STOBER USA Builds Speed, Consistency, and Confidence into Servo Sizing with SERVOsoft

Sep 27, 2026

How SERVOsoft helps STOBER USA engineers work faster, centralize complex calculations, confidently explain product selections, and demonstrate the value behind premium motion solutions.

Customer Overview

Company	STOBER
Industry	Industrial Automation & Drive Technology
Headquarters	Pforzheim, Germany
Global Presence	Production facilities in Germany, Hungary, and the United States, with locations and service partners worldwide
Products	Servo gearboxes, motors, drive controllers, inverters, and complete drive systems
Customer Perspectives	Russell Fast, Application Engineer, STOBER USA

STOBER is a global manufacturer of high-performance drive and automation technology, providing precision gearboxes, servo motors, drive controllers, and complete motion solutions for demanding industrial applications.

At STOBER USA, SERVOsoft has become an integral part of application engineering, helping engineers move efficiently from application requirements to product selection while giving customers greater visibility into the engineering behind each recommendation.

The Challenge

Servo system sizing can quickly become complex.

Depending on the application, STOBER engineers may need to evaluate gearbox torque and speed, motor performance, drive current and voltage, inertia, thermal utilization, motion profiles, and complete multi-axis systems.

Historically, some calculations were handled using individual spreadsheets and engineering tools. However, independently maintained Excel files can create challenges with consistency, data entry, verification, and communicating results to customers.

STOBER needed an engineering environment that could:

• Centralize critical sizing calculations
• Support gearboxes, motors, drives, and rack-and-pinion solutions
• Calculate torque, speed, inertia, electrical, and thermal requirements
• Reduce repetitive data entry
• Quickly evaluate alternative product selections
• Explain the reasoning behind recommendations
• Verify calculations during technical customer discussions
• Produce professional, comprehensive reports

As STOBER Application Engineer Russell Fast explains, SERVOsoft acts as a “force multiplier” for experienced engineers, helping them reach the right answer more quickly.

Why SERVOsoft?

SERVOsoft was already established at STOBER before Russell joined the company and has remained a core part of his engineering workflow.

One of its key advantages is the ability to support a broad range of STOBER applications within the same environment.

Whether engineers are sizing a gearbox, gearmotor, motor-and-drive combination, or rack-and-pinion system, SERVOsoft brings the relevant engineering information together.

Comprehensive Calculations

SERVOsoft combines torque, speed, inertia, electrical requirements, thermal utilization, and other critical sizing information in one application.

Strong Inertia Calculations

STOBER particularly values SERVOsoft's inertia calculation capabilities, which Russell considers easier to work with than those in other sizing tools he has used.

Complex Mechanism Modelling

Capabilities such as slider-crank modelling simplify calculations for mechanisms operating around top and bottom dead center while reducing manual data-entry work.

Product Database Integration

STOBER products are integrated into the SERVOsoft database, allowing engineers to move directly from application requirements into product evaluation and selection.

Transparent Mathematics

Rather than functioning as a “black box,” SERVOsoft allows engineers to examine the equations behind its calculations.

If a customer questions a result, the engineer can open the relevant equation, review it with the customer, and independently verify the calculation.

This ability to see both the result and the mathematics behind it creates greater confidence in the engineering recommendation.

The Engineering Solution

SERVOsoft is used primarily by STOBER's application engineering team, with product management contributing additional product expertise when required.

For many applications, the engineering process can effectively start and finish inside SERVOsoft, with manual verification used only for specific areas such as brakes or certain emergency-stop requirements.

STOBER engineers can use SERVOsoft to:

• Define application requirements
• Model motion and mechanical systems
• Calculate torque and speed
• Evaluate reflected inertia and inertia mismatch
• Assess motor and gearbox utilization
• Review thermal performance
• Determine motor and drive electrical requirements
• Compare product configurations
• Select appropriate STOBER components
• Generate detailed sizing reports
• Review complete solutions with customers

SERVOsoft also supports complex system-level engineering.

In one example, STOBER used the software for a 14-axis application involving gearboxes, braked inputs, motors, and drives.

