SIGMA Process & Automation GmbH

Press Release 07.07.2022

ZETA & SIGMA: Concentrated automation expertise for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry 

Comprehensive automation solutions ensure the reliable supply of essential active ingredients and medicines to the market in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. The ZETA Group has established itself as an expert for customer-specific automation solutions and agile and innovative project management methods in the global market. ZETA's market position is further expanded and its product and service portfolio for customers is strengthened with a stake in the automation specialist SIGMA. 

The cooperation between ZETA and SIGMA is based on trusting cooperation resulting from a large number of successfully implemented projects. A new chapter is now being added to this success story: With ZETA's majority stake in SIGMA, their course together is being set in the direction of becoming innovation drivers in the field of automation. 

Thanks to this intensified partnership, customers benefit from a future-oriented automation portfolio, a comprehensively expanded service network and short response times. “The message to the market is clear: In the field of customer-specific automation solutions, from individual user control to extensive process control systems, there is nothing better than ZETA and SIGMA," explain the three Managing Directors Gerald Dollberger, Jochen Hasselbach and Martin Spinnler in unison. 

GMP conformity in focus 

Since 2001, SIGMA has been offering automation solutions that are perfectly adapted to the requirements of its international customer base. Its GMP-compliant project management efficiently implements project plans. “We develop and implement software and hardware solutions from basic planning to qualified handover to our customers. We structure the automation software according to ISA S88, for example, with common process control systems, including recipe and route control, for maximum flexibility, scalability and availability," explains Martin Spinnler proudly. 

ZETA as a system integrator 

ZETA is active worldwide as an engineering specialist. Thanks to integrated plant construction, end-to-end solutions can be offered and developed. Offerings for the international pharmaceutical and biotech industry are completed through vertical system integration of customer-specific automation concepts. The number of interfaces between the customer and the executing company can be significantly reduced with this integrated solution chain, since the process know-how and the software programming come from a single source. This approach enables the implementation of ultra-fast-track projects, which are essential for the market supply of essential active ingredients. ZETA offers integrative solutions for all software platforms currently on the market. "We have extensive expertise with systems from Emerson, Honeywell, Rockwell and Siemens, but we also offer solutions for any other platform used by our customers," says Gerald Dollberger, underlining the agility of his team. 

The combined expertise of ZETA and SIGMA is now available to all customers. The two companies can draw on a strong network of over 220 automation experts. In Germany, the concentrated automation competence can be found at 9 locations in the immediate vicinity of important industrial centers. "Together, we offer a perfect network and are immediately available to our customers with our comprehensive solutions," emphasize the three managing directors in conclusion.

About ZETA

The ZETA Group, with 1200 highly qualified employees and 27 subsidiaries worldwide, specializes in planning, automation, digitalization and qualification of customized biopharmaceutical facilities for aseptic process solutions. ZETA acts as a one-stop shop, combining plant engineering with HVAC and cleanroom design.
Biopharmaceutical active ingredients, such as anti-cancer drugs, insulin, vaccines and infusions are produced in these highly complex, "tailor-made" facilities. ZETA supports its customers along the entire drug development and manufacturing pathway with sophisticated solutions from laboratory to industrial production scale. Through its Smart Engineering Services, ZETA creates digital twins of process plants and has thus established itself as a market leader for digital solutions in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.
ZETA is also actively taking steps towards a more sustainable future for the industry as a whole: through ZETA's decarbonization strategies, emissions are specifically reduced during the biopharmaceutical manufacturing process.

About SIGMA

SIGMA Process & Automation GmbH offers complex and innovative system solutions that result in more efficiency, safety and sustainability for production processes. Their know-how is valued by long-standing customers worldwide from the fields of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, vaccine development and diagnostics as well as from the chemical industry, in the food & beverage segment and in water and wastewater treatment.
Since 2001, SIGMA has developed into one of the most renowned service providers in the field of industrial process automation. Represented at 7 locations throughout Germany, the team of 100 automation experts provides services in process, engineering and measurement technology, in automation and in manufacturing intelligence.
SIGMA supports its customers with precision and in-depth expertise, from process planning through software engineering and commissioning to qualification of the production systems.