The project led by io is gaining international recognition.
Heidelberg, May 14, 2025.
An owner-managed family business, Erbe Elektromedizin GmbH from Tübingen is now in its fifth generation of developing, producing and selling surgical systems for use in a range of medical fields. Over the course of its 170-plus year history, the company has developed from a small traditional family business into a successful international group with over 2,100 employees operating in 110 countries worldwide boasting a global network of supply, production, sales and service locations.
Erbe decided more than six years ago to build a new, modern production facility in Rangendingen, Baden-Württemberg in furtherance of its continuous growth and excellence strategy. They entrusted the experts of io-consultants GmbH & Co. KG with the general planning from concept to realization. As part of the ISPE Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) 2025, io and Erbe have now been recognized for a project that is both unique and pioneering in many areas, and are the proud Category Winners of the Facility of the Year Award.
The ambitious “erbe 4.i – we are evolving” project was launched in October 2019 following an extensive planning phase between April and July 2019. The objective was to construct a building complex with a total area of 25,000 m². In addition to a 2,400 m² production facility, the planning included areas and facilities for product development, logistics and administration as well as social rooms and a modern company catering facility complete with a production kitchen large enough to provide for 500 employees.
In early May 2024, Erbe introduced to the public one of the first German industrial buildings to meet the stringent KfW Energy Efficiency Standard 40 requirements. This standard certifies that it consumes 60 percent less primary energy than comparable buildings. A special challenge was that the Rangendingen site had to offer a class ISO 8 cleanroom compliant with DIN EN ISO 14644-1 in a building complex that was constructed primarily from wood and wood-based materials. The building follows an overarching sustainability strategy. As well as the resource-conserving, single-origin construction method using renewable raw materials, its power supply comes from 2,800 photovoltaic modules with an combined output of around one megawatt. Any demand exceeding the annual consumption is supplied through a biogas powered combined heat and power plant. Besides setting new standards for sustainable construction with innovative construction methods and environmentally friendly materials, Erbe and io provided clear evidence of the economic viability of the new center of excellence while significantly reducing annual operating costs.
Special attention was also paid to logistics. An AutoStore small parts warehouse handles the majority of customer orders and internal production replenishment. The company’s continuing central growth strategy had already been taken into account during the planning phase, and flexible expandability of the storage system was planned in.
In January 2025, the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) shortlisted the project, which will save 400 tonnes of CO2 per year with a total investment of €90 million, as a finalist in the “Innovation” and “Social Impact” categories of this year’s Facility of the Year Award (FOYA). The award in the special category "Honorable Mention" is a particular distinction. The “Honorable Mention” is awarded outside of the main competition – where participants submit their applications in individual categories. Each year it independently recognizes a particularly successful project that has managed to overcome significant challenges in planning, execution and implementation.
"This special award rewards and recognizes us all the more for our work,” explains Florian Heimerl, io Partner and Project Manager. “The project fully merits the attention associated with the ‘Honorable Mention’ and demonstrates how, with the necessary determination and expertise, ambitious sustainability goals can be achieved and combined with maximum efficiency, performance and the highest quality standards.”
