For over 160 years, Faubel & Co. Nachfolger GmbH has been writing company history in the printing and paper and film processing industry for over 160 years. The development of the globally active family business began on 1 May 1855 in Kassel, when Hermann Faubel founded the „Faubel & Co. Cartonagen und Papierwaren-Fabrik Cassel“. Today, the company specialises in unusual labels, particularly for the pharmaceutical industry.
Faubel initially established itself as a local supplier for Pharmacy labelling. The company was able to develop continuously for almost 90 years until 23 October 1943, when Kassel was largely destroyed by bombing raids by the Allied forces and the company building was completely bombed out. Faubel employed 50 people at the time. Due to the destruction, the company moved to Schwarzenberger Weg in Melsungen in 1946, where the headquarters are still located today.
Only 15 employees resumed production to manufacture pouches and labels for pharmacies in the region. In 1982, master printer Reinhard Kuge took over the management of the company and grew it from 20 to 160 employees during his 32 years as managing partner. Under his leadership, Faubel advanced to become a specialist for extraordinary labels, especially for the pharmaceutical industry.
Showing tireless commitment
Under his leadership, however, there were not only Progress, it was also Setbacks to cope with. In January 1995, the water of the nearby Fulda rose to a dangerous level. Considerable volumes of water entered the company building and washed around the machines. It was only thanks to the tireless efforts of the 53 employees at the time that the damage could be repaired as quickly as possible.
„The commitment of our employees and their identification with the company have made its success possible in the first place. That's why we try to maintain a personal bond even with a constantly growing workforce, for example through employee participation or private accident insurance,“ explains Frank Ludwig, one of the current managing directors, explains Faubel's philosophy.
In 2014, the current shareholder Reinhard Kuge passed on the management of the company to his three successors, Martin Kuge, Frank Jäger and Frank Ludwig, . Martin Kuge, a member of the Kuge family, who has owned all shares in the company since the end of 2012, remains on the management board. The graduate in social economics joined Faubel as a personnel officer after completing his studies in 2006 and is still responsible for the areas of personnel and finance. Frank Jäger, who holds a degree in business administration, joined the company in 2012 as Head of Sales and Marketing. He is also responsible for this area as Managing Director. Frank Ludwig has been with Faubel for over 30 years. As an industrial master printer, he knows all the production steps from his own experience and therefore deals with the technical issues.
Aligning the company internationally
The division of management into three areas of responsibility reflects the increased demands placed on the company by the internationalisation and growth strategies. The success of these strategies was demonstrated in 2015 with the highest turnover since the company was founded. At the end of the year, the 191 employees were able to celebrate an increase of 26 per cent to a total of 24.4 million. This growth was primarily due to the expansion of sales activities from Germany to Europe, the USA and Asia.
In addition to sales offices in Europe, in 2009 Faubel founded the sister company Faubel Pharma Services with an associated sales office in Bordentown, New Jersey. In 2014, a presence was also opened in the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai. The activities in both sales regions are focused on Faubel's core competences: Labels, packaging and clinical trial services.
„The international focus should stabilise our sales in the medium term. We only expected such a high order situation in the long term. The rapid pace has surprised us a little ourselves,“ comments Ludwig.
Creating new capacities
The order situation also meant more work. In 2015 alone, 31 additional jobs were created. However, this increase in personnel was not the only measure taken by the management and shareholders to provide new capacity. The machinery was also expanded. An additional folding machine, which was customised to the company's requirements together with a machine manufacturer, is intended to cover additional volumes. In addition, three even more modern and efficient printing presses, two sheet-fed and one web-fed, replaced older equipment. A new machine was also purchased for the finishing department. The entire Investment amount amounted to EUR 4 million.
„This enables us to offer the market attractive delivery times and additional technical options,“ says the Managing Director of Technology.
In addition, a new two-storey building with a floor area of 2,500 m² is planned at the headquarters in Melsungen, which will provide even more space for flexibility and growth from 2017. The building will cost around 10 million euros. A new, additional building with a production area of 3,400 m² was recently inaugurated in 2011. It will help both to expand current capacities and to incorporate new technologies, such as electronic labels, into the production programme.
