When two decide to join forces, it is by means said that it will be a success. The rough edges of either party first become apparent when contacts are inten­si­fied.

However, when signing the agree­ment in December 2019, the managing direc­tors were confi­dent about the good coop­er­a­tion prospects between Uhlmann Pac-Systeme GmbH & Co. KG and pester pac automa­tion GmbH. The common factors spoke in favor: two family-owned compa­nies, both leading global system suppliers – one for the pack­aging of phar­ma­ceu­tical prod­ucts in blis­ters, bottles, and cartons, the other for end-of-line pack­aging solu­tions. Both with their base in Southern Germany and barely one hour’s drive apart.

 

Pester ticks very much like us.

Ralf Brehm, Senior Design Engi­neer

 

Ralf Brehm, Senior Design Engi­neer at Uhlmann was on board from the start. His comment: “Pester ticks very much like us. They have similar struc­tures and mind­sets. When we talk, it some­times feels as though my thoughts are being read. That makes work enjoy­able and was the case from the very first minute.”

Sizing up prior to the agree­ment

The first minute was back in summer 2019. A small circle of Uhlmann employees trav­eled to Allgäu to visit Pester. Strict secrecy was the order of the day as it was uncer­tain what the outcome would be. In addi­tion to Ralf Brehm, Project Manager Chris­tian Link, Project Assis­tant Stefan Birk-Braun, Torsten Pfalz­graf from Purchasing, Hubert Schmid from Services, Klaus Braig from Sales, and Tobias Schöff­mann, Electrics, attended. After taking stock, the team defined the main features of the joint project and visited the part of the team in Laupheim.

The alliance was then offi­cially sealed in December 2019 by Norbert Rechner (Managing Director, Pester), Roland Rassl (Managing Director, Pester), Tim Slomp (CTO, Uhlmann), Thomas Pester (CEO, Pester), and Michael Mrachacz (CSO, Uhlmann). However, the project team still needed to furnish proof of the real suit­ability of the match. Put in concrete terms, the aim was to develop four new end-of-line pack­aging machines for Uhlmann phar­ma­ceu­tical pack­aging lines within six months – a pace only to be achieved by parties that under­stand each other.

Blind under­standing without orga­ni­za­tional blind­ness

Brehm’s main contacts at Pester were and are Tatjana Akolk, Project Manager Busi­ness Unit Pharma, respon­sible for project activ­i­ties, and Manfred Albrecht, Asso­ciate Tech­nical Director Busi­ness Unit Pharma, in charge of machines. Albrecht also senses the mind-reading feeling: “It is some­times like with twins”, says the deputy tech­nical head from Pester.

 

Commu­ni­ca­tion is really super.

Tatjana Akolk, Project Manager Busi­ness Unit Pharma Pester

 

An impres­sion that Akolk can confirm: “Commu­ni­ca­tion is really super. There are always occa­sional sticking points in such a process. And when one’s oppo­site says: ʻIt would be no different with us’, you sense the under­standing, says Akolk. She left the chem­ical sector to join Pester during the initial phases of the project. This enabled her to promote devel­op­ment of the end-of-line pack­aging machines without having a blink­ered view.

Chal­lenge accepted

Despite the plea­sure of working together, it was an inten­sive time for the cross-company team. Both sides under­stand end-of-line pack­aging machinery and did not have to “rein­vent the wheel”, as Brehm puts it. However, when the “wheel” is supposed to fit two vehi­cles, plenty of work is involved. The four stan­dard machine models needed to be defined, tech­nical data clar­i­fied, and the design coor­di­nated. Price lists had to be prepared, a more intel­li­gent ordering process for customers orga­nized, and processes defined. “All of that went on in addi­tion to normal busi­ness. Work did occa­sion­ally go on into the evening and some­times several phone calls took place in a day”, says Albrecht.

 

Some­times several phone calls took place in a day.

Manfred Albrecht, Asso­ciate Tech­nical Director Busi­ness Unit Pharma Pester

 

The pandemic was an added factor. The first public presen­ta­tion of a machine under the label “Uhlmann powered by pester pac automa­tion” should have taken place at the inter­pack trade show in May 2020. Konstantin Gerbold, Global Product Manager at Uhlmann, explains: “The cancel­la­tion of inter­pack stopped our planned product launch. We had to adjust quickly and we all surpassed ourselves. Even product instruc­tion for sales personnel was orga­nized digi­tally. Good that our colleagues from Marketing quickly came up with a creative solu­tion for virtual sales training. The feed­back from sales colleagues throughout the world was over­whelming.”

 

We all surpassed ourselves.

Konstantin Gerbold, Global Product Manager

 

The coop­er­a­tion holds numerous syner­gies for Sales when it comes to line busi­ness. Gerbold trusts that Uhlmann and Pester sales repre­sen­ta­tives decide mutu­ally in the interest of the customer as to which solu­tion best meets the require­ments. Mario Dalla Torre, Head of Project Manage­ment Busi­ness Unit Pharma at Pester, has a similar view­point and names further bene­fits: “We are stronger together through our network. This is seen in Asia, for example, where the customer wants inte­grated lines. Our coop­er­a­tion enables us to comple­ment each other in many areas.”

 

We are stronger together through our network.

Mario Dalla Torre, Head of Project Manage­ment Busi­ness Unit Pharma Pester

 

The first two customer accep­tance tests have been success­fully completed in the mean­time. “Really it is time to pop the cham­pagne corks”, says Project Manager Tatjana Akolk. If the present trend continues, the team will have plenty of reasons to do so. The team has handled new machine projects amounting to a volume of EUR 5.6 million in the first twelve months of the coop­er­a­tion.

Aspects of good team­work: The end-of-line pack­aging machines “Uhlmann powered by pester pac automa­tion”