Companies across the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) are some of the most advanced in the cleanroom sector.
The services of this region are world-class, with companies like Exyte and CWS Cleanrooms based here.
These companies are providing innovations not just to their own countries, but to the countries beyond.
Innovation hub
In 2024, Germany opened a first-of-its-kind metal-free €2m cleanroom at TU Bergakademie Freiberg. The public university of technology in Germany created the room to house highly sensitive dating analyses for studying rocks that would be falsified if the samples were exposed to metal in the room.
The furnishings and equipment are made entirely of non-metallic material, with the necessary metal parts encased in synthetic substances.
This is one of very few rooms like it in the world, only 10-15 exist.
In another spectrum, Germany especially, is capitalising on the increased hi-tech production needs.
Companies across the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) are some of the most advanced in the cleanroom sector
Volkswagen picked Exyte to build dry rooms its first ever battery cell gigafactory. Dry rooms are becoming a trend in cleanroom construction due to the increasing need for batteries across the world. This facility is being built in Salzgitter, and will occupy an area of five football fields.
“Designing and constructing a large-scale production area that can consistently provide an atmosphere with close to zero percent relative humidity, among other parameters, is nothing short of an engineering feat and one which Exyte excels at,” said Mark Garvey, President of Exyte’s Global Business Unit Advanced Technology Facilities.
Belgium-based ABN Cleanroom Technology has also completed another hi-tech cleanroom in Aachen, Germany for Black Semiconductor. ABN used one of its most popular plug-and-play modular concepts, ICONIC, for the build. The modular design allows relocation at a later date if the company requires it.
Finland-based Caverion also built an impressive 4,200 sqm €15m electronics cleanroom facility in nine months in Flensburg, Germany.
ENGIE Deutschland is building a highly complex ISO Class 6 cleanroom for laser manufacturer Coherent LaserSystems
In another hi-tech usage, ENGIE Deutschland has announced that it is building a highly complex ISO Class 6 cleanroom solution for laser manufacturer Coherent LaserSystems at its Lübeck site. The over 3,000 sqm cleanroom is due to be completed in December 2024.
The ENGIE team will use its own ceiling elements and filter units, for the construction. At the same with the focus on sustainability in the build, installing a photovoltaic system with an output of 230 kilowatt peak on the roof of the building, will contribute to a completely electricity-based, renewable supply.
Between hi-tech product facility build, novel build usages, and forward-thinking sustainability practices, the DACH region holds many new innovations in the cleanroom sector.
European expansions
The next task, beyond the innovation itself, is getting this innovation to the rest of the globe. The DACH region’s central location also means they are optimally placed geographically to serve many other countries and regions, with optimised costs for clients.
In the last year, this has been evident with lots of companies spreading their operations beyond their own borders.
Particle monitoring equipment expert CCI teamed up with cleanroom consumables firm Gekatex to integrate Gekatex’s innovative manufacturing processes with CCI’s technological expertise for the German and Austrian markets.
These companies are providing innovations not just to their own countries, but to the countries beyond
The full-service provider CWS Cleanrooms with its business unit textiles also opened a new cleanroom laundry in Burghausen, Germany. Thanks to its geographical location, the Burghausen site not only processes cleanroom garments for customers from Germany, but also from Austria and Eastern Europe.
The CEO of Germany-based CWS Cleanrooms, Markus Schad, says this central location actually helps the company’s sustainability efforts. “The geographical proximity to our customers in southern Germany, Austria, and Eastern Europe helps us to save significant amounts of CO2,” the CEO explained.
Fellow Germany-based cleanroom consumables expert, Dastex Reinraumzubehoer has also acquired a company in the hope of spreading across the rest of Europe. The company acquired Arbeidsmiljø og Energiteknikk (AET) in 2024, following its own acquisition by Riverside earlier in the year.
The ENGIE team will use its own ceiling elements and filter units, for the construction
AET is a Norwegian distributor of third-party consumables and equipment. Following the transaction, the company said that the focus will be on increasing commercial and marketing efforts across Norway and further enhancing the group's presence in the Nordics, stimulating commercial synergies and capitalising on cross-selling opportunities.
Another way that the DACH region is offering its expert services is with quality testing. For the pharmaceutical testing sector, in late 2023, ten23 launched a quality control (QC) service offering in Switzerland for release and stability testing of clinical and commercial sterile drug products according to international cGMP standards.
The new quality control division will be set up at two locations of ten23, in Basel and Visp to cater to diverse testing requirements.
Success in Asia
The spread of the DACH region’s innovation doesn’t halt in Europe.
Ziehl-Abegg, a Germany-based manufacturer of electric motors and fans, has confirmed its plans to open a new $28m production facility in Vietnam. This move underscores the company's continuous efforts to expand its production capacities and get closer to its global customer base. The company's customers helped by the move include Vietnam's local manufacturers in HVAC, cleanroom, DC, and refrigeration.
The spread of the DACH region’s innovation doesn’t halt in Europe
Exyte is also winning awards for its overseas projects. The company won the “Industrial Construction” category at the SBR International Business Award for its Siltronic semiconductor fab project in Singapore.
Over 20 football fields in size, the Siltronic project overcame major challenges like the global pandemic and subsequent supply chain constraints during the project implementation.
The global reputation of the DACH region for building and helping to maintain cleanrooms is well earned, and with expertise in both pharmaceutical and hi-tech applications, the region will be key to supporting these industries into exciting futures.
Featured companies
- Companies:
- CCI vK
- Exyte
- Volkswagen Group
- ABN Cleanroom Technology
- Caverion
- GEKATEX
- Ziehl-Abegg
- ten23 health
- TU Bergakademie Freiberg University
