12.04.2014, WOOD DALE, IL – Thomson Industries, Inc., has been recognized by the readers of Control Design magazine as the 2014 Readers’ Choice for technology excellence in the Linear Motion Actuator/Slide/Guide category. The Readers’ Choice awards are the result of a survey of subscribers who work for machine builders or system integrators and have the authority to specify, recommend or purchase industrial automation and control products. The survey is ‘unaided’, so no predetermined list of products or brands is supplied to select from.

Control Design readers are asked to provide the name of the single best product vendor they have worked with in a given category. Thomson won with nearly twice the number of votes as the second place vendor in the same category, reflecting the quality of the Thomson offering.

“Thomson is honored to be recognized as the Control Design top provider for linear motion actuators, slides, and guides. Our team is focused on listening to customers and identifying trends in the marketplace to ensure that we’re continuing to provide products of outstanding value every day. We’ve built our reputation in linear motion by holding our products to the highest quality and reliability standards and creating new and innovative actuators, slides, and guides. We know, too, that design engineers play a critical role and continue to invest in design resources to support them,” said Patrick J. Murphy, Vice President and General Manager, Applied Products Group, Thomson Industries Inc.

The range of high performance linear motion solutions within its portfolio is surely a factor in the clear lead Thomson has in the survey. Self-alignment, high accuracy, high load capacities, long travel life and designs which are robust in the harshest environments, are all featured across the range.

Its range of linear slides and guides includes ball bushing bearing and linear shafting systems, round and profile guide rails, pillow block bearings, lead screws, ball screws and more. It includes many pioneering technologies and innovations. There are products such as lifting columns that offer a marketing-leading combination of speed and performance and can handle exceptional loads, making them ideal for bariatric or other applications where high load capacity is important. Also breakthrough products such as the Glide Screw?: a smartly engineered device that combines the function of linear bearing and lead screw into a single device, eliminating the need for any external guide and significantly reducing the overall footprint of the linear motion system.

Thomson’s electric linear actuators include precision models with exceptional power density and units that provide high performance over long life cycles. The range incorporates leading, innovative designs such as the Max Jac® heavy duty linear actuator, which is designed to withstand the harshest of conditions and provide reliable, long-life performance in the toughest of off-highway mobile applications. It delivers highly efficient, high-speed linear motion without the need for any significant maintenance in an exceptionally compact solution.

Thomson solutions are designed to match application needs and enable designers to build machines without compromise. They combine features such as speed and power, compact designs that handle large loads, robust engineering for long life, long stroke lengths, smooth performance and high accuracy to ensure engineers can achieve the design characteristics they need from their machine. The vast array of precision engineered linear bearings, guides and actuators Thomson offers is also complemented by an efficient customization service to exactly match application needs if necessary.

Thomson is an expert in linear motion and its solutions are supported by professional application advice and the latest online tools to ensure selection of the best product and design into the machine are easy to achieve. They are aimed at helping machine builders get the features they need for their particular application in a solution which is easy to install and cost-effective throughout its lifetime, while providing better overall machine performance/functionality and end-user experience.

About Thomson

With more than 70 years of motion control innovation and quality, Thomson Industries, Inc. is the industry’s premier producer of Linear Ball Bushing® Bearings and Profile Rail Bearings, 60 Case® Shafting, ground and Ball and Lead Screws, Linear Actuators, Gearheads, Clutches, Brakes, Linear Systems, and related accessories. Thomson invented the Linear Ball Bushing Bearing in 1945, and has set the standard ever since with an unsurpassed set of mechanical motion control solutions serving global commercial and aerospace & defense markets. Thomson Industries, Inc. has facilities in North America, Europe and Asia with over 2000 distributor locations around the world.

Thomson, 1500 Mittel Boulevard, Wood Dale, IL 60191-1073; 1-540-633-3549; 1-540-633-0294 (fax); Thomson@thomsonlinear.com; www.thomsonlinear.com.