OPTIMA
Anniversary year full of highlights

In the course of this, the new hall for the pharmaceutical division was inaugurated in the Solpark industrial estate in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany. The production facility, which is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, represents another milestone for Optima and offers the best conditions for the assembly, commissioning, qualification and acceptance of pharmaceutical filling lines.

Investment at the headquarters in Schwäbisch Hall

"With this investment, we are once again reaffirming our commitment to the Schwäbisch Hall site and confidently creating the conditions for further growth and new jobs, even in turbulent times," says Hans Bühler, managing director of the Optima group of companies. Baden-Württemberg's Minister President Winfried Kretschmann travelled to the celebrations of the company's 100th anniversary to personally see the facilities that are so important in the fight against the corona pandemic. "Companies like Optima are beacons. They take on every challenge, reinvent themselves again and again and still put their heart and soul into their work - and have done so for 100 years. In the transformation processes that are profoundly shaping our economy, in digitalisation and in the topic of sustainability, they have taken the reins of action and thus strengthen Baden-Württemberg as a location for innovative companies," said the Minister President in his address.

The consumer business segment has also received numerous large orders in 2022, which require a lot of space for the complex facilities. Additional space has been rented for this purpose, including the former solar factory in Schwäbisch Hall's Solpark industrial estate. In order to be able to process a historically large order in the food sector with several filling and packaging lines, Optima has extensively renovated the building and created optimal working conditions.

Expansion of service presence in North America

Optima is also expanding its worldwide service presence. One example of this is Optima Pharma's new service hub, which was opened in the middle of this year in Raleigh, North Carolina. On site, the company offers comprehensive services, the sale of equipment and spare parts, as well as extensive training opportunities. With these measures, Optima offers customers even faster and better support, both remotely and directly on site.

As part of the company's 100th anniversary, the sustainability strategy "We care for tomorrow" was published in mid-2022, which is based on three pillars: to develop honest packaging for a functioning circular economy together with customers, to produce efficiently and conserve resources through sustainable machinery and equipment, and to become holistically excellent in the areas of environment, social affairs and corporate governance. In addition, Optima has entered into a strategic partnership with the company Weyhmüller – for the more sustainable development and production of packaging. This enables Optima to offer its customers complete solutions for more sustainable packaging of products.

This commitment in total was awarded the silver medal by the EcoVadis rating agency at the end of 2022. The group of companies is thus among the best 25 percent of the companies assessed by EcoVadis. The areas evaluated were the environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. Optima's sustainability strategy is assessed annually by EcoVadis in order to identify new potential and further advance existing activities.

Further development of fuel cell manufacturing technology

Optima 2022 also invested boldly in research and development and launched innovative solutions. This year, research continued into the automated production of fuel cells. This also makes Optima a provider of complete solutions for fuel cell manufacturing. In the wake of climate change, hydrogen-powered fuel cells are seen as the climate-neutral drive technology of the future. The state of Baden-Württemberg is funding the construction of a new test facility in Schwäbisch Hall with funds from the "Hydrogen BW Future Programme". Baden-Württemberg wants to become a pioneer in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

In many respects, there is currently and more than ever talk of a turning point in time that challenges the entire economy and society. "What matters now is that we continue to shape the future together. Be it with regard to new markets, topics such as digitalisation and sustainability, or our valuable and trusting cooperation with our customers and in the entire Optima family. Globalisation, with all its opportunities and risks, continues to be in a constant state of flux. Many things that were previously taken for granted are beginning to falter and we are becoming aware that everything that happens in this world has diverse effects on every individual. Together, we will continue to do everything we can to shape Optima's future in a flexible, innovative and secure way," says Hans Bühler.

www.100-years-of-future.com