The flexible igus factory by Nicholas Grimshaw
From the briefing to the architect
“In October 1988, igus purchased a plot of land of about 40,000m2 in Porz-Lind, Cologne city area. This is where development, production, sale, management and planning were to take place. This is where all activities should have their core, this is where igus should have its headquarters. igus has made preparations for fast growth and fast change - i.e. flexibility - in all areas, accompanied by steady consolidation of the enterprise's overall position. The new “igus factory” is intended to guarantee the spatial and technical possibilities for this purpose, with a design that supports the requirements and concerns of employees. It is intended to reflect the products and the core tenet of the corporate philosophy inside and out: innovation - service - reliability - with the customers as the centre of a solar system, which all igus employees and igus entities orbit around so as to solve their problems.”
This short extract from Günter Blase's briefing sent to Nicholas Grimshaw was the basis for the following sketch. It was further developed into the model shown, which was later realised as a factory building.
The factory
The move-in took place in 1994. The idea of the flexible factory and the realisation by Grimshaw quickly paid off as igus has grown considerably since then: the company now produces, tests and conducts research in a building area of 90,000m2. This includes surrounding buildings for further production, technical training and a large logistics centre, among others. In the course of the factory expansion, we applied a consistent lean-management approach to analyse all areas: from marketing and administration to research and development, tooling and production to warehousing and distribution.
With a 4,000m2 testing area, igus operates the largest test laboratories in the industry, with test setups for energy chains, highly flexible cables, plastic bearing technology such as plain bearings, ball bearings and linear bearings, lead screw drives, bar stock, piston rings etc. A total of 15,000 tests are carried out annually. 100,000 products can be delivered in 24 hours or on the same day.
Expansion of the factory with a new building in 2023
igus has continued to grow strongly in recent years and is showing an excellent level of development. To be able to cope with future growth and serve the needs of our customers quickly and reliably, we are adding a new building to our factory. It is in the process of being built, and is located opposite the main building on the other side of Frankfurter Str., on 20,000m². From autumn 2023 onwards, parts of production, but also office space will be set up here.
The new building will continue the concept of the existing factory and the architect, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, and will feature a flexible interior. One of the two founders of the Bryden Wood architectural office, Mark Bryden, had already worked on the first factory together with Nicholas Grimshaw - in other words, conditions were ideal.
Discover Grimshaw's igus factory virtually
What actually happens in our factory at our headquarters in Cologne? Dive into our 360° VR world and discover the most diverse stations from injection moulding to the tool shop to quality control or our laboratory. All stations are also accompanied by interesting information about the factory and the machines.
Factory visit
Research and development
