Huge amount of the sterile rubber stoppers, which seal COVID-19 high-purity vaccine vial, are being manufactured on special presses designed by WICKERT Hydraulic Presses, a family-owned German engineering firm.

In spring 2020, suppliers of the international pharmaceutical industry awarded WICKERT with a big order of these stopper presses. The task: enable the manufacture of billions of vaccine vials within only a few months lead time. WICKERT's press WKP 10.000 S is capable of turning out 2,000 rubber stoppers per single press stroke.

WICKERT's press is used for manufacturing sterile rubber stoppers.

In order to cut delivery time, WICKERT has been manufacturing the presses at an accelerated speed in recent months, and the first eight press units were airlifted to their world-wide customers using the world's largest airplane Antonov. Meanwhile, all eight units are manufacturing rubber stoppers at full capacity.

Delivery time reduced from ten to six months

WICKERT claims to be global market leader for clean-room and pharmaceutical presses. At present, the company assembles several more pharmaceutical presses under high time pressure in order to help satisfy the enormous immediate demand for rubber vaccine vial stoppers.

Demand for rubber vaccine vial stoppers is high.

“Our presses are essential for bottling the vaccine. This is why our employees are highly committed to helping getting the vaccine properly sealed and delivered to the public as fast as possible. Our specialist teams have been working extra weekend-shifts to speed up delivery of our desperately needed presses,” said Hans Joachim Wickert, managing director and owner.

WICKERT helps their customers manufacture the life-saving vaccine and make it available to the public as quickly as possible by speeding up its internal production processes, reducing delivery time to six months, down from ten. Airlifting the 45-ton presses instead of standard boat shipping yielded another 25 days delivery time gain.

The delivery time was shortened to six months.

WICKERT pharmaceutical presses work under clean-room conditions, subject to very strict cleanliness requirements. Hans J. Wickert remarked, "Any particle as small as 3.0 micrometers (0.003 millimeters) is considered a contamination."

Rubber stoppers for vaccine vials require government approval as they must have specific properties in order to reliably seal billions of vials. They are required to seal the vaccine at extremely high ambient temperatures as well as at very low temperatures.

Huge amount of the sterile rubber stoppers, which seal COVID-19 high-purity vaccine vial, are being manufactured on special presses designed by WICKERT Hydraulic Presses, a family-owned German engineering firm.

In spring 2020, suppliers of the international pharmaceutical industry awarded WICKERT with a big order of these stopper presses. The task: enable the manufacture of billions of vaccine vials within only a few months lead time. WICKERT's press WKP 10.000 S is capable of turning out 2,000 rubber stoppers per single press stroke.

WICKERT's press is used for manufacturing sterile rubber stoppers.

In order to cut delivery time, WICKERT has been manufacturing the presses at an accelerated speed in recent months, and the first eight press units were airlifted to their world-wide customers using the world's largest airplane Antonov. Meanwhile, all eight units are manufacturing rubber stoppers at full capacity.

Delivery time reduced from ten to six months

WICKERT claims to be global market leader for clean-room and pharmaceutical presses. At present, the company assembles several more pharmaceutical presses under high time pressure in order to help satisfy the enormous immediate demand for rubber vaccine vial stoppers.

Demand for rubber vaccine vial stoppers is high.

“Our presses are essential for bottling the vaccine. This is why our employees are highly committed to helping getting the vaccine properly sealed and delivered to the public as fast as possible. Our specialist teams have been working extra weekend-shifts to speed up delivery of our desperately needed presses,” said Hans Joachim Wickert, managing director and owner.

WICKERT helps their customers manufacture the life-saving vaccine and make it available to the public as quickly as possible by speeding up its internal production processes, reducing delivery time to six months, down from ten. Airlifting the 45-ton presses instead of standard boat shipping yielded another 25 days delivery time gain.

The delivery time was shortened to six months.

WICKERT pharmaceutical presses work under clean-room conditions, subject to very strict cleanliness requirements. Hans J. Wickert remarked, "Any particle as small as 3.0 micrometers (0.003 millimeters) is considered a contamination."

Rubber stoppers for vaccine vials require government approval as they must have specific properties in order to reliably seal billions of vials. They are required to seal the vaccine at extremely high ambient temperatures as well as at very low temperatures.