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Newcastle Founder and inventor John O'Kelly with our latest NB Series cart

THE POWER OF BEING PRACTICAL

A farm in Ireland, a year of missed dinners, and the Human Element of Automation

 

Raised in Ireland, Newcastle Founder John O'Kelly spent his early life working on his family's farm. "Needless to say, I was no stranger to hard work," John laughs, "and learned the power of practical solutions to save time and energy." His sense of purpose carried him eventually to the United States, where — working in logistics — he saw another opportunity for a simple solution to yield big rewards. "If we could outfit workers with mobile access to real-time data," John realized, "they'd get a lot more done, make fewer mistakes, and get more satisfaction out of their jobs, too."

 

Only one thing to do: John learned everything he could about mobile power, and took to tinkering after work. A year of missed dinners and late nights yielded a prototype of the first Industrial Powered Cart, ready to revolutionize how warehouses do business. Newcastle Systems was born. (Along with the whole mobile powered cart industry — yep, John pioneered that.)

 

With the rise of automation, John's invention gained even greater relevance. As others were pitching staggering investments in robots and retrieval systems, Newcastle offered a far more practical approach — one that squeezes enormous efficiency out of current operations. On the strength of that, Newcastle has grown exponentially and is a trusted "productivity partner" to thousands of companies, enabling them to dramatically increase productivity at a fraction of the cost of other approaches.

 

And John? “I’ve always believed in practicality, respecting your workers, and being 100% committed to your customers' success. I'm proudest that we've never lost sight of those values, and that so much good has come from them."

 

                                                                                                                                  November 2024 

OUR "FOUR CORE."

There are a few basic values that have proven to be remarkably good guides along the way, and we stick with them. They’ll tell you something about what it’s like to work with us.

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VESTED PARTNER

 

Much more than just "another supplier," we're all-in on supporting our customers' goals. Their success is the most important measure of our own.

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CAN-DO 'TUDE

 

We bring passion, resilience, and accountability to our work, with a singular focus on providing superior products and an outstanding customer experience.

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SIMPLY EFFICIENT

 

Through lean operations, we continually optimize processes and eliminate waste, yielding increased productivity and cost savings for our customers.

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PURPOSE BUILT

 

Every aspect of what we do is guided by our relentless commitment to help our customers find untapped potential in their day-to-day operations.

THE STORY OF NEWCASTLE SYSTEMS

2005

Like many great innovations, Newcastle began with tinkering in a basement. Our Founder and CEO John O'Kelly knew that real-time mobile access to data would make warehouse workers wildly more efficient – but how to do it?

A year of missed dinners and late nights yields our first Industrial Powered Cart, ready to revolutionize how warehouses and DCs do business. The design gets a few more tweaks, but already points to great things ahead.

2006

But – not so fast. John isn't the first entrepreneur to find the world doesn't always catch on right away. He switches hats from inventor to explainer-in-chief, doggedly knocking (and knocking) on doors.

Eureka! A chance encounter at a trade show leads to a gigantic order from Staples. John's insight about the value of Powered Carts is validated, and a whole new industry is launched.

2007

Employee #2, Christine Wheeler, comes aboard. Her job description? Marketing, accounting, purchasing, personnel, IT... the list of what she doesn't do is shorter. She embraces it all with her trademark competence and boundless energy.

Movin' on up. With orders piling up, Newcastle moves to larger digs in Woburn. John gets his basement back.

The now-perfected NB cart gets its first sibling – the larger PC – and Newcastle's commitment to non-stop innovation is firmly established. The PC is a hit.

2008

Amazon picks up the phone. "Hello, Newcastle? Can we talk?" Um, yeah. They need more efficiency in receiving. We provide a solution Amazon says is "extremely easy to use," and we get our biggest order to date. Everybody's happy.

2010

We add some critical new team members – and with orders growing by leaps and bounds, more space is needed. Again. Move number two lands Newcastle in a bigger production facility in Middleton, MA.

2012

We engineer our first swappable power system, providing new levels of productivity for multi-shift operations...

... and then create a suite of standalone power systems to bring the benefits of power to customers with their own carts.

