Million-euro contract during in-house exhibition
Machine manufacturer Bausch + Ströbel presents the company and new developments.
Bausch + Ströbel, manufacturer of special machines, presented the company and its product range during this week's in-house exhibition. On the second day an Asian customer spontaneously signed a million-euro order.
With orders in hand for over a year, the staff in Ilshofen are very confident. Managing director Siegfried Bullinger: "Depending on the machine size, the coming 10 to 14 months are already full of orders." Larger production lines on order are in planning for next year.
Managing director Markus Ströbel presented the company to the visitors from Europe, Russia and China: 900 employees in Ilshofen, over 1000 worldwide.
It's a first for a five-day, in-house exhibition of this kind. More than 220 visitors were brought up-to-date on the latest technical developments and trends available from the machine manufacturer in the sector of filling machines for liquid pharmaceutical products. For example, Thomas Seiffer (R&D department) demonstrated how machines can identify operators automatically using electromagnetic signals (RFID-wristbands). A patent application has been filed for a new development by Bausch + Ströbel (B+S), whereby the functionality of silicone spraying nozzles can be monitored 100 percent: an optical sensor is located inside the 0.3 millimeter thin nozzle.
The current year, managing director Bullinger estimates, will close with an increase in turnover of five to ten percent. "We had no drop in sales due to the economic crisis", he added, emphasizing the constant growth. Neither redundancies nor reduced hours had been necessary. "We have taken on 15 new employees this year already", Bullinger said.
Business with Asia and Russia is thriving at present. Lines to fill, close and label ready-to-use syringes or cartridges are in particular demand. A cartridge is a glass tube such as inserted by dentists into syringes for anesthetics or by diabetics into insulin pens.
Visitors to Bausch + Ströbel were particularly interested in the high rate of in-house manufacturing. "Our works electricians and cleaning staff are directly employed", Siegfried Bullinger emphasized. It's company philosophy to develop and build the machines as far as possible with our own staff. This means that the filling lines from Ilshofen are "at the higher end of the spectrum" as far as prices are concerned, Bullinger explained, "but the customers know and accept that".
In the new assembly area, Bausch + Ströbel had six lines on display and also made guided tours through the entire company. Lectures by company employees rounded off the exhibition. For example, the head of the Design Department Werner Wieland gave a talk on "transparent production", i.e. the traceability of each individual filled vial - even on lines with an output of 36 000 vials per hour.
