Magmotor is working to land a contract with an undisclosed aerospace client for 75,000 motors annually, potentially tripling Magmotor’s workforce and helping bring manufacturing jobs back to Central Massachusetts. “We’ve always had a vision for the company, and we've always been proud of Magmotor and the brand,” Willigar said. “We believe that there's so much more potential for the company than what we currently have.”
Custom solutions
Both Goodarzi and SatCon were largely focused on other aspects of their portfolios, Cerra and Willigar said, which they felt prevented Magmotor from reaching its full potential in recent decades. Magmotor’s history dates back to 1876. Originally operating under the name Kendrick and Davis in Lebanon, New Hampshire, the company was purchased by Worcester Polytechnic Institute graduate Herbert Peterson in 1978. After a stint in West Boylston, the company moved into its current location near Worcester Regional Airport in 2011.The company produces both brush and brushless direct current motors. Brush DC motors use mechanical commutation with brushes and a commutator, while brushless DC motors use electronic controls, offering higher efficiency and longer life at the cost of added electronics. It manufactures MagLev, a device that creates a rotating magnetic field to spin a rotor, with applications in semiconductor manufacturing.Magmotor's MagLev device. PHOTO COURTESY OF MAGMOTOR TECHNOLOGIESThe company produces motors in a variety of sizes, even offering explosion-proof configurations for motors used in hazardous settings. Magmotor differentiates itself from larger players in the space through its ability to customize its offerings.“We can make almost any DC brush and brushless motor that our customer needs,” Willigar said.If a manufacturer has a motor breakdown in a piece of machinery that hasn’t been produced in decades, they can rely on Magmotor to reverse engineer a replacement, often increasing that machine’s efficiency in the process, Cerra said. Magmotor is attempting to participate in reshoring efforts, looking to ensure as many of their products’ components are made in the United States. Roadblocks to that process include significant lower costs when sourcing components from China, as well as the institutional knowledge that is lost when longtime employees retire, Willigar said.
The path forward
Willigar said Navid and Milad have embraced their role directing the firm, as lawyers work to iron out a long-term solution for the company’s corporate structure. Willigar declined further comment, citing the need for the situation to play out in the courts. No company wants the type of attention brought about by the allegations against Goodarzi, but Willigar said the company’s morale is actually the highest it's been in his time there, driven by his and Cerra’s efforts to re-establish an employee-focused culture. The pair have prioritized a flexible work environment that prioritizes employees’ families, and reintroduced company holidays that had been axed by previous ownership.“The big thing is to stabilize the company and grow it,” Willigar said. “We want to make it a really good workplace for people to want to work at and to stay at.”Magmotor produces DC motors of all shapes and sizes. PHOTO COURTESY OF MAGMOTOR TECHNOLOGIESWith fewer than 10 employees at the moment, Magmotor is looking to build out a sales team, no longer relying on its existing customer base and word-of-mouth to grow. Cerra is looking to add a designer to the company’s staff, freeing him up to focus on his management duties. Both Willigar and Cerra are wearing a lot of hats at the moment, looking to understand all aspects of the business to prevent relying too much on any one employee. But above all, the focus is growing the firm by landing more contracts, helping ensure there’s another chapter to Magmotor’s long story.“Scott and I are the new new guys in charge, and we're trying to really change things around and make things better for the company, and do it the right way,” Willigar said. Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the real estate and banking & finance industries.