During customer meetings, engineers could screen-share the model and review the system axis by axis, showing application requirements, gearbox output, motor requirements, utilization, inertia mismatch, thermal performance, and alternative configurations.

Instead of simply telling the customer which product STOBER recommended, the engineer could demonstrate why it was the right selection.

Results

Faster Engineering

SERVOsoft significantly accelerates the work of an experienced application engineer.

Calculations that would be difficult and time-consuming to perform manually are available within a few clicks, allowing engineers to move through sizing and product selection more efficiently.

Russell notes that determining motor electrical requirements without a tool such as SERVOsoft would be considerably more difficult.

Greater Engineering Efficiency

SERVOsoft provides STOBER with a consistent engineering environment.

Rather than relying on Excel files that may have been copied, modified, or independently maintained over many years, engineers can use the same centralized methodology.

This helps reduce risks such as:

• Formula changes
• Unit mistakes
• Data-entry errors
• Different calculation methods between engineers
• Difficulty explaining how a result was reached

That consistency directly supports engineering credibility.

Faster Customer Reviews

STOBER sees significant efficiency gains during reviews with customers, distributors, OEMs, and system integrators.

SERVOsoft allows engineers to explain why a product was selected while keeping the supporting engineering information immediately available.

When questions arise, there is no need to search through multiple spreadsheets, programs, or reference documents.

As Russell explains:

“All the answers that I need are only ever a few clicks away.”

This makes SERVOsoft particularly valuable as a live customer-facing engineering tool.

Increased Confidence Through Transparency

SERVOsoft's detailed reports and accessible calculations increase confidence both internally and externally.

Customers receive a comprehensive record of the sizing process, while technically sophisticated users can examine the underlying calculations when required.

Instead of asking customers to accept a recommendation on faith, STOBER can show the engineering behind it.

A Powerful Customer Demonstration Tool

SERVOsoft is not limited to back-office engineering. It has become a regular part of STOBER's customer conversations.

Russell estimates that over the past four or five years, there has likely not been a week in which he has not used SERVOsoft during a customer call.

Engineers can dynamically change product selections and immediately show how factors such as inertia mismatch or thermal utilization respond.

This turns sizing into a collaborative engineering discussion rather than simply presenting a final recommendation.

Business Impact

SERVOsoft's value extends beyond engineering productivity. It also supports the way STOBER sells and supports premium motion products.

Demonstrating Premium Value

STOBER competes at the premium end of the motion-control market, making it important to demonstrate why its products provide additional value.

SERVOsoft helps make that value visible.

For example, an engineer can show how adding a brake or changing a configuration improves inertia mismatch or avoids moving to a larger motor frame size.

Instead of discussing price in isolation, STOBER can demonstrate the engineering consequences of different design decisions.

Stronger Customer Relationships

According to Russell, SERVOsoft has “undoubtedly” helped strengthen STOBER's customer relationships.

It allows the team to demonstrate:

• Engineering competence
• Speed of response
• Thoroughness
• Transparency
• Confidence in recommendations
• The calculations behind the results

Customers are not simply purchasing a gearbox, motor, or drive. They are receiving engineering support and a product selection backed by detailed analysis.

Increased Credibility

The professionalism and thoroughness of SERVOsoft's reports also contribute to STOBER's credibility.

Even customers who do not need to examine every calculation can see that the recommendation is supported by a comprehensive engineering process.

For those who want more detail, the information is available to understand assumptions, verify calculations, and evaluate the proposed solution.

The Bottom Line

SERVOsoft has become much more than a sizing calculator for STOBER.

It is an integral engineering and customer communication platform that helps the company move faster, improve consistency, support complex motion applications, and confidently explain the engineering behind its product recommendations.

By centralizing calculations, making the underlying mathematics transparent, and allowing engineers to demonstrate system performance live with customers, SERVOsoft helps STOBER combine engineering speed with engineering credibility.

For a company competing in the premium segment of the motion-control market, that credibility helps turn engineering expertise into customer value.

Customer Quotes

“We're able to show our competence, we're able to show our speed, and we're able to back up the numbers we provide.” — Russell Fast, Application Engineer, STOBER USA