The Optima Group closed the 2020 financial year with record figures. The consolidated revenue stood at over €420 million. The workforce increased to over 2,650 last year – also a record figure. To allow the Optima Group to continue to grow, construction work is scheduled for 2021 at the headquarters in Schwaebisch Hall, Germany. The workforce is also expected to grow even larger.
Says Hans Buehler, Managing Director/CEO of the Optima Group: “We are continuing to grow and we have a high backlog of orders.”
The majority of the revenue is generated abroad, with exports accounting for over 85 percent. There are over 2,650 employees working for Optima worldwide, with over 2,300 in Germany and over 1,850 in Schwaebisch Hall. Even during the pandemic, Optima is training an above-average number of young people. Over seven percent of the workforce (over 190) are apprentices and students.
Added Buehler: “Thanks to the encouraging business conditions, we can offer our apprentices and students a good future, and our employees around the world have secure, exciting jobs, and we are constantly on the lookout for skilled professionals worldwide to enable us to continue to expand.”
The pandemic has affected Optima’s operations as well, but the flexibility and adaptability of the staff has enabled the company to make it through the crisis unscathed. Optima is fulfilling its duty of care as an employer in a specific way during the pandemic. The measures taken to protect staff have always been much more thorough-going than those imposed by the authorities. This has been confirmed by the Schwaebisch Hall County Health Department. A Group company agreement that has been in place since 1 January 2020 means all members of staff can work remotely if there are no operational reasons against it. Active use was made of this.
The pandemic is resulting in high utilisation of capacity, especially in the pharmaceutical sector. Alongside filling and closing systems for vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostic test kits, Optima is also supplying systems for manufacturing masks and filters. Since the start of the pandemic, existing systems have been adapted as rapidly as possible for vaccine filling, and new systems have been built, with high levels of commitment from staff. This is how Optima is contributing to increasing vaccine filling capacity as quickly as possible, so making a significant contribution to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual machine acceptances and numerous digital services means that Optima can ensure that systems are delivered on time, and is able to provide customers with the best possible support. In other market segments too, strong shifts in demand caused by the pandemic are positively impacting Optima’s business. Optima Consumer also has a high backlog of orders. This is where filling and packaging machines for consumer goods are produced. For more visit optima-packaging.com
