In late 2020, the Robert-Bosch-Krankenhaus in Stuttgart, the Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg and the Pharma Division of the Schwaebisch Hall-based special machine manufacturer Optima launched an innovative project called "ProCell for Patient". The strategic partnership aims to develop a production system for CAR-T cell therapies.

Optima Automation has recently completed a comprehensive system to assemble blood collection tubes, including the dosing of additives. This consists of an OPTIMA BCT-200 processing line and an OPTIMA BCA-200 assembly machine. It was not possible to perform the Eastern European customer's Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) with them being present at Optima due to the pandemic. The machine acceptance was carried out online and streamed live for the customer to avoid any risk of delaying the project.

The Optima Group is building another CSPE Center at its headquarters in Schwaebisch Hall, to be used for the assembly and comprehensive commissioning of pharmaceutical filling lines. This will expand the production area by around 46,000 square feet (4,300 square meters) and also provide new office space. At Optima Pharma's site in Gladenbach-Mornshausen (Hesse, Germany), the existing assembly hall for freeze-drying systems is being expanded by 50 percent. The investment is due to the high volume of orders received and ongoing developments in the Optima Group’s Pharma Division.

The new INTISO integrated isolator from Metall+Plastic offers complete isolator protection for filling and sealing processes with a massive reduction in outlay. What sets the new isolator design apart is the elimination of an HVAC unit and the relocation of the cooling and ventilation units from the technical floor to the isolator plenum.

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.

At the end of March, the German trade magazine Packaging Journal invited readers to a round table discussion in cyberspace. The invited guests were Optima experts Dominik Broellochs and Ulrich Burkart (both Group Sustainability Managers), packaging consultant Carolina Schweig, and from the packaging industry Timothy Glaz, Head of Corporate Affairs at Werner & Mertz with the well-known Frosch brand.