The Downtime | Episode 15: Get a Grip

In this episode of The Downtime manufacturing podcast, Sheri and Sarah chat about grippers and servo drives.

Courtesy: WTWH Media

Welcome back to The Downtime podcast! In this week’s episode, co-hosts Sheri Kasprzak and Sarah Wynn chat about grippers and servo drives.

Sarah interviews Zarren Zafiro, a sales engineer with LinMot USA, about the company’s drives and gripping technology.

Sheri reintroduces a classic Plant Engineering story about a tea company in New Jersey that upgraded its conveyance system to better serve its production needs.

Timestamps for The Downtime | Episode 15

00:17 – Sarah and Sheri introduce themselves and start the show

02:37 – Sarah and Sheri chat about meeting Zarren Zafiro, sales engineer for LinMot USA, at Pack Expo Southeast 2025

03:39 – Sarah relays Zarren’s story about a LinMot motor that’s been running since 1996 in the company’s Switzerland headquarters

04:18 – Sarah begins interview with LinMot USA’s Zarren Zafiro

04:38 – Zarren introduces himself and shares his background in mechanical engineering

06:30 – Discussion on what packaging OEMs are trying to solve with motion control

11:03 – Zarren spotlights LinMot’s stainless steel, hygienic grippers designed for washdown requirements needed for food and beverage packaging

13:56 – Zarren addresses the learning curve for switching from pneumatics to servo-electric linear motors and shares recent packaging projects LinMot has worked on

28:20 – Zarren shares three trends in motion control that packaging OEMs need to know

32:29 – Sheri spills the tea on Plant Engineering’s story about Eastern Tea Corporation

35:55 – The podcast co-hosts play a rapid-fire game of “This or That,” summer edition

42:59 – The dynamic duo wraps up the show