For the Variocool process thermostats, LAUDA DR. R. WOBSER GMBH & CO. KG, one of the market leaders for temperature control equipment and systems, has received a major order. The German subsidiary of a major US company operating globally in the biopharmaceutical sector has ordered a total of 76 units, including accessories, to be used together with its equipment for Covid 19 vaccine production. The different models have a cooling capacity between 2 and 10 kW.
These process thermostats are factory certified to CE and NRTL, meeting certifications required in both Europe and North America. The company has redesigned these flexible-use units and launched them in November 2020. Among other features, the process thermostats are bifrequency and multi-voltage capable. This means that they can be easily commissioned at another location if production is relocated, and also facilitates the customer’s project planning.
The ordered process thermostats will be delivered to the customer by the end of April 2021. The customer uses the LAUDA devices to control the temperature of mixers and single-use bioreactors, which are used to produce vaccines against Covid-19. Cell cultures grow in the reactors, which range in size from 200 to 2,000 liters, at temperatures between 4 and 37 °C. The process thermostats are capable of keeping the temperature stable within an extremely narrow tolerance range of ±0.1 K.
Due to the high demand, the production capacity for the process thermostats was already significantly increased last year and thus the delivery date could be met on time. Even before the major order, LAUDA had worked closely with the customer for the products for several years, explains Sales Specialist OEM, Tobias Henning, who is responsible for supporting OEM customers in the bioprocessing sector. The OEM business unit supports customers in the development of complete systems, among other things, by establishing standards with the respective development teams, which are later integrated into the OEM customers’ product configurator. This also provides them with support for documentation, calculations and similar tasks. In some cases, the OEM business unit even develops equipment specifically on behalf of the customer.
“We are registering a high level of satisfaction with the Group on the market and want to further expand specific customer development on the basis of this trust.”
- Thorsten Eilers, Business Manager
