Stone deserts, bare walls and monotonous buildings are typical of an industrial area.
But the Sykam company is taking a different approach.
A biotope has been created on the company premises.
Now the company becomes the first flourishing business in the district.
Fürstenfeldbruck -
The water splashes in the pond, bees hum around their hive.
A robotic lawnmower does its laps on the bright green lawn on the first floor.
An ordinary garden - one might think.
But far from it.
Because you are in the middle of the Hasenheide industrial park.
The Sykam company has created a small biotope here.
The company building was built around seven years ago - without unnecessary surface sealing.
A low-energy house with heating costs of just 1600 euros a year.
The first and second floors are planted with lawn and herbs.
Water collects in a cistern and is used for cooling and sprinkling in summer.
“We live from chemistry, but we don't have any chemistry in nature,” says managing director Karl-Heinz Jansen.
Working in the green
Living, working, and all that in the country: That was important to the founder of the company certified for environmental management (see box). And the employee loyalty, which is completely different than in normal companies. “During the lunch break, the colleagues sat down in the green.” Something that they appreciate.
Jansen also sat on the city's environmental advisory board for two years and offered guided tours. At some point he came across the Blühpark Bayern website. He advertised his company - and was accepted. During an inspection in summer 2020, a landscape gardener recommended a biotope, more fruit and dry grass. "I thought to myself, if we already start doing this, we'd do it properly," says the 68-year-old. So the list was worked off. “We wanted to build a model of how it could be done in the smallest of spaces.” Apples, pears and wildflowers grow on the orchard meadow. The humus-poor dry meadow is still growing and will later offer the insects ideal living conditions. Wild bees are buzzing around next to the small pond - Jansen's hobby. “It's comforting for me to sit down and watch them.“It all started with 100 red mason bees and 100 horned mason bees. The wild bee population has now grown to around 5,000. Your cocoons hibernate in the cold store. They are released again in spring when the weather is good.
The yellow-black farm animals are also buzzing on the roof on the first floor.
But not to produce Sykam honey.
They serve scientific purposes.
Studies for an environmental cadastre are in progress with the University of Giessen and a startup from the TU Garching.
“We use the bees as pollen collectors,” explains Jansen.
When they fly back into the hive, the pollen is taken away from them via pollen catchers.
From the analysis, the scientists receive conclusions about the biodiversity of a region of around 20 square kilometers within three to four weeks.
This is how you can determine changes in nature.
Sykam wants to develop such an automatic pollen collector and conservator.
Bees are a matter for the boss
Jansen describes his bees as "best digitized". Their weight is determined with a stick scale, explains biologist Jörg Stockhaus, who takes care of the insects. “The data is transmitted to the server. So you always know whether the animals are doing well and whether they need food. The animals are top priority at Sykam, a gardener takes care of the green maintenance. The operation costs around 2500 euros a year. The reward is a job in the middle of nature, surrounded by commercial buildings.
Karl-Heinz Jansen is pleased that the medium-sized company is now the first in the district to be recognized as a flourishing business.
After all, he put 35,000 euros into it.
“But that much is not necessary,” he says.
He hopes to find imitators at Bruck companies.
"It is particularly interesting for companies that operate in the field of public tenders." Because environmental protection brings bonus points here.
In addition to the view of the green, this is another nice side aspect.
Equipment for scientific analysis and medicine are the core businesses of the Sykam company
Sykam started producing analytical devices for cromatography 35 years ago.
These were used to determine the quality of groundwater and drinking water.
The amino acid analysis was added later.
Sykam is now the world's largest manufacturer of amino acid analyzers, reports Managing Director Karl-Heinz Jansen.
This is used, for example, in the field of parenteral nutrition - i.e. directly into the bloodstream via catheter.
The company also entered the radiopharmaceutical sector ten years ago.
Carrier materials for the separation of radioactive isotopes, which are used therapeutically for the treatment of cancer, are produced here.
Systems for the production of therapeutics (synthesizers) are also produced for this purpose.
Application technology and development are handled by 13 employees in Fürstenfeldbruck, production runs in Eresing (Landsberg district) with 34 employees. There are also four employees in Düren in North Rhine-Westphalia.
