igus SE & Co. KG closed the financial year with a consolidated turnover of €1.155 billion, marking a 4.4% increase on 2024. «Product quality and price are no longer the only differentiating factors – explains Artur Peplinski, CEO and spokesperson for the igus Board of Directors -. Our customers increasingly need suppliers capable of delivering quickly and reliably, without compromising on quality».
The three main markets – China, Germany and the United States – account for around 60% of global turnover. The workforce has grown to 5,423 employees worldwide, 185 more than in 2024, of whom 2,044 are in Germany. Germany remains igus’s main production hub: 95% of the “igus world” is produced here. “We want to demonstrate that sustainable growth and technological innovation are possible even in difficult times”, says Peplinski.
Record investments
igus invested a total of €124.4 million in 2025, distributed between its German headquarters and international subsidiaries, of which: €42.2 million in the Innovation Centre in Cologne (buildings, laboratories, automation), €11.5 million in strategic equity investments, €70.7 million in subsidiaries worldwide (China, USA, Poland, Turkey, Japan), €600,000 in the new Training Factory in Cologne for the training of young technicians.
A fully automated small parts warehouse is currently being set up in the new “Phase 8” building at the headquarters: up to 1,800 storage and retrieval operations per hour will speed up order fulfilment. In areas such as crimping and welding, the new automated systems enable production times that are up to 10–30 times faster than manual processes. In China, a 65,000 m² plant has been completed, whilst in the USA the production site has been expanded by a further 15,000 m², with the local launch of production of precision threaded bars for the North American market. These localisation choices – embodying the ‘local for local’ philosophy – have enabled a reduction in transport weight of approximately 1.2 million kg between China and the US alone, with direct benefits for the carbon footprint.
Laboratories and R&D: the world’s largest industrial test laboratory
The igus test laboratory has been further expanded to 5,500 m². The additional 1,500 m² are dedicated exclusively to dry-tech products and allow for a 20% increase in the number of test benches, bringing the annual number of tests from 11,000 to approximately 17,000.
A new Materials Centre has been established within igus: six engineers and polymer scientists work exclusively on the development, testing and scaling of new materials, ensuring compliance with regulations, certifications and market requirements. This team has already led to the creation of PTFE-free variants of the main bearing materials, and the new iglidur A-351, which is free from Bisphenol A.
Sustainability: carbon-neutral production and ISO-certified recycling
From 2025, igus production in Germany will be climate-neutral according to Scope 1 and 2 indicators. The chainge recycling platform has already recovered 235 tonnes of end-of-life energy chains from over 370 customers. Customers also receive a CO₂ emissions calculation in which igus indicates the emissions reduction achieved through the recovery and recycling of end-of-life chains. This calculation has been ISO-certified for a few weeks and therefore also provides customers with a scientific guarantee of the carbon footprint.
