What drew you to this specific field of motion control components?
About twenty years ago, the British company Renishaw approached me and offered me the opportunity to establish its Israeli branch. Until then, the company had distributors in Israel who mostly focused on same-day sales — meaning less attention to long-term development projects. Since there were quite a few such projects in Israel, the company aimed to expand into this area as well.
I accepted the offer, founded the Israeli branch, recruited staff, opened offices, and the operation was very successful. I found this field fascinating — both from the technological perspective of the products we sold and from the diversity of our customers’ applications. Each customer operated in a slightly different field, every system was unique, and the variety was truly engaging.
At some point, after the Israeli branch was thriving, I chose to move on and work independently. For nearly fifteen years now, I’ve owned a company that not only distributes products in this field (encoders, motors, and drivers) but also initiates the development of such products based on advanced technologies and according to our customers’ specific requirements.
Can you share a success story where Wesense Motion made a significant impact for a customer?
Wesense has been involved in many success stories. Naturally, we can’t disclose names or customer details due to confidentiality agreements, but one example stands out:
A few years ago, a customer approached us needing a replacement for a component in a system that had been in serial production for several years. The original component manufacturer had discontinued the product. The system used two different encoders that performed complementary tasks.
After analyzing the system, its environment, requirements, and the mechanical space available, we collaborated with one of our suppliers to develop a unique encoder. This custom solution performed both tasks of the original two encoders, but in the mechanical footprint of a single encoder. It also offered better performance and a significantly more attractive price than the original setup. The product successfully completed development, thorough testing, and entered full-scale production.
The customer received an available product, saved costs, and equally important reduced both volume and weight in a system where those factors are critical.
Which industries do you currently see as the most innovative or fastest-growing?
Let’s start with the downside: unfortunately, COVID-19 and the war that began on October 7 caused the collapse of several industrial sectors where Israel had previously been strong — such as digital printing, semiconductor manufacturing systems, FPD (Flat Panel Display), and other industrial domains.
However, other sectors have grown significantly. There’s rapid development in Israel in fields such as robotics (both general and medical), defense, and aerospace.
These systems demand significant technological innovation — not only to give our customers a competitive edge but also because, by definition, many of these systems require innovation. This includes miniaturization, major performance improvements, cost reduction, and more.
Wesense has been active in these sectors for over a decade and supplies breakthrough products that help our customers exceed technological limits.
When assessing the global supplier landscape, what are Wesense Motion’s top criteria when choosing partners?
Our suppliers are true partners — in many respects.
Unlike some of our peers in the Israeli and global markets, we’ve chosen to work with a small number of suppliers. This enables us to deliver real value by significantly increasing business volume with each one. In contrast, some distributors “collected” many suppliers but failed to grow their market presence in Israel.
We select our suppliers not only based on their current product portfolio but primarily on their technological capabilities. This allows us to co-develop new products tailored to the markets we serve.
In many cases, a customer approaching us won’t find an existing off-the-shelf product that fits their exact needs. In such cases, there are two options:
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The customer changes their system design to fit an available product, even if it’s suboptimal.
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The supplier develops a product that fits the customer’s specific needs.
Not all suppliers are willing or equipped to take on such development work, especially in high-mix, low-volume scenarios. But those who are — are the ones we’re interested in.
Of course, all our suppliers are certified to the required standards, experienced in our target markets, happy to work with Israeli customers (which today, given the geopolitical situation, isn’t something to be taken for granted), and are efficient in both development and production processes.
Looking ahead — what emerging technologies or trends do you see in robotics and automation?
Technical requirements have changed significantly in recent years.
Robot joints now require much smaller components with higher precision and resolution — all while maintaining attractive pricing.
Systems operating in harsh environments (shocks, temperature extremes, vibration, marine conditions, etc.) must withstand these conditions yet remain as compact as possible.
Military systems often accept products originally developed for civilian use, adapted for military environments. This approach keeps pricing attractive and ensures short delivery times.
There is also a shift from incremental encoders to absolute encoders. Today, we already offer dual encoders, meaning a single unit that provides both incremental and absolute signals to meet the diverse needs of modern control systems.
