From AGILOX User to System Integrator: Gerresheimer's U.S. Expansion Story

A Global Medical Manufacturer Raises the Bar on Automation

When Gerresheimer set out to expand its Peachtree City, Georgia, facility, with an 18,000 m² (194,000 sqft) extension, the goal wasn’t just more square footage. The medical systems manufacturer, part of a 13,000-employee global group headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, was adding a 5,000 m² (53,800 sqft) ISO-8 production extension and a 7,200 m² (77,500 sqft) ISO-9 cleanroom to support a major pharmaceutical client.. From the first sketches, one decision set this project apart: automation wouldn’t be bolted on later. It would be designed in from day one. It also wasn’t Gerresheimer’s first time betting on AGILOX: facing a growing shortage of skilled intralogistics labor, and backed by its own material flow analysis and ROI calculation, the team chose AGILOX again, weighing the vehicles into the building, conveyor, and material flow design from the earliest planning stages.

Automating a Cleanroom, Entirely In-House

Linking injection molding, the high-bay warehouse, assembly, and shipping into one continuous material flow is never simple. Doing it across more than 325 storage locations, inside a cleanroom, while feeding assembly lines directly, raises the difficulty further still. What made this project a milestone for us at AGILOX, though, was who was doing the integrating: for the first time, Gerresheimer took on the AGILOX deployment using only its own internal team, from layout design through commissioning.

Open APIs Turn a Customer Into an Integrator

This is the part of the story we’re proudest of, because it’s not really about our vehicles. It’s about what happens when a platform is genuinely open. Building on a successful five-vehicle pilot at their European site, Gerresheimer’s team handled layout design, station programming, and commissioning of five AGILOX ONE vehicles, two in the extension and three in the new building, on their own, with very minimal input from the AGILOX team. During planning, Gerresheimer worked closely with its own pharmaceutical clients to design the conveyor system and line geometry, ensuring the vehicles, with their scissor lifts, could drive directly into the assembly lines, exchanging signals automatically so empty trays arrive and finished goods leave without manual intervention. Gerresheimer then integrated several Palomat systems directly into that same AGILOX network, automating delivery and return of empty pallets and closing the material loop between assembly, molding, and the warehouse.

None of that happens without something connecting it all. Marcel Richter, Expert Smart Factory Intralogistics at Gerresheimer Medical Systems, explains how the pieces fit together:

Thank You, Gerresheimer!

Projects like this are why we build an open platform in the first place. Across the extension, AGILOX ONE now moves semi-finished goods, empty containers, trays, and finished goods, storing and retrieving through the high-bay warehouse around the clock. Thank you to the entire Gerresheimer team for the trust, the ambition, and the partnership.