The Cologne-based company igus has acquired a majority stake in the Portuguese company Atronia Tailored Sensing. With this strategic move, igus aims to expand further in the market for networked plastic components. The aim is to mass-produce Industry 4.0 products and also make them accessible to small and medium-sized companies.
Networking, automation, artificial intelligence: Industry 4.0 technology is leading to greater productivity, agility and plant safety worldwide. igus has therefore been investing in research and development for years in order to develop new types of smart plastics. Plain bearings, energy chains and cables equipped with sensors and integrated into the Internet of Things are. Intelligent predictive maintenance software then calculates optimum maintenance times and alerts technicians in good time via email and text message in the event of critical conditions in order to prevent expensive system failures. The Portuguese company Atronia Tailored Sensing has been a cooperation partner in the development of these smart plastics for around five years. The sensor specialist determines the actual status of igus products. It teaches them how to feel.
„By acquiring Atronia, we can harmonise the processes, systems and teams of both companies even better, which will lead to synergies and efficiency gains in the long term. This will enable us to mass-produce products for the Industry 4.0 era and make them accessible to small and medium-sized companies with limited budgets and little previous experience.“
Michael Blass, igus Managing Director e-chain systems
Carlos Alexandre Ferreira, Manager at Atronia Tailored Systems, adds: „The acquisition of Atronia by igus is a promising partnership that will undoubtedly lead to further innovation and improved technology integration.“
First joint product: service life sensor for energy chain
igus and Atronia got to know each other in 2019 as stand neighbours at the Sensor + Test trade fair in Nuremberg. „After initial technical discussions, it quickly became clear that both companies The same vision of a barrier-free Industry 4.0 have,“ says Richard Habering, Head of the Smart Plastics business unit at igus. This led to the first joint project. Atronia built the electronics for a sensor called EC.W. Mounted on the opening bars of energy chains the sensors record the actual condition and the remaining service life of the chain side parts. The sensor was launched on the market for just 259 euros - at a A fraction of the cost of commercially available predictive maintenance systems. „Customer feedback on the cost-effective and intuitive sensor solution was excellent,“ says Habering. „We therefore decided to intensify our collaboration with Atronia.“
The company now manufactures several hundred modules from the i.Cee series from igus in Portugal. The modules make it possible to Analyse sensor data from anywhere in the world using a web-based dashboard, to utilise the maximum service life of products and to optimally plan maintenance work.
Source: igus
