THE INTERVIEW | MILTON COLEMAN
Mitsubishi Electric on Alexandra Road showcases advanced electrical and electronic products, emphasizing innovation and sustainability in a modern facility
which would ultimately open the door to the automation industry in the early 1990s. That course, however, was the culmination of a path through education greatly encouraged by his inspirational mother. “The one thing that gave her great pleasure was me bringing home a good report card,” he explains. “That would always put a smile on her face. I did well in school. I also began visiting my mom at the factory and I could see that there could be a way to make that job easier for her.” “As a kid, I was always taking things apart
and examining them,” he adds. “I once got a lawnmower from a neighbour when I was young and it was broken, so I had to fix it so that we could mow our lawn. It was a way of using my powers for good, as my mom would always say.” Solving problems and making life easier for
those around him – those are the desires that drove Coleman in his early years, and he would carry that attitude with him throughout his career, beginning with his first job at Star Linear Systems. Originally a prominent US-based provider of linear motion control technology, including ball rails, runner blocks and linear bearings, Star Linear Systems was based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Later, the company became a division of Mannesmann Rexroth, a major German engineering company that specialised in industrial drive and control technologies, including hydraulics, pneumatics and electric controls.
30 Fall 2026 |
ochmagazine.com In 2001, Robert Bosch merged its automation
technology group with Mannesmann Rexroth to form Bosch Rexroth, bringing Star Linear under the new corporate umbrella. Bosch Rexroth remains a global engineering company that specialises in industrial and mobile drive and control technologies, though it ultimately retired the standalone Star brand in 2002 and transitioned product lines under the unified Rexroth identity.
“I was working for a German company making linear bearings, and at the time it was a small manufacturing company that helped customers understand what kind of bearings they needed and how the components applied to their business,” Coleman explains. “It was my first job straight out of college, and it was exciting for me. I had gone from Duke to Charlotte, and it was my first time in a big city.”
Climbing the ladder Coleman would go on to spend 24 years at Bosch Rexroth, beginning in technical positions as a product specialist and applications engineer in linear-motion technology. He subsequently moved through product management, distribution sales, product marketing, regional sales and senior leadership. By 2007, he had taken over the management
of product marketing and technical support for Bosch Rexroth’s Linear Motion and Assembly
Technologies group. Praised for his ability to identify customers, create sales strategies and provide support, the company would later credit him with helping double sales between 2002 and 2005 by focusing on targeting customers and spending time with regional sales teams to support key accounts and develop new customers.
Beginning in 2010, he led regional factory
automation sales involving electric drives, controls and servo systems. In 2012, he became a regional VP, leading sales and applications engineering teams serving factory automation and hydraulic customers across several US regions. During his remaining time at Bosch, he would occupy a number of key roles, including VP of distribution and regional VP of sales, though his career there did not follow a straight path. In fact, he left the company after six years to take an outside sales role at Pacific Bearing Company, now known as PBC Linear, in Roscoe, Illinois. “I went through professional sales training and learnt how to develop sales targets,” he explains. “It was very tough and eye-opening and was perhaps one of my first failures. I did not like working for a small company because it did not give me the same opportunity for growth as in larger companies. The culture felt different, and I spent a lot of time on the road and in hotels by myself. It was then I realised I liked being part of a team.”
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