Binder simulation of biological, chemical and physical environmental conditions

Quality is one of the most important factors for customers when establishing confidence in a company. This is why product safety has top priority in manufacturing, and in the Life Sciences sector it is an absolutely vital element in the production of drugs. Increasingly higher standards require researchers and developers to have extensive know-how, and especially a sense of responsibility. Before a product is released for sale, it has to be tested in a climatic environment that resembles natural conditions as closely as possible - optimally in an environmental test chamber made by BINDER.

BINDER, with its head office in Tuttlingen, is the international leader in its industry and one of the pioneers in developing simulation chambers. Its products are proven in the field, and can be found in numerous laboratories around the world. BINDER's Life Sciences division supplies products to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and food industries, as well as research institutes. BINDER test chambers are used by the pharmaceutical industry to test the shelf life of medicines under various climatic and lighting circumstances. These chambers can simulate a vast range of environmental situations with controlled humidity, temperature and light, in order to test the resistance of drugs and how these conditions affect their properties. For laboratories working in the medical sciences sector, a high-precision temperature environment is crucial for the storage and incubation of cells. In addition to serving the electronics sector, our industrial applications department also primarily serves customers in the automotive industry. For example, the service life of products and their resistance against environmental influences is tested by simulating a 10-year weathering process for a polymer in a BINDER simulation chamber in just a few days.

Project 2013: a threefold increase in sales
The BINDER company has successfully marketed its products for the last 25 years. The company was founded by its owner, Peter Michael Binder, in 1983. At the beginning of the 90s, BINDER became the industry's technology leader by introducing the highly advanced APT.Line™ software for precision control of its temperature test chambers. In the following years, the company focused on internationalization and experienced double-digit growth. BINDER GmbH currently has 340 employees worldwide and had annual sales of approximately ˆ47 million in 2008.

But even that isn't enough for this ambitious company. Peter M. Binder has set high goals for himself and his employees to reach by 2013. The objective is to achieve sales of ˆ120 million annually with a total of 500 employees. In order to reach this goal, ˆ10+ million will be invested in the company's main facility in Tuttlingen and for additional funding of the new Production and Technology Center (PTC). The first construction phase of the PTC was completed on schedule in 2007, with the final completion and inauguration sometime early in 2009. By that time, the total production area will have doubled. "We operate in an environment of international competition, serving customers who expect high quality, customized solutions and quick delivery. Optimizing our production processes will allow us to significantly increase production while maintaining our strict quality standards, significantly reduce our processing times, and respond with greater speed and flexibility to our customers' needs," says Peter M. Binder.
The Toyota Production System principle has served as a useful model for the company in streamlining its production.

A comprehensive range of advanced technical products
In addition to lean and flexible production structures, the company's strength is based primarily upon its advanced technology and innovation. BINDER GmbH invests more than 10% of its annual sales revenue into research and development. A staff of more than 100 in the Research and Development Center (PTC) are engaged in developing new product innovations and improvements. The increasing complexity of technological interrelationships and the growing interdependency between technical disciplines requires close ongoing cooperation between specialists in different areas. At the PTC, interdisciplinary research teams consisting of mechanical designers, hardware and software specialists, electronics engineers, automation specialists, and product managers are developing new product ideas.

This offers the advantage of combining know-how from throughout the company with product-related information, from engineering to packaging, efficiently and in a timely fashion. This process broadens expertise as well as responsibility for these innovations across many areas of the company.

Binder GmbH focuses on a comprehensive range of highly specialized equipment, known for its quality, which is safe in operation and is user-friendly. For Peter Michael Binder, this focus on innovation within the company represents the most significant distinction between BINDER and its competitors, as well as the basis for its successful positioning as a market leader. He explains that "in contrast to manufacturers who offer a full range of products, we prefer to focus on highly specialized precision products. This is in fact precisely the secret of our success. As a medium-sized company, we are far more flexible and can respond much faster than our competitors, who are often inhibited by complex corporate structures. We don't need complicated discussions and synchronization between the various levels within a hierarchy."

Tuttlingen, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow and New York
Our future growth will also be achieved by deploying internal resources and using our technological expertise in creating superior new products. The most important growth engine for BINDER continues to be its business abroad, particularly the markets in Asia and the USA.

BINDER earns roughly 80% of its operating revenue through export. Central and Southern Europe are serviced and supported from BINDER headquarters in Tuttlingen, and the markets in the USA and in Asia are looked after by the subsidiaries BINDER Inc. (New York) and BINDER Sdn. Bhd. (Kuala Lumpur); sales offices in Wolverhampton and Moscow are responsible for Northern and Eastern Europe, respectively. BINDER backs up its technological market leadership with a multifaceted service portfolio. It offers a calibration service in compliance with relevant international standards and specifications, as well as product training, convenient software for recording measured data acquisition, and a 24-hour replacement parts supply service. "We are proud of our ability to make the impossible possible. Our strengths are particularly evident when it comes to complex and demanding tasks," says Peter M. Binder in describing his company philosophy.