Animex was founded in Bredaryd in 1985, and the name stems from Andersson Nilsson Import Export. Originally, the aim was to provide the plastics industry with various items of peripheral equipment. Via several agency setups, we offered a full range of products to primarily the Swedish market. We also developed our own handling robot, Anigrip, which was also sold for export.
At the end of the 90’s, the focus began to shift to robotic automation, and a close collaboration with ABB started in 2000. In 2004, a venture capital company took ownership, investing heavily in developing its own standardized modular concept, “X-Flex”. X-Flex provides flexible, quick, adjustable automation in an infinite number of different combinations. There was also a subsidiary in Germany and one in Estonia at that time.
As a result of the financial crisis in 2008, Animex went bankrupt, and the insolvency assets was acquired by Svensk Industriautomation AB (SVIA), based in Jönköping, Sweden. Between 2008-2016, Animex was part of SVIA, and constituted the latter’s brand name in the plastic industry. Operations were conducted at the same facilities in Bredaryd, and the synergy with SVIA was a success.
ABB acquired Svensk Industriautomation AB with the brands SVIA and Animex in 2016. Between 2017 and 2019, all operations and products were fully integrated into ABB AB, and the Bredaryd unit was part of the application center in Jönköping for machine tending.
In the autumn of 2019, ABB decided to close the Bredaryd unit, and so two former ABB employees, Marcus Timhagen and Henrik Saldner, decided to start up Animex again. Marcus had been at Animex since the early 2000s, and Henrik had been CEO and a co-owner at SVIA and Animex. Both had extensive experience in robot automation and vision technology. A number of former key persons from the former Animex were also involved in the new start-up. Operations continue to be conducted at the same facilities in Bredaryd.
