Editorial & PR

Media and public relations

Send story ideas, media inquiries and draft releases to press@rpgmotor-works.com. Allow ten working days for a standard release, longer if legal or a customer has to approve it.

Personnel announcements

We announce appointments at managing director, division head and plant director level, and new members of the advisory board. Other promotions and new hires can be shared on our own channels and on LinkedIn, but don't go out as press releases. Every personnel announcement needs the person's written consent, a current headshot taken to the photography standard and a short biography checked by HR. Internal staff hear the news first, at least one working day before it goes public.

Customer-related announcements

Never name a customer, a customer project or a customer's site in any public material without written approval from the customer. Ask Communications to request it; sales teams should not ask for it informally.

Standard boilerplate

About RPGMotor Works. RPGMotor Works GmbH designs and builds brushless DC and servo motors for machines that are expected to run for decades. Founded in Stuttgart in 1958 and still privately held, the company employs about 12,100 people at eight sites in Germany, Canada, the United States, Mexico and India. Its three divisions, Industrial Drives, Mobility and Aerospace & Defense, supply more than 200 motor models in 15 product families, including ServoPrime® industrial servo motors, RoboTorq® robotics joint motors, eMotion® EV traction motors and AeroX® flight-qualified actuators. RPG ServiceLine provides field service, repair and spare parts worldwide, and DriveSense® condition monitoring helps customers spot wear before it stops a line. RPGMotor Works serves customers in industrial automation, robotics, medical and precision equipment, electric vehicles, aerospace, heavy equipment, HVAC and renewable energy through 350 sales engineers and 26 channel partners. Learn more at www.rpgmotor-works.com.

Media relations guidelines

Journalists, editors, analysts and bloggers who cover our industries are an important audience. A good relationship with them depends on fast, accurate and consistent answers from a small number of people. For that reason only trained spokespeople speak for RPGMotor Works in public, and every media contact, however informal, is reported to Communications. That includes a phone call to a plant, a question at a trade show booth and a message on LinkedIn. Spokespeople are the managing directors, the division heads and named subject experts who have completed media training with Tomas Krause's team. The list is reviewed every January.

If you're not a spokesperson and a journalist contacts you, be polite, take their name, outlet, question and deadline, and pass it on the same day.

• Refer every media inquiry to Communications at press@rpgmotor-works.com, even if you know the journalist well.
• Don't confirm, deny or speculate on anything, including rumors you think are obviously wrong.
• Never say "no comment". Say that the right person will get back to them, and make sure that happens.
• Don't talk about revenue, profit, orders, pricing or ownership. As a private company we don't publish these beyond the boilerplate.
• Never name a customer, a customer project or a customer site without written customer approval.
• AeroX programs and anything defense-related are discussed only by approved spokespeople, and only after an export control check.
• Don't discuss unreleased products, prototypes or future dates.
• Report accidents, product incidents and recalls to Communications immediately. A holding statement is issued within two hours.
• Take a trained colleague to every interview and record it when the journalist agrees.
• Ask to check technical facts and quotes before publication. Journalists may say no; accept that politely.
• Trade show press visits are booked in advance by Communications. Booth staff don't give interviews.
• Bylined articles and conference papers are reviewed by Communications before they're submitted.
• Personal social media posts about RPGMotor Works follow the social media guidelines and never answer a journalist.
• If in doubt, ask. A delayed answer is better than a wrong one.