Three applications, one solution
Designed for demanding packaging tasks, the FPC5 from Theegarten-Pactec enables precise and efficient primary packaging in tubular bags.
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What began 75 years ago with the manufacture of moulds for the production of suppositories has developed into an internationally successful family business for innovative pharmaceutical packaging solutions. Today, Uhlmann Pac-Systeme and the companies of the Uhlmann Group employ around 2,600 people at the Laupheim site and in 14 subsidiaries worldwide.
Josef Uhlmann founded his company in Laupheim in 1948 at a time characterised by uncertain economic conditions. While the latter is still true today, there were also particular geopolitical challenges at the time, as the Federal Republic of Germany did not even exist yet. Despite all the uncertainties Uhlmann permanently:
From machine manufacturer to leading system provider
Even though the company's first production site in Laupheim was quite modest in size, the minds of the founder and his first employees were full of ideas. An important step for the young and ambitious company was the presentation of the world's first strip packaging machine HS 1956. The HS had its finger on the pulse of the times: it was not only in the pharmaceutical industry that companies were looking for solutions to increase their production volumes through mechanisation and automation. Because with the economic miracle came a Increasing demand for medicines and pharmaceutical products accompanied. But the pharmaceutical industry itself also underwent a transformation: more and more suppliers began to market the active ingredients and medicines they produced themselves as tablets, ready-mixed drops or powders. This meant that pharmacy staff increasingly no longer had to formulate individual active ingredients into customised medicines themselves according to prescriptions, but could instead directly access the pre-packaged medicine from the range.
„75 years of Uhlmann - that also means 75 years of continuous development and change. My grandfather was already driving change. Being open to new ideas and new technologies has been the basis for our growth from the very beginning. For me, this is currently most evident in the area of sustainable packaging solutions, where we are taking our customers“ production services to a sustainable and new level."
Tobias Uhlmann, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Uhlmann Group, is the third generation of his family to manage the company.
This fundamentally changed the requirements placed on the packaging of medicines: on the one hand, the packaging must protect the medicine, but it must also be designed in such a way that medical laypersons can handle it easily. This is how a Growing demand for packaging materials, methods and machines, with which such requirements could be realised. For Uhlmann, this was the starting signal for dynamic growth: the company soon established itself on the market as one of the technologically leading suppliers of pharmaceutical packaging machines, proactively accompanying the changes in the medical and pharmaceutical industry with innovative new and further developments. Today, Uhlmann Pac-Systeme offers The world's leading system provider of flexible total solutions for international pharmaceutical companies, generics manufacturers and contract manufacturers and packagers.
Family business for innovative pharmaceutical packaging solutions
Developing from a small, family-run business into an internationally active group of companies with over 2,600 employees is a remarkable success story. However, constructively shaping and driving such dynamic growth also presents a particular challenge. A challenge that the Uhlmann family has taken up very consciously.
Friedrich Uhlmann takes over his father's company in 1963 and primarily drives forward the technical development and internationalisation of the company. After the death of her husband in 1994, Hedwig Uhlmann successfully continues to run the family business and hands it over to their son Tobias Uhlmann in 2007. Under his management, the product portfolio is expanded and the company's international market leadership is systematically extended.
However, even the best growth strategies are useless without employees who support the further development and growth of the company. From the very beginning, Uhlmann Pac-Systeme's corporate identity has therefore included a relationship with its employees that relies on their skills and abilities, creativity and willingness to perform and supports them in their professional and technical development.
„I have spent my entire professional life at Uhlmann and have seen, experienced and learnt a lot during this time. The company has always given me the opportunity to develop and try out new things. In these 30 years or so, I have never been bored. I think there are very few companies that could have offered me that.“
Klaus Braig, has been with Uhlmann since mid-1987 and is now Director of Sales.
Uhlmann also focuses on innovative and Flexible workplace and working time concepts the focus. The foundations for this new work approach had already been laid before the COVID-19 pandemic: The company is gradually moving away from static workstations and creating a well thought-out spatial concept with zone solutions. It will Liveliness, openness and flexibility at the centre of attention. A modular room design based on the building block principle makes it possible to adapt the working environment to the respective needs - from creative areas for teams to concentrated individual work. This new office world has so far been realised in four projects at the headquarters in Laupheim. In future, all office areas are to be remodelled according to this model.
Designing sustainable processes and products
Even though Josef and Friedrich Uhlmann probably never used the term „sustainability“ in the context of corporate management and strategy, the idea has characterised Uhlmann Pac-Systeme's business model from the very beginning. In 2021, the company developed a concrete sustainability strategy from this entrepreneurial principle. Taking into account regulatory requirements and globally recognised ESG criteria, it determines concrete steps and goals, to ensure that the processes at Uhlmann itself, as well as external processes in which Uhlmann machines and solutions are used, are climate- and resource-friendly.
A key starting point for more sustainable packaging is, of course, the materials used. Here, customers are already being offered the opportunity to switch to solutions that can be easily managed in circular economy processes. Parenteral Tray Centre PTC 200 can also process paper trays, which can be easily recycled by users. However, plastic-based packaging such as blister packs can also be made much more climate-friendly by using the mono-materials polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET), as mono-materials can be recycled much more effectively.
The BLU 200 blister machine, which is already established on the market, can be easily converted for use with PP or PET materials. It enables Flexible packaging of ampoules, vials, bottles, syringes and pens in small and medium batch sizes.
In addition, the longevity of the machines has always been part of the Uhlmann promise to customers. Modernisations and upgrades can also extend the life cycle of Uhlmann machines to well over 20 years. This conserves ecological and financial resources and at the same time supports machine availability.
Digital solutions along the value chain
Uhlmann Pac-Systeme sets new standards with extensive Services and digital solutions industry-wide standards for pharmaceutical processes and optimised product safety. With the digital solution platform Pexcite, Uhlmann 2020 introduced a Modular software solution which networks individual machines, lines or entire systems, stores process-relevant data and parameters and thus creates transparency. This enables centralised production control. The platform can also be expanded with other pharma-specific software modules from Uhlmann Pac-Systeme, such as Track & Trace. Designed to meet current and future regulatory requirements for Identification and traceability of medicinal products, Uhlmann Track & Trace guarantees comprehensive counterfeit, product and process security.
Uhlmann Pac-Systeme GmbH & Co. KG is one of the world's leading system providers for packaging pharmaceuticals in blister packs, bottles and cartons. In addition to its packaging lines, the company, which is part of the Uhlmann Group, offers consulting, project management, comprehensive services and digital solutions from a single source.
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