Company

IGUS GmbH is a leading global manufacturer of high-performance polymers for moving applications – so-called motion plastics. At its headquarters in Cologne and other locations, IGUS develops smart products for energy supply, storage technology, 3D printing, low-cost automation, and more – always with the goal: Improve technology, reduce costs, produce CO₂-neutral.

With 4,500 employees, IGUS supplies over 188,000 customers in more than 80 countries and over 50 industries – from the automotive industry to renewable energies.

Challenge

Up to 500 new customs classifications daily, a vast assortment of standard and special products, global exports, and high demands on data quality and compliance:

For the customs team at IGUS, it was clear – the previous manual customs classification was not scalable in the long run. The effort was high, processes were non-transparent, and there was a lack of a smart solution to make tariff decisions uniformly, traceably, and efficiently.

Solution

In spring 2022, IGUS decided to implement traide AI – and thus chose a real game changer in customs processing:

• Automated customs classification of 300–500 products per day

• Immediate deployment without IT interface, but with automated data import

• Transparent customs classification justifications for each decision

• Audit AI and description verification to continuously optimize the quality of customs master data

• Uniform approach within the team and 24/7 availability of the AI

“With traide, a new era has begun in our customs processes. We save 75% of time – with simultaneously higher quality. That is true efficiency.”

— Sabrina Stegnitz, Manager for Customs and Foreign Trade

Results

The integration of traide AI brought noticeable improvements in day-to-day operations:

• ⏱ 75% time savings in daily customs classification

• 📄 Standardized and transparent tariff decisions

• 📈 Higher data quality in customs master data

• 🤖 Scalable processes even with a growing product portfolio

• 🧠 Smart support for the customs team – around the clock

Conclusion

With traide AI, IGUS has laid the foundation for a future-proof, digital customs process. The AI has long been an integral team member – precise, reliable, and always available. This not only saves the export team time but also provides the assurance of making the right decisions at all times.

“We welcome our new team member with a 24-hour availability, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We are ready for the digital future.”

— Sabrina Stegnitz, Manager for Customs and Foreign Trade