ASI Technologies, founded in 1986, is celebrating 25 years of gear drive production. The  U.S. manufacturer of custom made battery-operated gear drives servicing primarily, the medical mobility, floor care and material handling industries is a custom gear manufacturer that designs, engineers and assembles drives in the United States. Barney Berlinger, founder and CEO left Quaker City Gear to establish his own company and vision for manufacturing transaxles.  He states, "Previous transaxle designs were noisy, dirty and unreliable."  Berlinger completed the design on a fully enclosed transaxle with motor and brake that became the "industry standard" overnight.

The aging demographics within the United States and internationally, provided a major need for medical mobility and the scooter was a much desired form of transportation for these individuals. By 1988, ASI's MK30 transaxle was being used by the majority of scooter manufacturers based in the United States and by 1996 ASI was producing over 60,000 units annually. Leading into 2000, ASI had developed a strong reputation for high quality transaxles and custom gear designs. They began to look for more opportunities to grow their custom gear business. The floor care, material handling and high-end mobility markets gave ASI an opportunity to grow business and gain new accounts.

The years 2003 through 2005 were challenging. "I did question the direction of the company and how to move forward. Through hard work, discipline and mentoring the right managers, we were able to right the ship and move to a bigger facility in 2006," Berlinger says.

The new generation transaxle, MK400, was engineered and quickly gained major acceptance in the marketplace. "This was a fresh start for ASI and I felt the energy return to our company and this wise old gear engineer," he adds.

Business is not without its challenges and with the decline of the USA economy, production and sales were down 15 percent in 2009.  The company made improvements with production efficiency and inventory management and with the necessary changes transformed 2010 into a sales increase of 30 percent.  "Now I am challenging the ASI Team to continue our growth and capabilities in all of the markets we service....I look forward to the results!"