'You no longer need to visit a trade show to see our solutions at work'

igus b.v., the Dutch subsidiary of the Cologne-based German motion plastics manufacturer, recently moved to new, more modern, sustainable and larger premises. It exchanged Soesterberg for Amersfoort. In addition to office space, the new building also has a showroom. "As a result, you no longer have to wait until another trade fair to see our solutions at work. Every day you can visit a trade fair with us, so to speak," says Mark van de Waal, marketing manager at igus.

"After more than 34 wonderful years in Soesterberg, it was time for a new step in order to continue serving the growing demand for cable beads, bending-resistant cables, linear technology, low-cost automation solutions, 3D printing technology, spherical bearings and plastic ball bearings," says Van de Waal. "We have grown significantly in recent years, thanks in part to the expansion of our portfolio to include drytech linear technology and low-cost automation solutions. To ensure that we have the space to grow even further in the coming years, we had to look for a new office."

Wish List

The new base had to meet a number of requirements. "More space for nice open (flex) workplaces, the possibility to build up a showroom, better accessibility and a central location in the Netherlands were important focal points for us in our search."

After a long search, the eye fell on a sustainable building in Amersfoort, built to the latest standards. "As a result, it fits well with our own sustainable business philosophy," he said.

Growth

Van de Waal elaborates on the location and specifics of the new building. "We have never actively invited customers to our premises all the years we have been based in the Netherlands. We always went to the customer since, on the one hand, our premises were not very easily accessible and, on the other hand, were not set up to show customers around and demonstrate our innovations. This will now change. The new building is located right next to the A28 and A1 freeways. This ensures better accessibility, while also providing ample parking for customers, employees and future personnel alike. After all, we expect further growth in the coming period and the new location also offers us expansion opportunities in the medium term."

Showroom

The building features office space, creative spaces, meeting rooms as well as a showroom of no less than 100 square meters. "Here a permanent IMPS (Igus Motion Plastics Show) exhibition stand will be built where customers can see and experience our products and solutions for themselves. We will present a selection of our product range there, with novelties from all our business units, along with many moving demo machines so customers can see what is possible with our products. It will even be possible to test drive our igus:bike, a bicycle made entirely from recycled plastic."

LCA

The IMPS showroom will be regularly updated with new motion plastics innovations so that it always remains up-to-date for visitors. "Surely the showpiece at the moment is the LCA business unit, which stands for Low Cost Automation Solutions. Large industrial robots often have very high price tags, so they have a long payback period (ROI). For SMEs, these are often major investments that cannot be made lightly. With Low Cost Automation, we prove that cost-effective, user-friendly and accessible automation solutions are also available for SMEs. In our IMPS showroom, we can give live demonstrations and show how individual applications can be easily programmed."

"Eventually, we also want to use this space for giving presentations, workshops and product training to customers and students from universities and colleges, for example," Van de Waal concludes.