Author: Henrieke Neitzel

BGS is innovative through research: For our activities and investments in research and development, we have received the official seal “Innovative through Research” from the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft e.V. (Donors’ Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany).

In collaboration with universities, leading research institutes as well as in close cooperation with our customers, we work continually on the development of new irradiation applications and the improvement of existing products through applied and experimental research. The focus of our activities at present is the development of new, crosslinkable materials, alternative crosslinking aids and solutions for the sustainability of radiation-crosslinked parts and components. As part of the German innovation network ZIM (Central Innovation Programme) MED-IG-4.0, we are additionally working to further accelerate the progress of the Internet of Things in the medical sector. For example, we analyse together with 22 other medium-sized enterprises the need for intelligent products and systems from thermoplastic materials, we develop new products and improve existing solutions. We have been honoured now for the first time with the seal “Innovative through Research” for our achievements in the area of research and development.

By means of applied research and experimental development, we shall continue to work in the future on new materials, products and new applications in irradiation technology at our locations in Wiehl, Bruchsal and Saal a.d. Donau, amongst other things, for medical technology, biotechnology and the automotive industry. Annual investments are planned in the mid-six digit range.

About Stifterverband

Stifterverband is one of the largest private promoters in Germany in the field of education, science and innovation. Apart from its commitment to young academics, excellent universities and cutting-edge research, its task is also to analyse and evaluate the German research and innovation system. How much does the economy invest in research and development in Germany? What impact does this have on the future viability of this country? These questions are the focus of  a survey, FuE-Erhebung, which the German Stifterverband (Science Statistics) carries out annually on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

For more details, please refer to: www.stifterverband.org/forschungssiegel

Optimised logistics processes, better predictability and less waiting time for freight forwarders: On 1 February 2022, BGS will introduce online-based time slot planning for goods deliveries and collections at the Saal site. The introduction was preceded by a test phase of several months with six freight forwarders.

“Cargoclix’s time slot management has completely convinced us and the cooperating haulage companies,” says Robert Heinrich, head of the BGS site in Saal. “The advantages of this time slot management for the receipt and collection of goods are obvious. Everyone involved benefits from better predictability of loading and unloading, an increase in loading performance and transparency concerning free capacities. The new system can reduce waiting times for hauliers by several hours in the future – this is a key advantage for hauliers, but of course also an economic aspect for customers, who usually have to pay for standing times.”

The reservation of appointments for deliveries and collections will be available to BGS customers of the Saal site from 1 February. “Haulage companies that do not book a time slot will have to wait for free capacity and may have to allow for longer waiting times – booked appointments have priority,” said Heinrich. Booking appointments is preceded by setting up an account. This only takes a few minutes and is explained clearly by the provider.

The introduction of the time slot management system via Cargoclix is initially limited to the Saal location. An expansion to the logistics of the Wiehl and Bruchsal locations is currently being examined.

Wiehl, 29 July 2021 – BGS, a specialised provider in the area of radiation sterilization and crosslinking, is turning 40: Founded by Dr. Lothar Wiesner in 1981 in Wiehl and a current headcount of more than 190 employees across three locations in Germany, BGS today has co-developed established processes and is a leading service provider in the area of industrial applications of beta and gamma rays.

Starting out with seven employees and two irradiation facilities in Wiehl, the privately owned company established itself as a pioneer in the industry in the 1980s. However, the beginnings were difficult and required perseverance. With the building of its first Cobalt-60 gamma irradiation facility, BGS succeeded in raising more awareness for the technology and in offering radiation sterilization as a service on a large scale. From then on, there has been a growing interest and demand. In particular, the sterilization of medical devices and primary packaging material for food and pharmaceuticals has been in demand. As a specialised supplier in the area of plastics refinement through radiation crosslinking, BGS has also developed over the years into an important service provider for the automotive and mechanical engineering industries as well as for the construction sector. With its expansion to include the locations Bruchsal in 1986 and Saal an der Donau in 2000, the company also established itself in southern Germany. Dr. Andreas Ostrowicki has been Managing Director of BGS since 2008. Ostrowicki, who has a doctorate in chemistry, continues to modernise the company, introducing industrial processes and standards, making BGS an important service provider for customers from 28 countries to date. In 2021 for the third time consecutively, BGS received the TOP 100 Award for its innovative strength and innovation successes, including in the areas of radiation crosslinking, 3D printing, lightweight construction and recycling.

Forty years after its founding, BGS continues to look into the future optimistically. “Future technologies such as lightweight construction require innovative ideas and materials. Through the upgrading of standard polymers, higher resource efficiency is achieved and crosslinked plastics can replace expensive high-performance plastics or heavy metals in certain applications. This not only holds high potential for the automotive industry. In addition, radiation sterilization has proven to be an indispensable technology, particularly in the past year, and is absolutely essential for health protection. Without sterile materials for the biopharmaceutical industry and research, we would not have a vaccine against Covid-19 today,” explains Managing Director Ostrowicki. To meet the high demand, BGS is also investing in the expansion of its capacities this year and is researching new applications for ionising rays with partners from industry and science.

