Exclusive North American Distributor · Schleich GmbH ← Back to vote
The Partnership

Two family-owned firms. One product line. No intermediaries.

Schleich GmbH, family-owned in Hemer, Germany since 1959. Motor Diagnostic Systems, family-owned in the United States, holding Schleich's exclusive North American mandate since 1997. From Panama to Alaska, every Schleich tester sold, serviced, and calibrated routes through one accountable distributor.

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History

A relationship measured in decades, not quarters.

Schleich GmbH has built motor and transformer test instruments from Hemer, Germany since 1959. Surge testing as a quality discipline, partial discharge detection as an OEM standard, the waveform conventions now cited in IEC and IEEE specifications: those methods originated in Schleich's labs.

Motor Diagnostic Systems was founded in 1997 to bring those methods to the North American electric-motor industry. Over multiple decades, the relationship narrowed and deepened. Other distributors came and went. MDS remained, gradually consolidating territory, service authority, and calibration credentials until the appointment became formal: exclusive North American distribution, sole authorized service.

Today the partnership covers every Schleich product line deployed on the continent. Every after-sale event. Every calibration certificate. Every parts order. One contract. One accountable party. No parallel channels, no grey-market routing, no ambiguity about who answers the phone when a tester is down.

MDS · Founded 1997
European crates · North American port
Hemer ↔ North America · One channel
Founders

Built by engineers who came from the only credible competitor.

Jack Hamilton and John Wilson spent years at Megger Baker — Schleich's most direct North American competitor — before founding MDS. They know the comparison test better than anyone in the market, because they were the ones engineers compared Schleich to.

Jack Hamilton
President · Relationship Principal
Co-founder of MDS in 1997. Previously at Megger Baker. Carries the OEM and program relationships. Commercial structure, account stewardship, partnership-level conversations all route to him.
John Wilson
Technical Principal · Service Authority
Co-founder of MDS in 1997. Previously at Megger Baker. Carries the technical authority for service, calibration, and integration. Owns the calibration chain end to end on the continent.
Two Families. One Standard.

Family-owned, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Schleich is family-owned in Hemer since 1959. MDS is family-owned in the United States, founded by the Hamilton family in 1997. Neither firm answers to private-equity quarterly cycles. Both are run by people whose names are on the door.

That parallel matters operationally. Multi-decade product roadmaps. Calibration commitments measured in decades, not warranty windows. Leadership decisions made by the people who will still be here when the consequences arrive.

Schleich GmbH
Hemer, Germany · 1959
  • Family-owned across generations
  • R&D, design, manufacturing in Hemer
  • Surge & PD waveform standard-setter
  • Global OEM specifications
  • Reference instruments worldwide
MDS
United States · Hamilton Family · 1997
  • Exclusive NA distribution authority
  • Sole authorized service & calibration
  • NIST-traceable cal chain
  • Continent-side parts and response
  • Two principals on staff, one mandate
What "Exclusive" Means Operationally

One contract. Four functions. Zero ambiguity.

01 · Sales
One quote, one order
Every Schleich instrument sold in North America is quoted, ordered, and invoiced by MDS. No parallel channels, no grey-market exposure, no warranty ambiguity.
02 · Service
One authorized team
MDS field engineers are factory-trained in Hemer and authorized by Schleich for every product line. The same hands that install the system maintain it.
03 · Calibration
One traceable chain
NIST-traceable calibration performed in-house, with reference standards aligned to Schleich factory protocols. Annual cycles, certificate-on-file.
04 · Parts
One inventory, one continent
Critical-spare inventory held continent-side for production-line customers. No transatlantic shipping on the critical path of an outage.
From the principal

"When a Schleich instrument lands in North America, it lands with a single phone number. That number routes to people I have personally trained or hired. That is what exclusive means here."

Jack HamiltonPresident · Motor Diagnostic Systems

Want a 30-minute conversation with a named principal?

For OEM engineering teams, plant directors, and procurement leads evaluating Schleich instrumentation. No sales rep, no junior gatekeeper. Reply from John Wilson (technical) or Jack Hamilton (commercial) within 24 business hours.

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