Long-Term Growth Drivers Offsetting Dynamic Market Conditions
Key Highlights
- Scott Curley – Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Regal Rexnord, offers his perspective on the market challenges and opportunities seen in 2026.
- Markets such as factory automation, aerospace, food and beverage, medical, and data centers, alongside traditional industries such as mining, are markets in which the company sees long-term growth potential.
- Opportunities are also seen offering customers more than just products, but solutions which are easy to implement and meet their requirements for reliability, productivity and efficiency.
What do industrial automation, aerospace, data centers, and medical have in common? They are all markets currently demonstrating long-term growth potential.
As Scott Curley – Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Regal Rexnord, explains in this Q&A with Power & Motion, 2026 has been marked by dynamic market conditions due to number of factors such as general uncertainty about the economy.
But there have been bright spots as well in the aforementioned markets along with traditional industries such as mining and power generation. He expects these markets to continue offering opportunities in 2027 and beyond.
Read on for more of Curley’s insights into the opportunities he sees within these markets in addition to those brought on by shifting customer mindsets toward working with companies capable of providing solutions and not just components.
*Editor’s note: Questions and responses have been edited for clarity.
Power & Motion: From your perspective, how have market conditions been in 2026 for your company and the industries it serves?
Scott Curley: Market conditions in 2026 have been dynamic, influenced by economic uncertainty, geopolitical factors, and evolving customer demands. At the same time, we’re seeing strong long-term growth drivers in markets such as factory automation, aerospace, food and beverage, medical, and data centers, alongside continued opportunities in traditional industries like mining, metals, and power generation.
While market conditions can change quickly, Regal Rexnord has built resilience through our global footprint and application expertise. We’re focused on what we can control, serving customers, improving our operations and investing in innovation and talent.
Power & Motion: What factors have presented challenges this year for your company and/or its customer markets?
Scott Curley: Many of our customers are balancing ongoing cost pressures while managing increasingly complex global supply chains and changing demand patterns within their markets.
In this environment, customers are focused on maintaining productivity, improving efficiency, and finding ways to do more with existing resources while continuing to meet their own operational and business goals.
Power & Motion: What opportunities — from a market or technology perspective, or both — have you seen this year, and do you expect these opportunities to continue in the year ahead?
Scott Curley: We're seeing strong opportunities driven by several long-term trends reshaping industrial markets. Continued investment in digital infrastructure and data centers remains an important growth driver, but it's only part of a much broader transformation. We're also seeing significant momentum in aerospace, robotics, and advanced automation as the rise of physical AI (artificial intelligence) drives demand for increasingly intelligent and autonomous systems.
Applications such as humanoid robots, drones, eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft, and next-generation industrial automation all require precise, reliable motion solutions. These emerging technologies align closely with our strengths, positioning us well to lead in markets where precision, performance, and reliability are critical.
Power & Motion: What are the most requested features or capabilities you’ve been getting from customers this year, and how, if at all, do they fit in with broader industry-wide trends?
Scott Curley: Customers are looking for solutions that are easier to specify, implement, and maintain. They want faster access to information, stronger technical support, and solutions that reduce complexity and downtime.
The broader trend is clear: customers aren't just looking for products. They're looking for partners who can help them make decisions faster, improve reliability, and keep operations running efficiently. That's especially important as teams become leaner and responsibilities expand.
Power & Motion: What opportunities do you see in 2027? Are there any markets you anticipate doing well or offering areas of opportunity in the coming year?
Scott Curley: We remain very optimistic about opportunities in factory automation, data centers, aerospace, food and beverage, and medical technologies, while continuing to support long-standing customers in markets like mining, metals, and power generation.
More broadly, we see an opportunity to help customers navigate complexity.
Whether it's workforce challenges, automation, downtime reduction, or digital transformation, customers increasingly want trusted partners who can provide both solutions and expertise. That's where we believe Regal Rexnord is uniquely positioned to create value and continue gaining share in the years ahead.
About the Author
Sara JensenSara Jensen
Executive Editor, Power & Motion
Sara Jensen is executive editor of Power & Motion, directing expanded coverage into the modern fluid power space, as well as mechatronic and smart technologies. She has over 15 years of publishing experience. Prior to Power & Motion she spent 11 years with a trade publication for engineers of heavy-duty equipment, the last 3 of which were as the editor and brand lead. Over the course of her time in the B2B industry, Sara has gained an extensive knowledge of various heavy-duty equipment industries — including construction, agriculture, mining and on-road trucks —along with the systems and market trends which impact them such as fluid power and electronic motion control technologies.
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