Virtual fair in September
In its anniversary year, the company is hosting the BGS Irradiation Service Days 2021, a virtual fair revolving around the themes radiation sterilization and radiation crosslinking. On 29 und 30 September, experts and users from the industry, the field of research and associations can exchange views on current issues at the fair. Amongst other things, the live presentations in the area of sterilization explain what you require to carry out successful sterilization processes and how to establish efficient back-up solutions to ensure security of supply. In the area of crosslinking, the live programme will elaborate on developing knowledge in the application areas, and discuss the potentials of radiation crosslinking and queries concerning materials, also in connection with additive manufacturing. Participation in the event is free of charge; further information will soon be available on the company’s website.

With Sarah Haufe, BGS has a new manager for quality assurance since mid-April. The engineer and trained quality auditor comes from Biovegan GmbH, where she was most recently responsible for quality management and the areas of production and storage as a member of the management board. At BGS, Sarah Haufe is in charge of quality assurance in the business areas of radiation sterilization and radiation crosslinking.

As head of quality assurance at BGS, Sarah Haufe works closely with all business divisions and is responsible for carrying out and monitoring external and internal quality management audits. She heads the department of quality management at the different locations and is responsible for all employees from the test laboratories, quality assurance and management departments at the company’s headquarters in Wiehl, as well as the sites in Bruchsal and Saal an der Donau.

“We are pleased to have been able to recruit Sarah Haufe, an experienced leader and quality manager,” said Managing Director of BGS, Dr. Andreas Ostrowicki. “We shall continue to develop the stringent quality system at BGS together with Ms. Haufe with respect to regulatory requirements and standards as well as the needs of our customers.”

“The creative opportunities and challenges at BGS as a strongly growing company are very appealing to me. As head of quality assurance, I am looking forward to being part of this development and continuously optimising the existing business processes in direct cooperation with the management,” says Sarah Haufe.

Quality assurance and certifications at BGS

BGS has a stringent and sophisticated quality system that is being consistently enhanced. The quality management system of our company is certified pursuant to the standards ISO 9001, DIN EN ISO 13485 and EN ISO 11137. In addition, BGS is registered with the FDA and has the JAPAN PAL certificate for all three locations, which is a prerequisite for the approval of medical devices in Japan.

Further information at: https://en.bgs.eu/services/quality-certifications/

BGS continues to expand: Following around ten months of construction, we have now taken a new logistics hall into operation at the Bruchsal location and with this addition, more than doubled the previous space.

The market for in-vitro diagnostics, laboratory supplies and medical devices is growing and for several years now, it has ensured a steadily rising demand for sterilization capacities. In addition to the gamma irradiation facility at the headquarters in Wiehl (North Rhine-Westphalia), BGS has been operating a new, ultra-modern plant at the location in Bruchsal since 2018 to manage these growing capacities. Its activity has increased continuously since then. “Of course, the increased output requires more logistics space, which led us to start the planning of a new storage hall on the existing premises of the company grounds already at the end of 2019,” explains Managing Director Dr. Andreas Ostrowicki. The start of construction of the new building in April 2020 was preceded by extensive demolition works of the old building as well as earthworks.

Further increase in expendable medical items during the corona pandemic

“Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, the need for laboratory consumables and primary packaging material for the pharmaceutical industry has risen significantly once again, and correspondingly, the need for sterilization capacities,” continues Andreas Ostrowicki. “Similarly, the increased demand for single-use products required for the production of corona vaccines is clearly evident. Through the construction of the new hall, we have created urgently needed storage space to cater to the further expansion of these capacities. Furthermore, the expansion allows an even more efficient handling of the flow of goods, while ensuring that regulatory requirements are fulfilled, for example, the separation of non-irradiated and irradiated products.”

Wiehl, 23 March 2021 – BGS Beta-Gamma-Service GmbH & Co. KG continues its expansion: In particular, the pandemic-related rise in demand for sterilization capacities for biotechnological products and pharmaceutical primary packaging material ensured sound revenue increases. Only last year in 2020 did BGS invest eleven million euros in the expansion of its facilities and locations. This year sees further investments in the mid-seven-digit range.

Health protection through sterile products: With the sterilization, for example, of medical disposables such as catheters or laboratory consumables, BGS provides a systemically relevant service not only in the pandemic. “Sterilization with rays is generally an indispensable method of producing sterile products for health care. In the past year, we were also able to record a significant surge in demand for biotechnology products, consumables for laboratories and primary packaging materials for the pharmaceutical industry,” explains Managing Director of BGS, Dr. Andreas Ostrowicki.

