Aesculap commissions its new Cleanroom following collaboration with Schilling Engineering. The 1200 m² facility for the assembly and packaging of sterile surgical instruments and neurosurgical implants is the largest Cleanroom at the Tuttlingen headquarters to date and is already designed for the future.
When you enter the Aesculap AG factory premises, you feel a little like you’ve stepped back in time. In one part of the factory premises, historic buildings with brick facades house state-of-the-art offices and production facilities. The family-owned company was founded in Tuttlingen over 150 years ago and has remained loyal to the location ever since. Aesculap has been part of B. Braun, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of medical technology and pharmaceutical products and services, since 1976. With around 3,400 employees, Aesculap is the largest employer in the city and is aware of its responsibility – this also applies to the architecture of the site. The company is carefully preserving the old building structure. New occupancy concepts have to be developed time and again.
This is now also evident in the premises of the former company canteen. Eating is now absolutely forbidden there. This is because the former canteen is now a state-of-the-art Cleanroom for the final production of sterile surgical instruments and medical technology components. To this end, Aesculap AG invested in the largest and most modern cleanroom facility on the site to date. A controllable environment was created on almost 1200 m², which protects the sensitive products from contamination during production. The cleanroom system achieves ISO class 7 and 8 and is operated with 88 filter fan units, which ensure the entry and circulation of the purest air with ULPA 15 high-performance filters.
Pure production in three shifts
At Cleanroom, employees work in up to three shifts. The employees’ protective clothing must not be removed at any time and must fit properly, jerky and fast movements must be avoided and conversations must be kept to a minimum. All of this serves to reduce the release of particles by staff.
Ralf Ketterer, Segment Manager at Aesculap, is responsible for the smooth running of cleanroom production and knows that, in addition to the technology, the employees are particularly important for safe production: “Often, little attention is paid to the working atmosphere when planning a cleanroom. We deliberately wanted to change this and the feedback from our employees has confirmed this. Everyone feels very comfortable. The room is bright, the space has been used optimally and, above all, it runs extremely quietly.” However, the new facility is not only generously designed, but above all geared towards growth. A possible expansion has already been planned and provided with the necessary connections.
Modular system with expansion options
A long period of planning and conversion work lay ahead of everyone involved before work could even begin on site. To begin with, the rooms were completely gutted and extended. The cleanroom company Schilling Engineering was commissioned with the detailed planning, delivery and construction of the cleanroom. Thanks to the modularity of their self-developed system CleanMediCell(R) the requirements for future extensions can be met without extensive conversion work. Media columns supply the large Cleanroom with connections via the ceilings. In the event of an extension, the connections can be prepared in the walk-on ceilings so that the Cleanroom only needs to be opened briefly, resulting in minimal interruptions to production.
For flexible expansion, the cleanroom walls are double planked so that an extended media supply can also be easily installed via the walls. “We have planned the Cleanroom for the next 10-15 years. About a third of the space is not even needed yet,” explains Ketterer. The modular system of the cleanroom allows for flexibility, “which was very important to us”.
For a Cleanroom of this size, the entry and exit of personnel and materials is also of crucial importance. The personnel airlocks, which are separated by gender, take up 165 m² of space. Various material airlocks, the size of which has even been designed for the transportation of new machines and complete systems, also ensure that the material is brought in safely. The finished parts are then removed via a conveyor belt with automatic lifting doors, which leads to a vertical conveyor shaft. Final packaging takes place one floor below – outside the clean room.
The material airlocks and entrance doors of the bright cleanroom have a special feature. The green LED lighting can be seen from afar, signaling that the system is running smoothly and a door can be opened. If the airlock needs to be rinsed after entering, the room lights up blue; if a door is open, the intelligent lighting turns red. Ketterer is convinced by this function: “It really does make it easier to enter and feed in materials because employees can see from a distance whether the airlock is clear.” “I can even see the green light from other buildings, so I know that everything is OK. It now has a calming effect on me.”
Structure with spacing rules
The cleanroom facility at Aesculap is the largest project to date for the cleanroom specialist from Wutöschingen. Initially tasked with the engineering, the service technicians from the family-run company in southern Baden were able to be assigned exactly according to plan after the contract was awarded and carry out the construction without any delays. The large profile sections had to be brought up to the third floor via the windows using a crane. After several months of intensive installation work, the Cleanroom was handed over ready for operation with the final qualification. Ralf Ketterer is completely satisfied with the entire process: “It’s also important to remember that the construction work, which began in March 2020, coincided exactly with the start of the coronavirus period. However, Schilling’s service technicians adapted flexibly to the new situation at all times and really got stuck in so that the construction could be completed on time,” concludes Ketterer.
