Energy chains, cables, bearing products, and sensors for material handling

Products for movement. maintenance-free and low-noise use in continuous logistical operations.
Storage without interruption of logistics is essential for fast supply chains. Customers do not want to wait unnecessarily for their goods, and for manufacturers, on-time delivery is a decisive competitive advantage. The processes run largely automatically, especially in larger-scale material handling. In addition to industrial vehicles, lifting tables and palletisers, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and storage and retrieval units (SRUs) autonomously move unit loads and packages. Our products support 24/7 operations because they are lubrication-free and therefore maintenance-free.. In addition, our energy chains, cables, plain and linear bearings save weight and installation space, an important aspect especially in high-bay warehouses.

SRUs & shuttles

Space-saving, durable energy supply systems for storage and retrieval units, shuttle systems and transfer trolleys

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Industrial trucks

Lubrication-free and maintenance-free plain and linear bearings for forklifts, automated guided vehicles, etc.

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Lifting tables

Heavy-duty polymer bearings for cylinder and scissor joints on lifting tables

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Conveyor technology

Maintenance-free components for overhead systems, roller conveyors, roller ball tables and other conveyor systems

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Avoid bearing failures

smart plastics increase reliability in logistics. The intelligent sensor system reports the status and recommended maintenance dates of products such as energy chains or cables.

Your benefits

Reduce maintenance costs and eliminate unplanned downtime
Extend service life and increase system efficiency
Save time - detect the causes of anomalies faster

Find out more about smart plasticsWhite paper: Advantages and applications of smart plastics

White paper

Safe energy transmission in material handling

How can machine parts work dynamically over long distances and still be reliably supplied with electricity?

This white paper deals with e-chains and busbar systems for cable guidance in indoor and outdoor cranes, electric overhead railway tracks, electric trains, storage and retrieval units (SRU) and cross transfer trolleys (CTTs).

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Success stories

Storage and retrieval units from SSI Schäfer

SSI Schaefer relies on durable guidelok energy chains in its SSI Exyz SRUThe SSI Exyz storage and retrieval unit allows for a reliable logistics process even in 45m high-bay warehouses. The guidelok slimline P ensures safe movement due to smooth and reliable cable guidance.

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X-ray robots from Buck Engineering & Consulting

Linear axes and energy chains in automated guided vehicle systems from KNAPP
AGVs require linear bearings and cable guides for the lifting mechanism. The manufacturer KNAPP uses two drylin SLW lead screw linear units and E2 micro energy chains in its "Open Shuttle".

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...and other success stories
High-bay warehouse, AGV, order picker or industrial truck. This selection of application examples shows you where our bearing products, energy chains, and cables are used in material handling.

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igus informs: Important trends and topics in material handling

How do I make sure my AGVs are free from maintenance and lubrication?

Automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) are intended to cover the longest possible distances in the warehouse completely autonomously over a long period of time. To do so, they and especially their mechanical components have to be absolutely maintenance-free. This blog post will tell you how to use lubrication-free linear and plain bearings for this purpose and what role slewing ring bearings play.

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How can I save money with sensor technology in material handling?

Sensor technology is increasingly shaping the working environment in warehouses and picking areas to ensure that the logistics chain functions without interruption. In this blog post, we present a compact overview of how "i.Sense" sensor technology on the energy chain, cables or even individual plain bearings can provide more control and safety while saving costs.

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Horizontal cable guidance in SRUs when space is scarce

When designing cable guides for storage and retrieval machines, two problems often arise: space and speed. How do I find a solution that increases the efficiency of my SRU?
With the autoglide 5 energy chain, we want to provide our customers with precisely this solution. In this blog post, you can find out at a glance what the cable guide can do and for which applications it is suitable.

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Vertical cable guidance in SRUs when space is scarce

Busbar systems are often the perfect choice for vertical cable guidance systems in SRUs. The reason is usually their space-saving design.
Our "guidelite ECO" shows how energy chains can have a very narrow design and still guarantee a long service life that has been tested in the laboratory.

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