Turn, tilt, fold, slide - maintenance free and comfortable

Among architects Schlechtendahl & Söhne GmbH & Co. KG is known among architects and planners of public and commercial buildings for their development and manufacture of high-quality fittings for windows, doors and facade elements. For this purpose, maintenance-free sliding and bearing elements from the igus® construction kit are used and are exposed to high degrees of stress – due to high contact pressure, diverse environmental influences and the requirement of being able to withstand a million manual operations.
 
In the "key region" of Heiligenhaus there is a unique concentration of companies in lock and hardware technology - and it even has its own college campus focused on mechatronics. Some of the manufacturers in the region supply the global automotive industry with car locks, others are working in building services engineering. This includes WSS Wilh. Schlechtendahl & Söhne GmbH & Co. KG.

In the premium quality and innovation segment

Established in 1906 and employing about 350 employees in Heiligenhaus, the company first specialised in fittings for windows, doors and gates but, for around 20 years, has been a supplier of facade components – and, with its wide range of products, is clearly in the premium segment in terms of quality and innovation.
 
Dipl.-Betriebswirt Robin Fasel, CEO of WSS: "We develop and supply components with which elements of the building shell can be opened. " Many well-known and architecturally sophisticated buildings have fitting systems from WSS – for example, the headquarters of Daimler and Sony in Berlin, the GAP 15 office building in Düsseldorf or the eye-catching "Colorium" in the media harbour there and the Telekom office tower in Bonn.
 
For these and many other buildings WSS has developed customised fittings for lowering, folding, turning, exhibiting and moving façade elements. No less challenging is the catalogue range of the company, which in addition to various window fittings includes, among others, panic locks with electronic handle control and roller bands of heavy fire protection and emergency exit doors.

High requirements on plain bearings

As an example, take a bearing that is attached to the hinge of a door or window fitting. Giovanni Zaccaria: "The entire weight of up to 250kg acts on the flange of the lower bearing - on a few square millimetres. Moreover, tipping loads occur when a window is open. " Nevertheless, the bearing must be able to move easily and without sticking Above all, it must not wear out: customers and users basically expect fittings to operate for decades without any maintenance - even though they are moving components.
 
Plain bearings from the igus® construction kit are proving their worth under these conditions. Depending on the application, WSS design engineers use bearings made of iglidur® J or iglidur® G. These two materials are high-performance polymers with a lubricant component that is permanently incorporated in the material and therefore ensures good sliding properties for the entire service life of the bearings – without any additional lubrication.