With $990 billion spent annually on lubrication worldwide, igus launched 247 new products this year to showcase the potential of lubrication-free engineering plastics and the important role that artificial intelligence can play in it

Each year, the global industry spends $240 billion on lubricants. At the same time, machine downtime due to inadequate lubrication costs up to $750 billion a year. In light of this, igus has now combined its 60 years of accumulated sports plastics expertise, along with hundreds of thousands of test data and millions of applications, into a single AI tool to help users quickly achieve lubrication-free movement of their systems. From excavators, agricultural tractors to water turbines, all applications and products in this tool have been tested and proven. A study from RWTH Aachen University demonstrates how hot this topic is. In the first half of the year, sports plastics specialist igus launched 247 new products, proving that “zero lubrication” is within reach for everyone.

MVME51005E-0163 The concept of lubricating free is rarely mentioned when discussing the most important innovations of the future. However, a study from RWTH Aachen University has for the first time demonstrated the positive significance of lubrication-free engineering plastics for the profitability and sustainable development of enterprises. Take a world-renowned beer producer for example: By using lubrication-free engineering plastic bearings on all conveyor belts at its 160 production sites, the company can save €6 million a year in lubricants and labor costs. The positive environmental impact of this move is also considerable: if all of the company’s branches were to switch to engineering plastic bearings, it could reduce CO2 emissions by 28.814 tons of CO2 equivalent per year. Every year, global industrial companies spend up to $240 billion on lubricants, while the loss of machine failure due to insufficient lubrication is up to $750 billion. Lubrication-free igus products have been used in countless proven applications to achieve complete lubrication-free operation throughout the entire service life of the machine (and beyond). At the same time, igus has also introduced a number of new products, such as linear guides, guides, gears or gearboxes, which further broaden the possibilities of industrial applications.

The cleaning revolution brought about by artificial intelligence

MVME51005E-0163 “igus, make my digger grease-free!” This is made possible by the latest version of the igusGO app, which was first launched last year. Engineers can now send voice, photo or text to instantly discover proven solutions for different locations of their excavators or 600 other applications. If users can’t find their app, they can initiate a consultation through the AI chat tool in the app and are guaranteed to get a response. The AI service is based on data from the millions of applications igus has accumulated over the past few decades. The application also has a lifetime calculation function to estimate the lifetime of a product in a customer-specific application, based on hundreds of thousands of test data accumulated in the industry’s largest igus test lab. “Today, the progress of artificial intelligence is unstoppable.” Tobias Vogel, CEO of igus Plain Bearings and Linear Technologies, said, “Suddenly, we can turn all the ‘zero lubrication’ data we have accumulated over the past decades into a simple and reliable tool for everyone in the industry to use.” Another new feature is the calculation of lubricant savings in the igusGo app, which is displayed when the user selects a product such as plain bearings or gears. The AI-powered “Best catalog Part recommendation” is also a new service. For example, if a customer uploads a CAD file of a plain bearing they’ve designed for lubric-free use on a bicycle, the AI will automatically show the catalog parts that are closest to that particular part. By using catalog parts, customers can not only save costs, but also receive products faster. In order to provide customers with even greater product reliability, igus has extended the 4-year warranty of chainflex flexible cables to all sports plastic products that can calculate their service life online.