Highlights

As another member of the family, Mirja Christ brings valuable impulses to our Christ/Sigma group of companies. Her commitment to sustainability is helping us to expand our existing initiatives and making them a core part of our company's strategy.

In her key role, she is leading the development of our group-wide sustainability management and overseeing its implementation across all areas.

Together, we are bringing our vision of a sustainable future to life.

Learn more about sustainability

For years, China has been one of our most important markets and a major contributor to our global success. Sales and service of our high quality products in the Chinese market are therefore very important to us. We have now taken the important step of establishing our own sales and service company, ChristSigma Instruments and Equipment (Beijing) Co, Ltd (ChristSigma Beijing).

The main focus of our Chinese subsidiary is the sale and professional consultation of our high quality laboratory and pilot freeze dryers, our RVCs including accessories and the centrifuges of our sister company Sigma Laborzentrifugen GmbH. In addition to professional advice, the 40 employees offer comprehensive service for our equipment.

The official and traditional opening ceremony of ChristSigma Beijing took place on October 23, 2023. Dr. Michael Sander (Managing Director of Sigma Laborzentrifugen GmbH) and Mr. Malte Christ (Managing Director of Martin Christ Gefriertrocknungsanlagen GmbH and Sigma Laborzentrifugen GmbH) were present at the ceremony.

"This step enables us to be even closer to our customers in China and to guarantee full support. We are firmly convinced that this decision will help to promote long-term business relationships and strengthen our presence in one of the most important markets", says Malte Christ.

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The F.A.Z. Institute, a subsidiary of the renowned Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, has named us Germany's Innovation Leader 2023.

For more than 75 years, our innovative spirit has been deeply rooted, enabling us to continually break new ground and set new standards. We focus on continuous improvement to find efficient solutions in the field of freeze drying. Our equipment must be able to meet the constant new challenges in the respective fields. We are prepared for new requirements, new regulations and other influences - always up-to-date!

Our customers can rely on the highest level of technology, safety, precision and service.

"Our recipe for success lies in our talented team of visionaries and technology experts who are passionate about innovation. So this award is for our people. We are proud of it," says Managing Director Dr. Frank Harms.

More about the study

Martin Christ Sr. founded the company 75 years ago. His two sons, Michael and Martin Christ, followed their father into management in the 1970s and successfully led the business units into the future. In recent years, our group of companies has grown continuously. Today, our family business has around 300 employees. With Malte Christ, the third generation of the shareholder family joined the family business in 2015. Since September of this year, he has represented both companies equally as Managing Director, taking over from his father Martin Christ on the Board of Management. Martin Christ continues to be involved in the advisory board.

Anniversary celebration
Celebrating is also a tradition with us. So the anniversary was of course celebrated appropriately. The 75th anniversary celebration took place on our company premises. All employees were invited to a big fair with great food stands, climbing wall, bull riding and many other attractions.

The F.A.Z. Institute - a subsidiary of the renowned "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" newspaper - has named us Germany's innovation leader for the second time.

As one of the world's leading manufacturers of freeze dryers, we aim to set standards on the market. We can only achieve this through excellent research and development work. Our advanced ideas, which optimize the entire process and continuously meet current requirements, have enabled us to steadily expand our strength.

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Elemental analysis is now available from a single source. Quantitative determination of a very wide range of substance combinations is the core of the Elementar Inc product portfolio. Thanks to the interaction of precise analytical equipment and reliable freeze dryers from Christ, we are able to offer our customers in the US market a comprehensive and effective solution for peptides, proteins and soil analytics.

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Our new canteen in the new company building has opened. With rooftop view we now have a restaurant in which we can spend our lunch breaks. In a great atmosphere with delicious, freshly prepared dishes.

Pilot freeze drying systems from Martin Christ are perfect suited for research and development. They are also the perfect choice for series production. The new standard concept for our popular pilot freeze dryers includes innovative, intelligent PAT tools for process optimization.

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On behalf of the F.A.Z. Institute, a subsidiary of the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", an analysis has been made of the activities of 150,000 companies and research institutions with regard to obtaining patents. Fortunately, Martin Christ Gefriertrocknungsanlagen GmbH has been included in the list of top companies with innovative strength.