As the company grows, John emphasizes key core values to keep the company true to its mission. "To me, these are essential tenets of business. They're a big part of why I started Newcastle."

2013

Kevin Ledversis joins the team as our first outside salesperson, bringing a new level of experience and success to sales – not to mention a great sense of humor. Under his leadership, sales (and the sales team) will grow many times over.

Newcastle embraces Lean Manufacturing. Not only does it align with Newcastle values, it cuts production time by 30% – and makes us better partners in our customers' quest to maximize their productivity.

2015

Time to pack the moving truck again. We've outgrown our Middleton facility, and move to Haverhill, MA, almost tripling our square footage. (And we need every last one.)

2016

It doesn't take a major milestone to appreciate what happens here every single day: a dedicated team of professionals, from management to manufacturing, working together with the single goal of making our customers' work easier and more productive.

In another industry first, we go all in on Lithium, and engineer a way-out-front industrial swappable power pack. Our Powerswap Nucleus® solution is so successful it literally redefines portable power, and we follow it with two more versions.

2017

Our carts are already the most ergonomic available, but we take it a step further with the Apex – the cart for literally Every Body. On-the-fly adjustability means one cart can serve everyone equally well, across shifts or across facilities.

2018

If you think we work our behinds off around here, you're exactly half right. Because we know a good time when we see one. Cornhole championships, river cruises, Duck tours, the Red Sox. Shown here: our Ugly Sweater Holiday Party. We're crushin' it, right? (Maybe a little too well.)

2019

In our quest to help customers stamp out inefficiency, we create MotionMeter, Newcastle's first app. In just a few minutes, it enables customers to find and precisely measure wasted time in the workplace.

2020

We don't have to tell you: Covid created unprecedented uncertainty. We pivot to highlight the social distancing that Powered Carts support, and promote our FH carts for healthcare testing sites. As Covid drives an explosion in e-commerce, demand for our solutions soars.

NOW

Newcastle is at the top of its game. Shipping to 34 countries, with double digit annual growth and a 100% committed team, we are the go-to source for Powered Cart and Mobile Power solutions. Stay tuned for more innovative thinking.

WHY NEWCASTLE?

Our carts set the standard in ergonomics and durability, and we offer the most advanced industrial Portable Power Systems anywhere. Our decades of experience and unrivaled end-to-end support ensure we'll provide the best solution for your exact requirements.

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#1 RECOGNIZED
INDUSTRY LEADER

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80% OF THE FORTUNE
100 RELY ON US

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87% OF OUR CUSTOMERS
COME BACK FOR MORE

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82+ NPS SCORE FOR
PRE-AND POST-SALES

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20 YEARS OF
EXPERIENCE

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WIDEST RANGE OF
INDUSTRIAL SOLUTIONS

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100% COMMITTED TO
LEAN PRINCIPLES

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ROBUST
WARRANTY

ONE LAST THING...

 

We know that taking on new technology is never an easy choice. Will it perform as promised? In our case, our statistics are based on real-world testing. But we encourage you to reach out to any of our customers directly and ask them their experience. Our products really are that good.

 

If you’ve invested in practices like Lean Manufacturing, congratulations! We’re believers. But even efficient companies lose more to wasted time than they know. We offer MotionMeter, a free app for finding efficiency leaks. Take MotionMeter for a test drive—you’re sure to gain invaluable insight into your operations.

 

And if you’re concerned about cost: it’s true, our products aren’t free. But they do pay for themselves, usually in under six months, and then deliver returns for years. (And years.) But to nail down the financial case, try our ROI calculator. You’ll know exactly what your return will be.

The Leader in Powered Carts and Portable Power Solutions.

With our first pack and ship cart, we pioneered an industry. And with the unrivaled lineup we offer today, we’re still the go-to source for mobile productivity solutions—and still 100% focused on making it easy for you to be more productive.

 

At Newcastle Systems, we are committed to helping industrial environments work more efficiently, ergonomically, and effectively. We want to help you with our warehouse workstations.

 

We hope you’ll reach out to learn more about what we can offer you and how we can make a difference on your shipping dock.