This could be the biggest investment in the company’s history. Above all, however, the extension of the clean room extrusion facility at Bischof+Klein Lengerich is a prime example of excellence in planning, cooperation, and know-how.

Everything proceeded according to schedule, from the excavation work for the foundation slab in September 2023 to the first customer orders on the new lines in April 2025. It will presumably take until the end of the year until the final customers have issued their approval following their own validation runs. Nowhere are our packaging and films produced in a more strictly controlled environment than in the class 5 clean room in accordance with DIN EN ISO 14644. 

At a concluding meeting in April, the companies involved praised the outstanding cooperation and good organization. Holger Schnelle, head of plant 1 and facility management, returns the praise: “We were able to rely one hundred percent on all partner companies.” He expressly thanks all employees at Bischof+Klein for their commitment. He mentions Meik Litterscheid (facility management – structural engineering project management), Christoph Blom (measurement technology), Waldemar Ufelmann (head of CleanFlex extrusion), Helmuth Biedenkap (plant 1 maintenance), André Engel (supply technology), and Elke Renze (plant 1 quality assurance) by name.

Thanks also go to all those for whom the construction site caused disruptions in their work processes because, for instance, they had to take detours on foot and in vehicles for a number of months.

By no means least, this major project also involved a large portion of luck: Construction work in existing structures has led to nasty surprises for many a client. Meik Litterscheid therefore followed the excavation work for the new foundation slab anxiously in September 2023. Finally, he was able to breathe a sigh of relief. The only thing slumbering beneath the concrete was some machine scrap from the previous century.

Timeline:

• September 2023 – Foundation slab
• January 2024 – Structural steelwork, outer shell, and technical building equipment
• February 2024 – Clean room construction
• Dead on schedule on October 8, 2024 – First extrusion system inserted over the roof
• December 2024 – First line commissioned
• January 2025 – Second line commissioned
• February 2025 – Building acceptance by the regional authority
• February 2025 – Several cleaning runs by specialist company
• February 2025 – Microbiological monitoring
• End of February 2025 – Acceptance in accordance with DIN EN ISO 14644
• March 2025 - Internal validation of the machines
• April 2025 – First customer orders
• By the end of the year: all products on the new lines.