You can view the list here:
www.faz.net

The innovative and very flexible FlexPro 50 production system for biotechnological products and pharmaceuticals essentially consists of three components: an isolator system from Ziel and precisely filling and sealing machine modules from Groninger with the option to add a Martin Christ freeze dryer including the innovative LyoShuttle loading and unloading system. The FlexPro 50 is designed so that the production of pharma-ceuticals can be made extremely flexible by exchanging the predesigned modules. The machine modules are simply inserted and connected using the lock-and-key principle.

All FDA requirements for pharmaceutical production are fulfilled.

Find all information on the FlexPro 50 in our flyer.

The new LyoCube acrylic glass made of acrylic glass (PMMA) offers a large, effective area of up to 0.6 m² and particularly comfortable operation thanks to rectangular shelves and its front swing door. The LyoCube acrylic glass can be combined with an extensive range of accessories. The LyoCube acrylic glass is particularly suitable for the use of unheated shelves or racks for up to 90 microwell plates. The LyoCube is also available in a stainless steel version – LyoCube stainless steel. Especially for the use of heated shelves.

For routine applications, a high degree of process reliability is expected in addition to application-specific flexibility. The Alpha or Beta device series with the new LSCbasic control system fulfils these requirements.

Useful functions, such as the schematic system diagram providing information about the system status at a glance, the indication of the product temperature based on the ice pressure curve or the use of multiple languages are highly convincing.

It is common practice to use freeze-drying not only for aqueous solutions. Typical examples are HPLC fractions with solvents, such as acetonitrile, TFA and other alcohols or products with tert-Butyl alcohol, DMSO etc.

The new Alpha 3-4 LSCbasic solvent package enables safe working with these often flammable solvents and offers improved deposition (ice condenser approx. –105°C) and a very high level of chemical resistance.

An innovative PAT tool: The wireless product temperature measurement system WTMplus 2.0 for comfortable handling without annoying cable tangles. Improved sensor geometry and optimised response times ensure precise measurement results during all freeze drying phases. The new generation of sensors has an RFID chip to enable automatic identification during the process. The measurement system, which is integrated into the control system, can be used in all pilot and production freeze dryers made by Christ.

The product range of the Martin Christ Company has been expanded to include the new, patent-pending LyoShuttle automated loading and unloading system. The freeze-dryer is loaded by a loading robot that uses timing belts to move horizontally. All of the components have been selected based on cGMP considerations.

Thanks to its flexible and space-saving construction, the LyoShuttle option is particularly suitable for production freeze dryers in the pharmaceutical field, including under insulated conditions, and requires significantly less space. 

The LyoShuttle system from Martin Christ has outstanding advantages to ensure product quality and production reliability.

more about LyoShuttle

Because process times can be many hours long, it is seldom practical to observe the drying process. 

This is where Martin Christ turns to LyoCam: a high-quality, full HD industrial camera continuously photographs the product, at intervals varying from seconds to minutes, depending on the process stage. Event-controlled high-frequency recording or freezing is also possible with controlled nucleation. The behavior of the ice condenser (build-up) can also be documented. 

The key feature, however, is coupling images using our LPCplus SCADA system on the freeze dryer.

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Regarding the freezedrying of products in vials, it should be avoided, that all samples freeze at different times. It is the aim to gain more process control and more homogenous end product properties.

The introduction of the new accessorie LyoCoN by Martin Christ is the answer to this challenge: The vials are initially cooled down and subsequently charged with a fine ice fog. The ice crystals move into the vials and work as freezing nuclei. All vials crystallize within seconds – without the stochastic time lag by suprercooling.

more about LyoCoN

The LyoCube with useable shelf area of up to 0.6 m² provides user-friendly operation with front door and rectangular shelves. Flask drying in up to 2 x 3 glasflasks is available as an option. The LyoCube is available for the latest LSCplus laboratory freeze dryer product line or as a retrofit of existing freeze dryers with LSC controller.

The user-friendly process control system LPCplus SCADA software brings together the operation of all freeze-drying functions and the associated administrative tasks under a single user interface – of course, 21 CFR Part 11 compliant. LPCplus supports in conjunction with online process data the self-optimizing of lyophilization recipes.

Please click here to get more information.

With the Epsilon 2-4 LSCplus, we proudly present the last remaining pilot unit at Christ upgraded with the innovative LSCplus controller. The freeze dryer is specially dedicated to sensitive, low freezing products. Ice condenser and shelf temperatures of -85 °C resp. -70 °C enable solvent freeze drying at its best.

Pilot freeze-dryers