The VDI’s OWL District Association visits Gerresheimer Bünde

The VDI’s OWL District Association visits Gerresheimer Bünde
The VDI’s OWL District Association visits Gerresheimer Bünde
Düsseldorf/Bünde, October 29, 2013 – Gerresheimer Bünde hosted a visit from the Association of German Engineers’ OWL (Ostwestfalen-Lippe) District Association on Friday. The program included a company presentation, followed by a guided tour of the production facility.

Düsseldorf/Bünde, October 29, 2013 – Gerresheimer Bünde hosted a visit from the Association of German Engineers’ OWL (Ostwestfalen-Lippe) District Association on Friday. The program included a company presentation, followed by a guided tour of the production facility.

A delegation from the Association of German Engineers’ OWL District Association visited Gerresheimer Bünde on Friday. After a welcome address and a general presentation of the company, the 24 VDI visitors were given an overview of the product portfolio and the various stages of the production process.

Then Klaus Jahn, Head of Engineering, gave the retired engineers a guided tour of the plant. It included various stages of the production chain, from glass tubing to finished syringe, with explanations at each station. “All of our production machines are fitted with special components such as camera systems so that we can satisfy our customers’ specific requirements,“ Jahn explained to the impressed guests. These in-house developed inspection systems are used in-line during the production process for syringe quality assurance purposes. “The inspection systems that are available in the market simply don't satisfy our or our customers' requirements," added Jahn, “Which is why we develop our own systems. They measure with far greater precision, identify even the tiniest of defects and reject the defective syringes.”

State-of-the art equipment is used to produce the syringes and cartridges for insulin pens. Customers can also have the syringes fitted with a needle. In a delicate assembly process, the needle is glued into the glass syringe using a special adhesive and then hardened under UV light.

The last process step is also the most important. In the RTF® (Ready-to-Fill) process, syringes are washed, siliconized and furnished with closures in clean room environments, then packed and sterilized. Subsequent sterilization with ethylene oxide is performed externally. The syringes stay in their packaging because it has special gas-permeable properties. After sterilization, Gerresheimer delivers the syringes to the pharmaceutical companies, which fill them with vaccines or heparin.

The group of visitors also had a look around a newly built production hall where a clean room is currently being constructed for the new RTF®4 syringe production line that will be put into operation next year.

“It’s impressive to see how many steps there are in the production process before you arrive at the finished product,” agreed the visitors when their visit came to an end.

Gerresheimer Bünde

Gerresheimer Bünde is located in Bünde-Südlengern. It has the most modern production facility for pre-fillable syringe systems and cartridges in the world. The company was founded in 1947 by the Hennings and Zimmermann families as Bünder Glas. Today, Gerresheimer Bünde is able to look back on over 65 years of experience. The Bünde production facility has around 800 employees and is the Gerresheimer Group’s competence center for syringes that are used for the long-term storage of pharmaceutical products such as vaccines.

About Gerresheimer

Gerresheimer is an internationally leading manufacturer of high-quality specialty products made of glass and plastic for the global pharma and healthcare industry. Our comprehensive portfolio of products extends from pharmaceutical vials to complex drug delivery systems such as syringe systems, insulin pens and inhalers for safe medication dosage and application. Together with our partners, we develop solutions which set standards and have role model status in their respective market sectors.

Our Group realizes revenues of around one billion euros and has approx. 11,000 employees at 47 locations in Europe, North and South America and Asia. We use first-rate technologies, convincing innovations and targeted investments to systematically consolidate our strong market position.

Contact
Marion Stolzenwald
Gerresheimer AG
Benrather Str. 18-20
40213 Düsseldorf
Phone +49 211 6181-246 
Fax +49 211 6181-241  
E-Mail: please click

Heidi Becker
Gerresheimer Bünde GmbH
Erich-Martens-Straße 26-32
32257 Bünde
Phone +49 5223 164-137
Fax +49 5223 164-410
E-Mail: please click