Igus Invests in Production, Online Service & Recycling

Igus, the German-based manufacturer of “motion plastics”—self-lubricated, wear-resistant plastic components and machinable barstock for sliding and rotating applications, is showcasing its recent developments at the “igus motion plastics show” for 2022, which debuted in April. Three achievements are particularly noteworthy:

 •  Increased production capacity: With the war in Ukraine causing shortages in many markets, igus has invested even more in production capacity and material availability. Since 2020, production at its headquarters in Cologne has been increased or modernized by 300 injection molding machines (including 100 older presses replaced with more energy-efficient models last year), and 200 more are on order. A new production building in Cologne with moe than 215,000 ft² additional space is due for completion May 1, 2023. New storage facilities for 12,000 pallets were built in 2021. Further planned expansions include 215,000 ft² in Cologne and 646,000 ft² at 35 foreign subsidiaries.

 •  Online robot integration: low-cost, do-it-yourself robot engineering and integration on the web, via online consultation at a fixed price was launched in 2021. This RBTXpert “digital + human service” involves a 4300-ft2 customer testing area, where company technicians check out customer requirements before the online consultation. The service is available in seven countries now, with another 14 in the pipeline. Costs of typical solutions are 8500 Euros for hardware and 20 hr of integration work, which igus says amount to a few months’ payback time. The firm’s 58 robot engineering web services reportedly are now utilized 5000 times a day.

 •  Energy-chain recycling: The igus global energy-chain recycling program, called “chainge,” was rolled out internationally. This spring, igus will present its first energy-chain product made from 100% recycled materials from the chainge program.