In today’s fast-moving industrial landscape, gear manufacturers face mounting pressure to improve performance, reliability, and cost efficiency — all while staying ahead of technological shifts. The key to meeting these challenges isn’t just better materials or more sophisticated software; it’s a better-trained engineering team. This winter, the Motion + Power Manufacturers Alliance’s (MPMA) series of expert-led live online courses offers an ideal opportunity for engineers, designers, and managers to deepen their technical expertise and directly apply it to real-world gear system challenges.
From understanding the science behind failure modes to mastering complex contact analysis and gear-design optimization, these courses deliver immediately actionable skills that can help manufacturers improve product quality, reduce downtime, and drive innovation. And these classes are designed to minimize time out of the office.
Take an Intensive Course in Sessions over Weeks
MPMA has designed courses to deliver quality information in a series of shorter 4- and 5-hour daily sessions. These help students not only to be able to attend the courses but provide the learning in shorter bursts to help them retain their learning. Gearbox CSI, offered February 3-12, is in 4-hour sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for two weeks. It provides details on why failures happen by dissecting real-world examples of gear and bearing breakdowns. Attendees will gain practical insights into improving system design and longevity.
A second course that is designed with 5-hour segments over a full week is the Bevel Gear Systems Design class in early March. Bevel gears are among the most complex elements in power transmission. This comprehensive course covers their full live cycle, from concept and design to assembly and maintenance. Participants will gain hands-on insights into system rating, lubrication, and practical manufacturing considerations. The training emphasizes both technical and application perspectives, making it valuable for anyone responsible for bevel gear production or integration. And MPMA enlists experts to provide the training, essentially coming to the student each day.
Short and Precise Trainings
Several classes are short and precise, providing an intensive, single 4-hour session on a targeted topic. Analytical Gear Chart Interpretation, Loaded Tooth Contact Analysis Theory, Design Basics of Spur and Helical Gears, High Profile Contact Ratio Gearing, and Taming Tooth Deflection are MPMA classes being offered this winter. Each brings the expert instructor to you in a virtual environment to provide technical training relevant to daily engineering challenges.
For engineers, designers, and managers, online learning is no longer a supplement — it’s a strategic investment in a company’s long-term success. Whether the goal is improving failure analysis, mastering new software, or optimizing manufacturing processes, virtual courses offer a flexible and cost-effective way to upskill teams and stay ahead of the curve.
The New Standard for Technical Training
Online education has matured far beyond pre-recorded webinars or self-paced modules. Today’s live, instructor-led programs offer interactive, real-time engagement with industry experts, along with access to current examples and tools. Engineers can ask questions, review design challenges, and even analyze case studies collaboratively from their home or office.
Manufacturers that cultivate a culture of continuous education position themselves to outperform competitors. Engineers who stay current with evolving design methods and analytical tools can spot potential issues earlier, optimize performance more effectively, and develop innovative solutions faster.
For gear manufacturers, the smartest investment for the new year might be live online education. The return: sharper skills, fewer failures, and a workforce ready to lead the next generation of gear innovation.
Upcoming Courses
Gearbox CSI: Forensic Analysis of Gear & Bearing Failures – Useful Tools for Optimizing Gear Design
February 3-12 | Live Online
A good understanding of individual failure modes and the failure scenarios that led to the actual system failure is an essential skill to designing gear/bearing systems that will operate properly for their full design life. In this course, we will define and explain the nature of many gear and bearing failures and we will also discuss and describe various actual failure scenarios. In addition, a detailed primer on bearing technology prefaces the failure scenario discussions. You will gain a better understanding of various types of gears and bearings. Learn about the limitation and capabilities of rolling element bearings and the gears that they support. Grasp an understanding of how to properly apply the best gear-bearing combination to any gearbox from simple to complex.
Analytical Gear Chart Interpretation
February 24 | Live Online
This course is an introduction to the methodology of analytical gear inspection and the evaluation and interpretation of the resulting data. The application of this information to identify and correct manufacturing errors will begin to be explored. Additionally, it reviews chart interpretation and applies inspection data to understand the causes and cures of manufacturing errors. Many chart examples are used to understand cause and effect.
Design Basics of Spur and Helical Gears
February 25 | Live Online
Learn how to develop and understand customer gear drive application specifications and target performance expectations. Review, calculate and select basic gear terminology variables and design parameters which define tooth bending and contact rating safety factors on two real-life examples. Learn how to optimize gear fatigue Safety Factors for a given target design life and fit new gear designs and ratios into existing center distance using profile shift. Use commercially available software to develop gear geometry factors, calculate and optimize gear set power density and performance. Review common gear failure modes if the design or final accuracy does not meet application requirements. Discuss time and cost of more than 20 other gear drive component functions and drive development steps through prototypes to shipment of compliant assembled production drives. There will be an opportunity to discuss gear design challenges which may be unique to participant industries.
Basic Loaded Tooth Contact Analysis Theory
February 26 | Live Online
Evaluation of loaded tooth contact and development of tooth modifications using commercially available software to improve and apply a realistic load distribution factor Km in gear rating calculations and reduce transmission error. Two real life gearing examples will be reviewed in the course, one will have a cantilever mounted pinion, the other a shaft pinion straddled non-symmetrically by bearings. Both examples demonstrate component deflections under load which significantly reduce tooth mesh contact which is then corrected with developed helix and profile modifications. Other gear performance optimization tools will also be presented, Material and Heat Treatment Selection, Profile Shift, Isotropic Finishing, Shot Peening, Accuracy. These design tools along with LTCA are commonly applied by gear designers to optimize design reliability and calculated rating safety factors.
Bevel Gear Systems Design
March 2-6 | Live Online
Learn how to design and apply bevel gears systems from the initial concept through manufacturing and quality control and on to assembly, installation and maintenance. Engage in a practical hands-on guide to the bevel gear design, manufacture, quality control, assembly, installation rating, lubrication and, most especially, application.
High Profile Contact Ratio Gearing
March 24 | Live Online
High Profile Contact Ratio (HCR) gears, both spur and helical, have been shown to provide significant reductions in gear mesh frequency noise and vibration levels and, depending on the specific configuration, improved load capacity as well. The design of HCR gears is, however, far from a simple task and must be carefully accomplished. In addition, HCR gears are not appropriate for every circumstance.
In this seminar we will learn just what HCR gears are and under what circumstances they can be used to advantage. Similarly, we will learn when HCR gears are not appropriate and why. We will cover the detailed tooth geometry changes that are required to effectively achieve optimum performance and benefit. We will learn how the load distribution along the involute profile changes when the contact ratio increases above two.
Because of the longer, more slender teeth on a HCR gear the heat treatment and profile modifications that are required for good performance are distinctly different from those for a standard contact ratio gear. The load capacity rating of HCR gears requires the application of modified AGMA analyses as the AGMA Standards specifically do NOT address gears with profile contact ratios greater than 2.0 thus we will also cover the changes required to successfully rate HCR gears.
Taming Tooth Deflection
March 26 | Live Online
Tooth deflections under load can cause involute interference which leads to very high tooth surface loads in regions of high sliding and low tooth curvature radius. These conditions loads can produce scoring, spalling and wear failures. Proper profile modifications applied to both members of the mesh eliminate the deleterious effects of the deflection induced involute interference and allow the gear set to yield its maximum inherent load carrying capacity. Proper profile modifications also allow a gear set to operate with lower noise and vibration levels.
