Röchling Group opens Smart Factory in Brensbach

From left: Joachim Lehmann (Director BU Medical), Professor Hanns-Peter Knaebel (CEO Röchling Group and Medical Division), Dr. Carl Peter Thürmel (Vice-Chairman of the Advisory Board), and Johannes Freiherr von Salmuth (Chairman of the Advisory Board) (Image: Röchling)

- Medical Business Area Continues Growth
- Site expands and modernizes
- Production now in GMP Class C

The Röchling Group has expanded and modernized its existing plant in Brensbach in the Odenwald. From now on, production is also carried out in hygiene-sensitive areas of GMP Class C and under Smart Factory conditions. Röchling Medical has been manufacturing highly precise plastic products at this location since 2008. The investments in the new plant area amount to 7.2 million euros.

“With the expansion and modernization of the Brensbach site, we are responding to the increased growth of our Medical division,” said Prof. Hanns-Peter Knaebel, Chairman of the Röchling Group and responsible for the Medical Business Area, at the grand opening on October 26, 2018. Alongside Knaebel, the Chairman of the Röchling Group's Advisory Board, Johannes Freiherr von Salmuth, and his deputy Dr. Carl Peter Thürmel, other members of Röchling management, and numerous Röchling employees participated. Brensbach’s mayor Rainer Müller, the first district administrator of Odenwaldkreis Oliver Grobeis, architect Walter Trautmann, as well as numerous customers, were also present.

The Medical Business Area offers its customers a wide range of customized products, as well as standard plastic products for the fields of pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, surgery, and life sciences. “Our high-quality products are used in innovative delivery and primary packaging systems, surgical instruments, and diagnostic disposable items,” explains Joachim Lehmann, BU Director Medical Europe. The manufacturing of the products takes place in Brensbach in cleanrooms of ISO Class 7 and ISO Class 8 according to DIN EN ISO 14644.

The work in Brensbach started in September 2017. The existing cleanroom area was expanded to 2,000 square meters, nearly doubling its size. The existing cleanroom was simultaneously modernized. The new cleanroom now meets the increased requirements of GMP Class C (Good Manufacturing Practice) for the first time. These regulations specify special criteria for manufacturing processes and operational procedures under heightened hygiene standards.

To achieve maximum flexibility, Röchling Medical implemented a concept for the new building that allows injection molding and assembly machines to be fully integrated into the cleanroom. This ensures that machines can be quickly repositioned or replaced. “This, in turn, allows us to meet the constantly changing demands of the pharmaceutical market, especially in the area of injection molding,” says Alexander Stauch, Managing Director BU Medical Europe.

The topic of “Smart Factory” was also taken into account in Brensbach. All logistics, manufacturing, and building technology systems in the plants are interconnected. This enables early detection and resolution of disruptions, even before they occur. Furthermore, data on cleanroom quality, energy consumption, intralogistics systems, and the central supply of plastic granulate are continuously recorded and visualized. “We are setting new standards at our site in terms of Industry 4.0, flexibility, and productivity in the field of medical technology,” says Lehmann.

The Medical division within the Röchling Group has been heavily characterized by investments in 2018. In April 2018, a state-of-the-art production building was opened at the existing site in Neuhaus am Rennweg in Thuringia. In June 2018, Röchling Medical acquired Rochester, the American medical technology specialist Precision Medical Products, Inc. (PMP), based in Denver/Pennsylvania (USA), which has since operated under the name Röchling Medical Lancaster. In July 2018, FRANK plastic AG, a provider of medical and industrial technology based in Waldachtal in Baden-Württemberg, was acquired.