Samson AG invests in Offenbach
31.03.2021 – Samson AG, a long-established company based in Frankfurt since 1916, has acquired a 143,000 square meter plot of land in the north-east of the Innovation Campus in Offenbach, located between the Main and Mühlheimer Strasse.
"Over the next few years, we will be transferring our site, which has been growing for over 100 years, from Frankfurt am Main to Offenbach," announced CEO Dr. Andreas Widl at a joint press conference with the city of Offenbach. The reason for this is the limitation of our profitable growth at the Frankfurt Osthafen site. Neither the layout and equipment of the infrastructure, the flow of goods along our deep value chain nor new requirements for ultra-modern production can be accommodated on the existing site in a sustainable manner. We have run through all possible scenarios at the Osthafen, including swapping land with other residents. In the end, it was the totality of the structural and technical possibilities, the economic burden and the feasibility in terms of time that led to our decision in favour of optimization and scalable growth on a greenfield site versus investment in an infrastructure full of logistical compromises," says Widl.
On the 130,000 square meter site between Hanauer Landstrasse and the River Main, which is crossed by three public roads, production is currently located in a large number of buildings and sub-areas. "We will of course remain closely connected to the city of Frankfurt. Among other things, we continue to operate the ultra-modern Rolf Sandvoss Innovation Center (RSIC) at Osthafen, where we develop new generations of valves and control technology solutions for the process industry. In this context, we are developing ideas and implementation concepts for industrial relocation and the future design of attractive workplaces on the vacated Samson sites," confirms Widl. Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke, City Treasurer Peter Freier and City Councillor Paul-Gerhard Weiß emphasized the dimensions of the company's relocation: "For the city of Offenbach, the future relocation of the headquarters of one of the world's leading measurement and control technology producers with over 2,000 employees in Frankfurt am Main is one of the most important relocations in the last 60 years."
Founded in 1907, Samson AG - a manufacturer of control valve technology with around 4,500 employees worldwide and a leading supplier of control valves, particularly in the chemical, food and beverage, industrial gases, energy, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries - plans to gradually relocate its electronics production, mechanical production and finally its headquarters to Offenbach over the next few years. Just a few kilometers away from the current company premises, upstream on the other side of the Main, a highly modern and prestigious site is to be built on the Innovation Campus, which is conveniently located in terms of transport links.
Samson CEO Dr. Andreas Widl is convinced that the new company headquarters will offer more efficient work processes and new opportunities for customer interaction and product acceptance, as well as being highly attractive in terms of attracting and retaining employees. "Samson has been undergoing a remarkable transformation for a good six years: from a manufacturer of first-class valve technology to a solution provider for intelligent, self-learning valve and process technology. Smart control valves from Samson now deliver data in real time, providing customers with process-relevant, if not production-critical, information via their own cloud platforms. We now combine proven valve tradition with functional design, diagnostics and artificial intelligence. With the fundamental decision in favor of Offenbach, Samson is pursuing an integrated, ultra-modern concept of a "factory in the city" and will become a beacon for innovation, sustainable production and job security in Germany," Widl continues.
Suitable company for innovative technology location
According to Offenbach's Mayor and Head of Economic Affairs Felix Schwenke, the company fits perfectly with the strategy of developing the former 179-year-old chemical site into an innovative technology location. "To achieve this, the city of Offenbach is also working on establishing a design park that will bring together the research and development departments of companies that are asking themselves how they need to adapt their products to digitalization and artificial intelligence. The tip in late summer 2020 that I should pay a visit to Samson came from precisely this project," says Mayor Schwenke, "namely from Professor Frank Georg Zebner, Design Institute of Technology (DIT)." Mayor Felix Schwenke first consulted with City Treasurer and Mayor Peter Freier on how to proceed in Offenbach. Both agreed that City Councillor Paul-Gerhard Weiß and the INNO management, Daniela Matha and Peter Walther, must also be involved at an early stage. Stadtwerke-Gesellschaft INNO Innovationscampus GmbH & Co KG is developing the site on behalf of the City of Offenbach. According to Schwenke, the aim was to convince through reliability and speed.
As city treasurer, he was naturally delighted with the great progress made in the development of the Innovation Campus, said Peter Freier. "After the decline of the chemical industry at this location, it is now foreseeable that there will finally be a high level of added value for the city again in the form of trade tax revenue and jobs. This is a huge step forward for the city of Offenbach." Paul-Gerhard Weiß, Head of Urban Planning, assures that the city will support the company as much as possible in its relocation plans and will also push ahead with traffic development. "The external development is our task and we will be very happy to fulfill it in good time," Weiß clarified.
"Offenbach presented itself as a highly attractive location in the region from the very first second," said Samson CEO Andreas Widl. "The Lord Mayor is always available as a visionary and shaper of his city, you can feel the support of his colleagues Freier and Weiß and my team reports extremely constructive discussions with the INNO management and the building authorities." Both parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. According to the city, in order to ensure speed and support along the entire route, the Samson AG development will be a central project in the joint building approval round of Mayor Schwenke, BM Freier, Councillor Weiß and the specialist departments involved until the last day of completion.
OPG takes over property redevelopment
Samson AG anticipates a planning lead time of up to two years for the start of construction. The company will tolerate emissions from the existing EVO pellet plant on the site, participate in an energy concept for the innovation campus and also in the certification by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) that the city and INNO are striving for.
The INNO sister company OPG Offenbacher Projektentwicklungsgesellschaft mbH will carry out the groundwater remediation and the clean-up of hot spots on the Samson site on behalf of INNO "Even if we are now under more pressure in terms of time for the development of the campus: We are very much looking forward to Samson," says Daniela Matha, Managing Director of INNO and OPG. The company is an important source of inspiration and a door opener for the establishment of further innovative companies.
Faster than expected and even before the official start of marketing, the city of Offenbach has succeeded in revitalizing its second large industrial wasteland after the port, the former Clariant site in the east of the city. INNO acquired the brownfield site from the Swiss specialty chemicals group last year.
Daniela Matha: "With a total area of 36 hectares, the Innovation Campus is the largest contiguous inner-city development area in the region for commercial use." The sale of 14.3 hectares to SAMSON AG means that more than half of the 26.6 hectares of land still to be developed has already been marketed.
Peter Walther, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Offenbach Holding (SOH) and INNO: "This is a key site of central economic importance for the city of Offenbach." As a central service provider for Offenbach, Stadtwerke Offenbach is happy to take on the challenge of filling it with new life and thus advancing Offenbach's urban and economic development. INNO and its real estate sister company, OPG, which has already been successful in revitalizing the port, have the exciting task of developing the former chemical site into a forward-looking commercial area for the city.