In addition, the stable development in the construction industry resulted in a slight increase of sales in the other business division, namely radiation crosslinking of plastics: “With the help of radiation crosslinking of tube and rod products to name a couple of examples, we ensure the usage properties of systems implemented in new buildings or renovation projects,” declares Ostrowicki. The high degree of material stability of crosslinked plastics is especially relevant for lightweight construction in the field of electromobility. BGS expects an increasing demand this year for radiation crosslinked components in the automotive industry.

Investments in expansion of capacities

In order to cater to the increased demand especially in the area of sterilization, BGS invested in the expansion of its capacities last year. “Our goal is to ensure long-term supply for our customers in the future. With this in mind, we have invested approximately eleven million euros in the expansion of our facilities and locations,” explains Managing Director Ostrowicki.

For the third time in succession, BGS has secured its position among the best in the TOP 100 innovation challenge. In the scientific selection procedure, our company was able to convince the jury in the size class B (51 – 200 employees), especially in the categories “Innovation-friendly senior management” and “Outward looking/Open innovation”. Among other things, it was our high degree of flexibility in dealing with the corona crisis in the business segment radiation sterilization that was decisive; in the business segment of radiation crosslinking, we were able to score particularly well with our numerous development projects in the areas of 3D printing, lightweight construction and recycling.

In the independent selection procedure, the innovation researchers based their choice on 120 assessment criteria from five categories. “Repeat winners” must have demonstrably improved in the process. “We at BGS are expanding and we are pleased that our willingness to invest in the expansion at our locations as well as our continuous commitment to digital advancement were among the decisive factors taken into account in the assessment,” commented BGS Managing Director Dr. Andreas Ostrowicki on the award.

Business segment radiation sterilization: High degree of flexibility in the corona pandemic

Due to the current situation, this round also featured a special section examining the entrepreneurial response to the corona crisis. “Our service, radiation sterilization, plays a major role in modern health care. Our technology is indispensable in pandemic times since it is an important building block in the production of vaccines – for example, we sterilize the disposable bioreactors in which vaccines against Covid-19 are produced. In this respect, we swiftly created capacities and switched production so that corresponding products could be treated with priority,” Ostrowicki continues.

The corona crisis, in particular, has demanded special flexibility and solutions for existing processes from the medium-sized company, in part due to massive entry and exit restrictions. “When we recharged the sources for our gamma facilities in Wiehl and Bruchsal in March and October 2020, we were not able to fall back on our partners abroad,” explains Ostrowicki. Following intensive negotiations, we were able to win over a domestic partner and successfully solve the issue with the experts and our own employees.”

Business segment radiation crosslinking: Numerous development projects in progress

In the radiation crosslinking business segment, BGS was able to convince decisively with its ongoing research projects, above all in the area of 3D printing. For example, in a project with partners, BGS succeeded for the first time in using radiation crosslinking for 3D-printed plastic components, thus significantly improving the range of material properties.

In the future as well, it will be important to continue exploring the potential of radiation crosslinking. “Whether it involves weight reduction and lightweight construction, dealing with strong electrical currents, batteries or new production processes: The materials used are exposed to high temperatures and have to withstand extreme conditions. Radiation crosslinking can provide solutions for a wide range of applications now and in the future,” explains Ostrowicki. Sustainability is also on the agenda of the TOP 100 innovator. In this respect, BGS collaborates with the Technical University of Berlin, the University of Aalen and the partner nylon polymers on a process for the mechanical recycling of radiation crosslinked thermoplastics; the first results are expected in the course of this year.

About the TOP 100 competition

Since 1993, compamedia GmbH has awarded the TOP 100 seal of approval to small and medium-sized enterprises for outstanding innovative strength and above-average innovation achievements. Professor Dr. Nikolaus Franke has been scientific director since 2002. Dr. Franke is the founder and director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. With 25 research awards and over 200 publications, he is one of the leading innovation researchers in the world. Mentor of TOP 100 is the science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar. Project partners are the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research and the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (BVMW). Two business magazines, “manager magazine” and “impulse”, support the company comparison as media partners. More information and registration at www.top100.de.

According to the DIN EN 556-1 standard, a medical product is claimed sterile if the theoretical probability of finding a viable reproducible germon the product is less than 1:1,000,000. In order to achieve this state, products have to undergo a subsequent sterilization process. Different procedures and technologies are available to this end. Among the most common is sterilization using beta or electron and gamma rays, since this process offers a number of advantages. X-ray sterilization is in the early stages of development. In addition, chemical processes can be used for sterilizing, for example, exposure to ethylene oxide (EO or EtO) or to heat.

What are the similarities and differences between electron and gamma rays? What are the prerequisites for the use of radiation sterilisation and what are the main advantages of the procedure?

You can download the complete article here as a PDF file.

(MED engineering INTERNATIONAL/2021, Author Dipl.-Ing. Annett Heilmann)