On Tuesday, June 20, Samson AG and the City of Offenbach celebrated the ground-breaking ceremony for the industrial company's new headquarters on the Offenbach Innovation Campus in the presence of Offenbach's municipal leaders and Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke. A week ago, on June 13, the city issued the building permit for the first construction phase. This means that preparations for the construction work on the "factory of the future", as Samson calls it, can now begin.
The new factory will be built on an area of 14.3 hectares and will use the latest production facilities and technologies as well as renewable energies. Samson is aiming to achieve at least fifty percent self-sufficiency in its energy supply through the use of photovoltaics and electrical energy storage systems.
Lord Mayor Dr. Felix SchwenkeToday is a good day for Offenbach as well as for Samson.
Mayor Schwenke: "Today is a good day for Offenbach as well as for Samson. It is not a matter of course that such a large, globally active industrial company is launching an investment project of this dimension in our region in these challenging times. And it is also not a matter of course that this megaproject "MainChange" is right on schedule for the Rhine-Main business location. We are sending out a signal on this day: Offenbach's administration is efficient. We were able to approve Samson's building application in less than three months. This was also possible because not only our specialist departments worked under high pressure, but also Samson as a partner worked highly professionally."
The Innovation Campus is of outstanding economic significance for the city of Offenbach. Schwenke: "Like no other site in Offenbach, the former chemical site symbolizes old highs, decline and new opportunities that must now be seized with determination. Because as festive as the day of the first groundbreaking may be, there is still a lot of work to be done and a number of challenges to be overcome before everything is ready."
Samson's electronics production facility is scheduled to go into operation in the course of 2024. The company has just submitted the building application for the second construction phase. Construction work should be completed by the end of 2026 and the industrial company's relocation from Frankfurt to Offenbach, including the new headquarters, should be finished. "By the end of this decade, when the biotech company BioSpring has also built new production facilities on the campus, more people will be working in Offenbach than in the heyday of the chemical industry in the 1970s," said the mayor.
Dr. Andreas Widl, CEO of Samson: "We have been working towards this day for a long time. For Samson, this is not a relocation, but a unique opportunity to drive forward the future of our company and the industrial location of Germany and the Rhine-Main region - from and with Offenbach am Main. That's why we at Samson are calling the project "MainChange": we want to set an example for positive change in our country and create a beacon for sustainable growth and working environments of the future."
Sabine Groß, Mayor of the City of Offenbach am Main: "I would like to thank the SAMSON team for their excellent cooperation and their openness in considering and implementing environmental, energy and climate concerns. It is exemplary that Samson is tackling the future transformation of the energy supply using technologies such as photovoltaic modules and energy storage and is planning CO2-neutral production."
Martin Wilhelm, City Treasurer of Offenbach: "Samson's decision to build the 'Factory of the Future' in Offenbach once again presents our city as a business location of the future in the heart of the Rhine-Main region. The fact that the company is setting up a new home here will have a huge impact on our city. Business tax revenues and new jobs will give Offenbach an important economic boost."
Head of Building Paul-Gerhard Weiß: "The city administration still faces a number of challenges in connection with the planned development of Samson and BioSpring on the Innovation Campus, particularly with regard to the transport infrastructure, but we are optimistic and well equipped to deliver on time."
Daniela Matha, Managing Director of Stadtwerke-Projektgesellschaft INNO Innovationscampus GmbH & Co KG, which is developing the campus on behalf of the city: "Following discussions with Lord Mayor Schwenke, Samson was the first company to quickly exploit the enormous potential of the 36-hectare site, which is centrally located in the Rhine-Main region. On this largest contiguous inner-city development area in the region for commercial use, the city of Offenbach offers the companies located here the opportunity to rethink and optimize their production processes and also the chance to grow further. And this without having to seal off greenfield sites. Existing areas of the former chemical site will be recycled, which is both ecologically and economically sustainable. The start of construction of SAMSON with its highly innovative technology not only represents the largest company settlement in Offenbach's post-war history, it also represents a major step forward in the development of the campus and the city as a whole."
The city of Offenbach am Main and SAMSON signed the purchase agreement for the property in March 2021, thus giving the go-ahead for the "MainChange" project, the largest investment and innovation project in the company's 116-year history. The global manufacturer of products, systems, digital process technology and software solutions for the control and regulation of all types of media has been based in Frankfurt am Main since 1916 and is the city's largest industrial company. Its focus markets are the chemical and petrochemical, food, pharmaceutical, energy and energy distribution, hydrogen and industrial gases sectors. The Samson Group employs 4,600 people, including around 2,000 in Frankfurt am Main, and produces at 17 locations in nine countries. Samson's state-of-the-art ROLF SANDVOSS INNOVATION CENTER (RSIC), which was only completed in 2017, will continue to strengthen Frankfurt am Main as a location for innovation.
