On 25 November 2025, the film manufacturer held a symbolic ground-breaking ceremony for new production space on the site of the Südpack logistics centre in Erolzheim. Additional capacities for the PP-based PharmaGuard blister concept and a plant for regranulating production waste are to be built there by the third quarter of 2027.
The ground-breaking ceremony marks the official start of construction work and is considered an important milestone within the company. The background to this is the sharp rise in demand for the recyclable PharmaGuard blister, according to the company, which in the long term can no longer be met at the headquarters in Ochsenhausen alone.
In the first expansion stage, an existing hall will be converted into an ISO 7 clean room, in which a new extrusion line and a slitter rewinder will be installed. A new extension will be built for the technical infrastructure and the regranulation of production-related plastic waste. The construction work is currently scheduled to be completed by June 2026, after which the systems will be installed. Completion and commissioning of production is scheduled for the third quarter of 2027.
Commitment to the location and new jobs
The ground-breaking ceremony was attended by representatives of the architects and construction companies as well as the Mayor of Erolzheim, Jochen Ackermann, and the owners and management of the Südpack Group. Mayor Ackermann emphasised that he was particularly pleased that „as a strong, sustainable company and one of the most important employers in the region, Südpack remains uncompromisingly committed to Germany as a business location and creates jobs here, despite the sometimes adverse economic conditions“.
According to the company, around 50 additional employees will be hired to operate the new facilities. With further expansion stages as part of the production expansion, a total of around 170 new jobs could be created by 2030.
Focus on recyclable pharmaceutical packaging
PharmaGuard is a PP-based mono-material blister concept which, according to the company, is positioned as a recyclable alternative to composite materials based on aluminium and PET. The approach aims to combine the global pharmaceutical industry's requirements for product safety with future sustainability requirements such as the European Packaging Ordinance (PPWR).
Source: South pack
