Posted to News on 24th Sep 2024, 11:16
Motion plastics specialist unveils showcase for innovation
igus UK has unveiled the 'enjoyneering experience' at its Northampton headquarters. Rather than a separate showroom space that would only present a snapshot of the company's offering, the enjoyneering experience provides visitors with a walkaround tour of the facility through dedicated zones encompassing all of igus' products and capabilities.
(See igus at MachineBuilding.Live, 2 October 2024, on stand 56)
The enjoyneering experience begins in the facility's upper floor office space, which has been transformed into a hub of activity. Visitors can get hands-on with displays of products for hundreds of industries and applications, as well as talking to specialists for each product group.
Visitors can walk through the 'sales street' to see examples of igus components for rotary and linear motion, power transmission, connecting elements and more. There is also a display highlighting the igus:bike and the supply of plastic bicycle components for manufacturers.
The enjoyneering experience also includes a factory tour where visitors can see the depth of stock in the company's warehouse, which holds over 6 million parts and 200km of cable, with shipping available within 24 hours. Cables are available by the metre, and visitors can also see how igus cuts and crimps cables, adds connectors and assembles full readycable and complete energy chain systems on-site.
igus UK managing director Matthew Aldridge says: "This year we have invested hundreds of thousands of pounds in our Northampton factory to help us meet the increasing demand for igus products from UK plc."
The enjoyneering experience concludes in the robotics and automation customer test area where visitors can see a range of systems under the igus 'low cost automation' umbrella. Solutions encompass linear motion systems, delta robots and collaborative robots, including igus' own ReBeL cobot: "It's the first collaborative robot made of high-performance plastic and the lightest in its class, opening up completely new fields of application for service robotics," says Aldridge.
The robotics and automation customer test centre also introduces visitors to the RBTX platform, where engineers can source robotics and automation components from leading manufacturers, with 100% compatibility guaranteed. Aimed at engineers looking to integrate their own systems (although igus can also provide that service, too), the RBTX platform makes it easy to automate, with no robotic experience required. The online platform highlights over 500 working solutions. Costs start at just 2,000, and 95% of the solutions highlighted cost under 12,000.
igus coined the term 'enjoyneering' in 2023 to describe the combination of "engineering performance and playful simplicity", highlighting how playing and experimenting with new technologies and ideas creates innovative solutions and products. This creative process helps push the boundaries of what is possible and opens up new perspectives in technology and production. The enjoyneering experience at the igus UK HQ provides an environment where engineers can unleash their creativity to develop new machines, design new systems and optimise existing products.
