Quality and maintenance for cables worldwide

Stefan Wehrmann | 7. April 2021

I was astonished when my colleague explained to me during a visit to our branch how the maintenance intervals work with his customers. “Maintenance is done when the machine breaks down! Our customers are happy about every component they can rely on.” That’s why today we take up the topic of quality and maintenance for cables worldwide.

But even if things are different in other countries, it is clear that our typical German quality standards are decisive for success abroad.

I would like to share some experiences in this regard here today.

Product service life of cables

In Germany, we set high standards. And we at igus don’t want to sell anything to our customers which doesn’t last. This is our corporate philosophy!

The terms dependability, reliability and predictability are of great importance to our customers. We combine this in the chainflex guarantee which is one of the most important arguments for our customers.

Customer visit in South Africa

We regularly learn how different quality standards are for customers abroad, for example in South Africa. I had an appointment with my colleague in Johannesburg at a large car factory. Several cables used to control hand-operated torque spanners had failed.  

After consultation, the use of a CF9.UL proved to be a good alternative to the previously used standard cables. We were able to help the customer and eliminate potential defects in the future.

It often happens like it did with this customer. Often we are only called when it is already too late and appliances need to be repaired immediately. From past visits to other countries, I was used to regular maintenance intervals.  

My colleague explained the following to me on this subject:

“Machines and machine parts in South Africa/Africa have to withstand extreme loads in some cases, yet they receive little to no maintenance. Machines and machine parts that are designed for normal industrial use in Europe or America often need to be upgraded or improved.”

This is called a “retrofit” or as he called it: “Africanising”. The chainflex cables are particularly suitable for this purpose, as they are designed for a very long service life. You can even determine the service life in our service life calculator.

In this way, we maintain our quality standards and at the same time meet the particularly high demands placed on the components. Even with low maintenance intervals.

Quality requirements in Japan

In Japan, the requirements for durability are also extremely high. But the reason is different.

In a training session for my colleagues on site, we discussed the topic of service life and guarantee. These topics are a standard part of our training programme. Colleagues told me that much more awareness-raising work needs to be done in Japan on these issues.

It was explained to me that in the market one quite often encounters information on service life beyond 50 million cycles. However, this is then linked to certain conditions or no explicit reference is made to the service life within the energy chain. High cycle specifications are taken for granted as proof of quality.
The reason is simple: customers expect perfect quality and dependability.

In Japan, we are therefore increasingly clarifying, explaining our data sheets and their contents. Our documentation of realistic applications and tests carried out in our test laboratory also help us.

However, the biggest plus point in terms of guarantee and safety in Japan is trust. Our long-standing and successful presence in the market certainly helps here.
 
In addition, thanks to UL-verified, we can show that statements on service life are based on results and findings from the world’s largest laboratory for energy chains.

Conclusion

There is a lot of truth in the saying “Other countries, other customs”. Both examples illustrate this and show how differently the topic of quality and maintenance is treated when it comes to cables worldwide.

Many factors influence how these issues are addressed in different countries. We are constantly learning here and, in addition to sensitivity and openness, we always take away new experiences.