From the garage to a global market leader: igus founders celebrate their 90th birthday

igus congratulates Günter and Margret Blase on their 90th birthday with a replica of the original garage in front of the current factory campus in Cologne-Porz. (Source: igus GmbH)

In 1964, Günter and Margret Blase founded the company igus in their backyard garage in Cologne-Mülheim. In 2021, the internationally active company supplies customers all over the world with its maintenance-free and lubricating motion plastics. On the occasion of the 90th birthday of the founding couple, the motion plastics specialist is now bringing the garage back to life.

When Günter Blase drives to igus on his 90th birthday, as he does on many days of the year, he can currently see the progress of the new company building on the B8 directly. The new construction is taking place next to the headquarters in Cologne Porz-Lind, visible from afar through the distinctive yellow pylons. igus GmbH develops and produces motion plastics here, high-performance plastics for moving applications. The tribopolymers make moving parts lubricated-free, quiet, and lightweight everywhere in the world — in theater stages, mountain bikes, or office furniture, as well as on offshore drilling rigs, crane systems, ships, and space rockets. However, in 1965, just a year after its founding, this was not yet possible when the first motion plastics were created in a 55-square-meter garage in Cologne-Mülheim. Günter Blase had recognized the potential of plastics early on and understood how injection molding could enable rationalization in industry. After eight years of full-time employment at a plastics company, he decided to become self-employed. His wife Margret, who also celebrated her 90th birthday in April of this year, supported this idea. As a self-employed authorized signatory for tax matters, she additionally took over the accounting and finances of the new company, while Günter Blase focused on production. For six years, igus produced motion plastics out of this garage, as a pure contract manufacturer for a few industrial customers.

"We always have to prepare for minus 50 and plus 50 percent"

56 years later, on the occasion of the 90th birthdays of the founding couple, a replica of this very garage stands in front of the 90,000-square-meter igus factory campus, designed in 1994 by architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw. Inside the replica, some milestones of the company's history are displayed, such as the first injection molding machine. Much has changed since then: the portfolio now includes 200,000 parts from stock and ranges from online-calculable energy chain systems with warranty to intelligent 3D-printed custom parts and robot components for an affordable entry into automation. The more than 4,500 employees in 35 igus branches worldwide ensure daily that customers can improve their technology and save costs with motion plastics. igus still adheres to a maxim of Günter Blase, which is more relevant than ever: "We always have to prepare for minus 50 and plus 50 percent." And thus, the early expansion of machine capacities and raw material inventories during the pandemic continues to ensure comparatively quick delivery times during this phase of rapid economic recovery. The new factory construction aims to further advance this development in the future. A project that the architecture enthusiast Günter Blase continues to actively oversee to this day.