The motion plastics specialist reorganises management according to products and important future projects

Progressive digitalisation, a high degree of product innovation, fast delivery times worldwide and a sustainable recycling economy – just a few of the future projects that igus is driving forward this year. The company is now expanding its management board to handle this wide range of tasks. Customers and employees should know that igus can follow its own independent path in every phase and far into the future.

“We want to press ahead with decisive future investments so that customers can access their motion plastics innovations quickly, easily and reliably”, promised Frank Blase at the igus annual press conference in May 2020. The igus CEO and entrepreneur sees himself on a good path so far. Digitalisation example: “Our 400 square metre real trade show stand in Cologne has been online since the beginning of May. In the meantime, more than 55,000 interested parties from all over the world have visited the trade show stand virtually and 8,700 discussions were conducted digitally by igus customer consultants there.” The focus of the exhibition is on the more than 120 product innovations with which customers can save costs and improve their technology. These include autumn innovations such as the 3D printed smart plain bearing, with which for the first time the tribo-polymer specialist combines Industry 4.0 with 3D printing in just one production step.

In order to maintain and intensify its own path of technology and company culture for a long time to come, igus is expanding its management board. The new directors Gerhard Baus, New Businesses, Michael Blass, e-chain systems, Tobias Vogel, Plain Bearings & Linear Technology, and Artur Peplinski, igus International, now complement the corporate management around Frank Blase. “I am delighted to be working with this team. Together we have 148 years of igus experience. We are united by our enthusiasm for motion plastics.” Each of the new directors is responsible for one product area worldwide; one of them is responsible for expanding the companies on site. “This is unusual and at the same time corresponds to our ‘solar system organisation’, where the customer is at the centre of attention as the provider of energy,” says Frank Blase. At the same time, he appointed three new vice presidents for the cable, harnessing and linear technology & low cost automation product areas. In addition there are five new vice presidents for production, purchasing and personnel, who complement their colleagues in IT and finance.

“We have already implemented many new investments this year along with the igus colleagues. These include the further automation of the factory, for example, with robolink low-cost robots, the creation of new test capacities, such as the cleanroom laboratory and transmission test rigs, and the increase in production capacity by more than 560 injection moulding machines and 18 newly installed machines for state-of-the-art toolmaking. At the same time, further investments were made in logistics and information systems to achieve short delivery times. In all this, the issue of sustainability is becoming increasingly important, points out Frank Blase, who invested in the Mura Technologies start-up last year to help the company build the first commercial plant to recycle plastic into crude oil. “In the extended management board, we are all agreed that we will incorporate the ideas of the recycling industry even more strongly into our core business.”