Recognising the need
In times when labels and packaging often become mass-produced goods, it is difficult to generate continuous profits. Faubel has succeeded in doing this over the years because the company has always recognised the needs of the market at an early stage. This intuition first came to fruition after the beginning of the 1980s. The pharmaceutical industry needed user-friendly and consistent labelling directly on the product.
In 1986, Faubel built a production hall exclusively for the production of labels. In order to fulfil the complex requirements of the customers, a Quality management system in accordance with DIN EN ISO 9001 and the GMP guidelines. The more familiar the company became with the needs of this industry, the more specialised the portfolio became.
With the internationalisation of clinical trials, the demands placed on the Content of the labelling. The different participating countries required the product information in their own language. Each language can be covered with a label version. This enormous quantity of labels has to be documented, distributed and applied. If the appropriately labelled medication is not available for a country, there are long delays within the study until the bottleneck can be resolved by post-production. Medication that has already been labelled but is no longer required can only be relabelled and reused with just as much effort.
The Faubel-Compact® label
Another option is to incorporate several languages into one label. In 1996, the company applied for a patent at the German and European Patent Office for a booklet label with 24 pages, which is suitable for flat, square and round containers thanks to a special closure area. Frank Ludwig was instrumental in this innovation:
„After a development period of two years, we presented a booklet label with the name Faubel-Compact® Label. Since then, this patent has been valid for Germany and twelve European countries. We were one of the first to produce this combination of an adhesive label and a leaflet.“
In 1998, the secondary packaging was awarded the FINAT, the European labelling association, 1st prize in the group „Innovative labels“. The German Packaging Institute honoured the Compact label as the best innovative label in 1999.
Over the last 20 years, the booklet label has undergone continuous further development: Additional functions such as an integrated bracket for hanging infusion bottles, removable documentation elements and index punching for better orientation have been added. The maximum number of pages was increased from the initial 24 pages to 113 pages. The optimisations were in line with industry demand.
„A new needs analysis revealed that the blinding of clinical trial products offers further potential. In general, this serves to avoid undesirable influences on the study results. The primary packaging either blinds the shape, size, colour, texture, weight, smell and taste of the medication or the secondary packaging takes over this task,“ explains Frank Ludwig.
The full-surface lamination of the shape, size and weight of the primary packaging and the colour of the study preparations is achieved by Faubel's blinding box, which has been an addition to the product portfolio since 2013.
Special services such as the Subsequent printing pre-produced bulk goods with variable data, the so-called Overprinting, or obtaining country-specific approvals such as the Routing are also tailored to the requirements of clinical studies. The fact that demand in this market is not yet exhausted is demonstrated by another innovation from the Melsungen-based company: an electronic label is currently in the test phase, the data on which can be changed.
Convince with „Creative Solutions
But Faubel does not only demonstrate its innovative strength in clinical studies. In 2011, the company was honoured for the CRSF label as a „Selected Location 2011“ in the competition „Germany - Land of Ideas“ honoured. In the same year, the Melsungen-based company was one of the finalists in the „Hessen Champions“ competition in the Innovation category. The CRSF label („child resistant“ and „senior friendly“) is used for tablet blisters and protects small children from accidental ingestion. Senior citizens can still open it easily. The CRSF label fulfils the highest safety standards: it is certified in accordance with EU standard DIN EN 14375 and US standard US 16 CFR § 1700.20.
The extensive expertise and modern machinery that emerged thanks to the specialisation in unusual labels served to establish the new business unit in 2014 Faubel Creative Solutions. Under the umbrella of Faubel & Co. Nachfolger GmbH and the brand message „Faubel - More than just labels“ Since then, the business units Faubel Pharma Services and Faubel Creative Solutions have been united.
In the Creative Solutions business unit, the company's now over 200 employees produce labels, tags and cards that combine information with versatile marketing tools. The wide variety of communication media, such as post seed® or the carry label, support product launches and dialogue marketing, among other things.
„Our products are ideal as mailing boosters and can be used optimally as a medium for Cross-selling concepts “, explains Ludwig and looks to the future with optimism. „I see growth potential for both business units and therefore nothing stands in the way of Faubel's next 160 years.“
