Bishop + Klein trusts Piepenbrock

Piepenbrock takes over the cleanroom cleaning at Bischof + Klein. (Image: Piepenbrock Unternehmensgruppe GmbH + Co. KG)

Bishop + Klein (B+K) relies on Piepenbrock's cleanroom expertise. The company produces flexible packaging and technical films made of plastics and composites at five locations across Europe for all industries. At the main plant in Lengerich, Piepenbrock handles maintenance and machine cleaning under cleanroom conditions for the B+K CleanFlex® cleanroom product line.

The cleanroom area of Bischof + Klein covers approximately 3,600 square meters and is operated according to DIN EN ISO 14644. In the separate production hall, films, pouches, and other packaging for high-purity products are produced. Films can be printed here under cleanroom conditions. Several Piepenbrock employees are on-site daily for maintenance cleaning in this cleanroom area. Under full protective gear, they clean the production environments and all other areas such as connecting corridors, storage, changing rooms, as well as material and personnel airlocks.

Flexibility is required

Another important task is the cleaning of the extruders and the production lines up to 25 meters long for converting films and pouches. The machines are regularly cleaned and disinfected, especially during product changes. A particular challenge for Piepenbrock's flexibility: up to ten qualified employees must be ready with usually only a few days' notice. "The machines run almost continuously. The cleaning must be perfectly scheduled so that production can continue immediately afterward. Every production downtime costs money," explains Thomas Wienand, branch manager at Piepenbrock and responsible for the contract with Bischof + Klein. "We are fully aware of this responsibility and are very pleased with the trust B+K places in us." Bischof + Klein also relies on its service provider for managing its consumables stock for the cleanroom area. Piepenbrock is responsible for logistics and the distribution of consumables such as face masks, gloves, disinfectants, etc., for the packaging manufacturer. Additionally, the companies share a sustainable orientation: economic, ecological, and social responsibility, as well as consideration for future generations, form the basis of their corporate actions.

Good planning, successful partnership

Much time and effort were invested on both sides before the contract was finalized. "We have a very high quality standard for our products as well as for the entire cleanroom. This also includes the work of our service provider," says Christoph Blom, Facility Manager CleanFlex® at Bischof + Klein. "We wanted to be sure we found the right partner. Piepenbrock ultimately convinced us with its experience and expertise." Since early February, a four-person team of project managers from the cleanroom department and employees from the executing branch has been working to plan and implement the start of the contract on June 1st in the best possible way together with a team from Bischof + Klein. This ensured a smooth start without complications. In addition to cleanroom cleaning, Piepenbrock supports Bischof + Klein with documentation. "Even during implementation, we started optimizing existing documents together and creating detailed work instructions for each individual step in maintenance cleaning and machine cleaning," explains Norbert Gürke, Head of Technical Management for Cleanroom Cleaning at Piepenbrock.