igus is a German manufacturer and distributor of technical products made of
high-performance plastics
High-performance plastics are plastics that meet higher requirements than ''standard'' or ''engineering'' plastics. They are more expensive and used in smaller amounts.
Definition
High performance plastics differ from standard plastics and eng ...
, including plastic
plain bearings,
flexible cable
Flexible cables, or 'continuous-flex' cables, are electrical cables specially designed to cope with the tight bending radii and physical stress associated with moving applications, such as inside cable carriers.
Due to increasing demands withi ...
s,
energy chains, connectors, robotic components,
3D-printed
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer c ...
products and
ball bearing
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.
The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...
s.
History
Günter Blase established igus on 15 October 1964 in his double garage in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
. For the first 20 years the company worked as a supplier of complex technical polymer components. However, in 1983 Günter Blase's son, Frank Blase, established reinforced plastic
cable-carrier systems and
injection moulded polymer bearings as two distinct product groups and set up a network of sales engineers.
Between 1985 and 2018, igus has grown from 40 to around 3500 employees distributed between the head office in Germany and 38 subsidiary companies around the world. igus also has representative partners in more than 21 other countries.
igus uses the term ''triboplastics'' to describe its injection-molded polymers. They are tribologically optimized material compounds designed for low wear and long life and form the basis for all igus' products and systems.
igus UK
igus UK opened in 1991 in
Daventry
Daventry ( , historically ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority in Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 Census Daventry had a population of 28,123, making ...
, Northampton. In 2000, the office moved to
Moulton Park, and in 2006 to
Brackmills
Hardingstone is a village in Northamptonshire, England. It is on the southern edge of Northampton, and now forms a suburb of the town. It is about from the town centre. The Newport Pagnell road (the B526, formerly part of the A50) separates ...
. The office was extended in 2017. The UK subsidiary stocks approximately 6 million parts, and has around 100 employees across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
igus UK has been certified for the
ISO 9001:2015 Certificate of Approval, applicable to "supply and technical support for igus the-echain systems, chainflex cables and readychain, igus dry-tech and accessories".
South-east Asia
igus Singapore Pte Ltd was established in 1997 and is the headquarters office for the south-east Asian market. The company has since launched local subsidiaries in Malaysia (2008), Thailand (2013), Indonesia (2013), Vietnam (2013) and the Philippines.
References
{{reflist
External links
igus US websiteigus UK website
Manufacturing companies established in 1964
German brands
Wire and cable manufacturers
Manufacturing companies based in Cologne
Bearing manufacturers
1964 establishments in West Germany