While vaccinations against the Covid 19 virus have been running at full speed in the EU for weeks, the transport and logistics of the medicine have to be scheduled and organized in the background. Meanwhile, the Rüthen-based HaRo Group has also declared war on the virus and is directly involved in the supply chain for the eagerly awaited vaccine as a supplier of conveyor technology for the thermal container manufacturer va-Q-tec. After all, the vaccine from Biontech has to be transported at temperatures as low as minus 70 degrees Celsius in some cases according to the current state of development, whereby the thermal boxes from va-Q-tec can maintain these temperatures for up to ten days independently of external energy.

In December, the Würzburg-based company approached the HaRo Group with its order to optimize the production process for its thermal boxes, and the requirements for the project had already been specifically defined: The company needed a conveyor system at short notice to transport insulation panels as an essential component of the thermal containers. "In view of the relatively light weight of the insulation panels, we advised our customer to use an automated conveyor line consisting of driven roller conveyors and pushers," explains Matthias Luig, design engineer at the HaRo Group.

Increased production in Germany

On the roller conveyor, the wrapped insulation panels are welded on all four sides using the pusher so that they are ready for assembly in the cooling containers - a hand-in-hand order in which the companies worked closely together, as va-Q-tec already provides the HaRo Group with the welding elements to complement the pusher. The order from the thermal box manufacturer, which is worth around five figures, is part of a trend that HaRo clearly felt in the 2020 financial year, particularly due to the coronavirus pandemic: "We are clearly noticing that there is an increasing focus on manufacturing in Europe, which also means greater automation in transport systems," says Managing Director Christoph Hackländer, who already advertises the production of the conveyor systems with his "Quality product from Germany" seal.

Nevertheless, the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic have not left the family business unscathed: "Our turnover has fallen by around 15% compared to the previous year," says the management. "Many investment decisions for automation were postponed for months". But, as we all know, postponed is not canceled. After all, the HaRo Group primarily manufactures conveyor technology for large industrial companies in all sectors, so the situation in mechanical and plant engineering remains the same on average despite coronavirus.