Why complex when it can be simple?!

The pharmaceutical industry is among the most regulated and competitive. Throughout the entire manufacturing process, the objective is to produce quickly while safeguarding patient safety and monitoring costs. At the same time, new developments and their time to market must be accelerated.

With supply chain instability and shortened patent terms, the pharmaceutical and biotech industry seeks solutions to increase efficiency and value across the entire product lifecycle. The answer is an integrated portfolio of hardware, software, and digital solutions that can be customized to meet increasingly complex requirements.

Collaboration with technology companies is becoming a critical factor of success for pharmaceutical manufacturers. At Körber, we have long been supporting our customers on an equal footing in the digital transformation often referred to as Pharma 4.0, combining our expertise and decades of experience in the pharmaceutical sector with the agility and dynamism of the technology industry.

Whether it's individual, AI-driven, and modular software solutions or holistic, cloud-based strategies and systems for managing data, we support our customers as strategic partners in this technology transfer. The options range from implementing autonomous production processes to creating a dark factory. Our customized, end-to-end solutions help customers reduce downtime, lower costs, and improve system efficiency.

There is hardly any other industry that demands flawless, fault-free, stable production processes, the highest quality, and compliance with extensive regulatory requirements as rigorously as the pharmaceutical industry. We are just as committed as our customers to consistently meeting these requirements.

Our holistic solutions from a single source are based on a sustainable approach: an ecosystem consisting of Körber experts, strategic partnerships, and product-related alliances. 

An ecosystem that accelerates technology transfer in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry, guarantees stable processes, considers all interfaces and ensures seamless traceability along the entire production chain. As an ecosystem provider for a "Factory of Excellence", we relieve our customers of the growing production complexity. In other words: everything, effortlessly, in one place.

By investing in Franz Ziel GmbH, we at Körber are taking another strategically important step and expanding our expertise in cleanroom technology. Franz Ziel provides pharmaceutical systems and aseptic process equipment and is leading the market in isolator technology. 

"Franz Ziel's products and services complement our inspection and packaging solutions to perfection," says Erich Hoch, CTO & COO of the Körber Group. "We can now support our customers in processing their pharmaceutical products much earlier in their value chain."

The owner-managed family business is also an ideal fit for Körber, the home of entrepreneurs. "For me, the ecosystem approach was one of the main reasons for this partnership," says Olaf Ziel, CEO of Franz Ziel GmbH. He has long been aware of the shift from individual trades to complete packages due to increased complexity and lack of resources. "Körber not only has numerous machines in its portfolio that ideally complement our aseptic process solutions, but its PAS-X MES software also ensures reliable digital data acquisition and processing," Ziel adds.

There is no room for error regarding aseptic process solutions, the premier class of any pharmaceutical manufacturer. Processes must be fast, stable, and secure from production to product filling. "Contamination can be fatal to patients," says Ziel. "An unintended interruption or downtime could cost the customer millions." The benefit of Körber and Franz Ziel's integrated offering is that the system modules and components will communicate with one another in the future so that everything works seamlessly. "If something does happen," says Ziel, "the customer will have the added benefit of dealing with only one contact person who will take care of everything immediately."

However, our ecosystem has even more to offer: Besides its digital expertise, Körber boasts a global sales and service network and is also a leader in the secondary packaging segment. "Körber simply has more to offer and is also a strong partner on the financial side," says Ziel. "This is an immensely significant time-to-market aspect for customers when it comes to implementing a new project quickly and flexibly."

Some components are still missing in fully exploiting the potential of aseptic process technology at Körber. "With Franz Ziel, we have taken an important step and closed a substantial technological gap for our customers," says Group Executive Board member Erich Hoch. "If we continue on this path together, we will be able to offer a unique ecosystem."

With Rondo-Pak, Körber goes one step further. After years of close partnership as a joint venture, the New Jersey-based U.S. printing and packaging company has been majority-owned by the Group since the beginning of 2024, strengthening Körber's market position for sustainable packaging solutions in North America.

The U.S. company offers comprehensive services, including design, printing, packaging, and shipping, and produces folding boxes, cartons, brochures, and flyers. It also offers packaging and finished product inspection.

It goes without saying that Rondo-Pak's innovative packaging solutions meet the requirements for GMP compliance, counterfeit protection, and sustainability. Well-known pharmaceutical companies such as Roche, Johnson&Johnson, Sanofi, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, and many more have trusted this printing and packaging expert.

"As part of the Körber ecosystem, we can better and more efficiently meet our customers' needs by reducing time-to-market for new products," says Tim Moreton, founder and CEO of Rondo-Pak and now CEO Packaging Materials North America, for Körber's Business Area Pharma. It also helps compensate for the irregularities and delays that can occur during product launches and production. Lastly, because production within an ecosystem covers all aspects of an order or project, it reduces customer costs and improves service.

"I am a firm believer in the ecosystem approach," says Moreton. "I believe this is the most innovative way to do business and offers our customers the best possible service."