Proven collaboration continues and expands

Piepenbrock carefully cleans all surfaces in the clean rooms. (Image: Piepenbrock Unternehmensgruppe GmbH + Co. KG)

Merck is convinced by its service provider: Piepenbrock continues to handle maintenance and cleanroom cleaning as well as transportation and hospitality runs for the chemical and pharmaceutical company from Darmstadt. Additionally, Merck commissioned Piepenbrock with kitchen cleaning, dishwashing services, and maintenance cleaning of other buildings.

At its largest research and production site as well as the company's headquarters in Darmstadt, Merck has relied on the cleaning expertise of Piepenbrock since 2011. In summer 2021, the building service provider convinced once again during the re-tendering process. The total area to be cleaned and the scope of services increased significantly. Piepenbrock won additional lots in maintenance cleaning and transportation runs, and new services included dishwashing in laboratories and cleaning of 130,000 square meters of glass surfaces. "We are very pleased that we were able to convince Merck once again as a partner and to continue the collaboration," says Andreas Thymian, branch manager of Piepenbrock and responsible for the contract.

New contract is not a self-runner

The requirements that a leading science and technology company like Merck places on the cleanliness of its premises are high—especially in cleanrooms where, among other things, medicines are manufactured. These highly sensitive production environments are cleaned by Piepenbrock's more than 100 specialists with the same professionalism as office and logistics areas, sanitary facilities, halls, or seminar rooms. The collaboration has been characterized from the beginning by transparent communication. "In addition to the correct execution of the work, customer orientation and the level of innovation in cleanroom cleaning were important aspects we considered when re-tendering the contract. Particularly, the support around flawless documentation in the cleanrooms was another decisive point," says Harry Littmann, Head of Facility Management Service at Merck Real Estate GmbH. Andreas Thymian sums up what makes this customer orientation: "It is natural for us to consider all of our customer's requirements and to train our employees accordingly, for example, for cleanroom deployment. We are also happy to implement requests such as the use of environmentally friendly cleaning agents—not least because sustainability is very important to us at Piepenbrock." To ensure the ongoing collaboration is as optimal as possible and to secure it for the future, regular meetings with local responsible persons, inspections of the premises, and internal quality controls are carried out.