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."