Topping-out ceremony for the extension to the production building
Nine months after the groundbreaking ceremony for a new production building, Bayer Bitterfeld GmbH (BBG) celebrated the topping-out phase together with the building contractors and guests from the world of politics. "Thanks go to the many different construction trades and all the people involved in erecting the building shell under the supervision of OTTO Life Science Engineering GmbH," said Dr. Frank Wilgmann, CEO of BBG.
The new building consists of two full floors with a height of 6 meters and a penthouse floor for the technical department with a height of 3.5 meters.
The topping-out wreath was raised over the building in the presence of building workers and other guests. The foreman René Hübner acknowledged the work completed so far with a traditional saying and wished the building owner every success.
Frank Wilgmann proudly announced the technical details of the building. It has a volume of more than 17,000 cubic meters and a floor area of 2735 square meters, and this involved processing 1500 cubic meters of concrete. A total of 310 metric tons of steel was used for the structure and the concrete reinforcement. By the time of the topping-out ceremony, 17,000 hours of work by all the construction trades had gone into the building.
The next two milestones after the building has been made weatherproof are the installation of the coater, a plant for surface coating tablets, which is planned for February 2023, and then bringing the entire building into operation.
As a result of the regular inspections and checks of the safety of the building site carried out by the BBG health and safety department, no accidents have so far occurred.
"When the building comes into operation in 2023, we will not only have created the space we need for all our technical equipment, we will also be able to expand our range of products," said Dr. Frank Wilgmann, looking ahead to the company's future.
The new building is another investment in the location that is visible from outside the factory site. In addition, the company makes significant investments every year in technology, in the preparation and transfer of other drugs into production and in IT systems.
Since August 1995, BBG has been producing over-the-counter drugs for self-medication that are sold in more than 50 countries. These drugs include the world-famous medicine Aspirin® in all its dosage forms. In 2018, BBG began manufacturing the prescription drug Xarelto®, which is part of Bayer's portfolio.
About Bayer
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and the planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to driving sustainable development and generating a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal year 2021, the group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of 44.1 billion euros. The group's spending on R&D before special items amounted to 5.3 billion euros. Further information is available on Bayer's website at www.bayer.com/de.