Südpack breaks ground on new pharmaceutical packaging facility in Germany

Südpack announced that it has started construction of an expansion in Germany meant to boost production of its sustainable pharmaceutical packaging solutions, which is described as a major milestone in the history of the family-owned company.

The construction project is on the grounds of Südpack’s current logistics center in Erolzheim and will include new production facilities for PharmaGuard, the company’s award-winning blister concept developed by Südpack Medica for solid applications.

Based on a polypropylene mono-material, PharmaGuard provides a recyclable alternative to conventional non-recyclable blister packs and — due to increasing demand for the product — the current production capacity at the company’s main site in Ochsenhausen will no longer be sufficient in the long term, according to by Südpack. The expansion will also include a unit for the regranulation of production-related plastic waste.

“Our forward-looking packaging concept already meets the future sustainability requirements of the global pharmaceutical industry — as well as those outlined in the PPWR,” Johannes Remmele and Carolin Grimbacher, second-generation leaders of the family-owned Südpack company, said in a statement. “As a recyclable mono-material, it offers a significantly reduced climate impact (in CO2 equivalents) compared to laminates made from aluminum and PET.”

The project’s first phase will include converting an existing hall into an ISO 7-certified cleanroom for GMP-compliant production, housing a new extrusion line and slitting machine. A new building extension is designed to house technical infrastructure, including the regranulation unit.

Südpack expects construction to be completed by June 2026, with installation of the production equipment to follow within months. Commissioning and start-up are slated for the third quarter of 2027.