The Corona pandemic posed particular challenges to the world of work and society over the past 15 months. This also applied to the proven cooperation between Swiss Caps GmbH, Member of the Aenova Group, in Bad Aibling and the Wendelstein Werkstätten. But the pharmaceutical company and the workshops for people with disabilities quickly found suitable solutions to continue the cooperation.

Aenova is one of the world's leading contract developers and contract manufacturers for large national and international pharmaceutical and food supplement companies. The Bad Aibling site produces and packages tablets, coated tablets, hard capsules and above all effervescent products with around 400 employees. Thanks to early and strict COVID-19 measures throughout the Aenova Group, the production of important medicines for patients worldwide could be ensured without interruption. The cooperation with the Wendelstein workshops had to be adjusted due to corona.

Employees of Wendelstein Werkstätten have been providing support to Swiss Caps GmbH in the areas of packaging, laboratory, warehouse/logistics, cleaning and metal workshop for 14 years. Due to the corona-related contact restrictions, the work on site was initially scaled back, but there were quickly talks between Swiss Caps and Wendelstein Werkstätten for a concept called "Zamrucka despite distance". This enabled the Swiss Caps team at Wendelstein Werkstätten to resume work in February 2021. With flexibility and ingenuity, the "Wendelsteiners" were offered pandemic-compliant opportunities that matched their skills and inclinations. The "cleaning team" was quickly able to resume work on its own responsibility and thus make an important contribution to infection control. In the in-house metal workshop, a former metal worker was able to contribute his extensive knowledge and skills for the production of mouth guard dispensers for the entire changing and production area of Swiss Caps GmbH. "For us as a company, respect and mutual appreciation are essential values. This also includes that people with disabilities can be integrated into working life," explains Thomas Lemke, Managing Director of Swiss Caps GmbH. "We are very pleased that we are able to maintain the cooperation over such difficult times and that Swiss Caps is so committed," add Michaela Paul, group management and integration support, and her colleague Hermann Rudolph, group service employee, from Wendelstein Werkstätten.

The creative solution finding during the Corona pandemic illustrates how inclusion in working life can succeed. The Aenova site in Bad Aibling also stands out for its social commitment in the region. In the last twelve months, a four-digit donation was handed over twice to a children's home in Rosenheim.