DEBATIN Hoenheim in France officially opens its new premises

The event was attended by numerous guests, including several illustrious personages: René Ohlmann, in his triple role as Vice President of the Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHK) in Karlsruhe and in Alsace Eurométropole, and chairman of the IHK Karlsruhe German/French Committee; Vincent Debes, Mayor of Hoenheim; MP Bruno Studer; and – last but not least – Veronika Debatin, proprietress of DEBATIN. In a speech given at the event, DEBATIN’S CEO in Hoenheim, Dominique Hummel, took stock of the German/French collaboration.

He took his listeners back to the beginnings of the DEBATIN French subsidiary in 1987, which, he explained, quite literally started out in a garage: “Our first premises were a former car repair shop in Oberhausbergen,” he recalled. “Back then, we were supplying the French market with products manufactured by our parent company Anton Debatin GmbH in Bruchsal.”

An ongoing success story

Buzzing with energy, the young company moved to new premises on the fittingly named Rue de l’Electricité in Hoenheim, a municipality on the northern periphery of Strasbourg. Here they installed a production line and a flexo printing machine in 1996. A second production line was added in 1998, followed by a third in 2006. In his speech, Dominique Hummel went on to describe how the German/French success story has continued to unfold over the years. Old machines were replaced by newer models, and in 2012, the basis was laid for the current DEBAMED^® success story: a production line in Hoenheim to manufacture transport bags for biological samples, on behalf of L.E.S.S. France.

L.E.S.S. France moves closer to the parent company

Seven years later, Anton Debatin GmbH acquired L.E.S.S. France and began to seriously expand its activities on the healthcare market. “In 2020, the executive board decided to relocate L.E.S.S. France’s business activities from Chelles to Hoenheim. One of the great advantages of this move was that it brought L.E.S.S. France geographically much closer to the parent company – reducing the distance from 500 km to 100 km,” Dominique Hummel told his audience. “Now we can operate as a single unit, collaborating across the national borders with state-of-the-art production systems and logistics.”

This is not necessarily the norm, according to René Ohlmann. “DEBATIN can be proud of what it has established,” he emphasised. “Cross-border collaboration is still very challenging because the administrative systems are so different.” René Ohlmann was full of praise for DEBATIN’s visionary approach, ability to innovate and commitment to social responsibility.
Bruno Studer commented that language barriers pose one of the biggest challenges to career development for young professionals, because so few French teenagers choose to learn German.

Strengthening the whole DEBATIN group

“Relocating our subsidiary L.E.S.S. France so that it can join forces more effectively with our other French subsidiary, DEBATIN France, has strengthened the entire DEBATIN Group,” says DEBATIN’s CEO Thomas Rose. “It will also help us expand and develop our production of secondary and tertiary packaging for transporting biological samples safely and in line with legal requirements.”

DEBATIN currently supplies virtually all French banks with security bags that consist of 50 % recycled materials. L.E.S.S. France is the market leader for transport bags for biological samples in France. The official opening ceremony was also used to celebrate the Group’s most recent success: DEBAMED^® Speci-Sorb, which was awarded the German Packaging Award in the “Logistics & Material Flows” category.