The end and a new beginning

Published on 27/09/2021

Marcel Brunner can still remember the time when he started his career in Klybeck in 1987. It was loud back then, the engineer recalls. It wasn’t just the diesel-powered trucks that made the booming noise. The howling sirens of the fire brigade reverberated throughout the district whenever there was an emergency somewhere – which wasn’t that rare.  

Brunner was fascinated by his work. As a young engineer, he had the opportunity to participate in the construction of new facilities and environmental systems. He enjoyed this period, not least because it offered so much variety: “Ciba-Geigy was an impressive employer. And it was also an interesting time, because the memory of the Schweizerhalle accident was still vivid. We built retention basins and also air scrubbing systems. To help design such facilities as a young engineer, especially on such a large site, was fascinating.”

It was a good time in many respects, but above all, it was a busy time. The entire industrial zone was teeming with people. But despite the hustle and bustle, associates had time for each other.

Piero Bonfiglio, who began his secondary education in Klybeck in the 1980s and retired in 2020, concurs: “I started in K-376, where we produced peptides, and next door was K-352, where dyes were produced. It was like living in a village. Everyone was outside, you saw each other and said hello. And when someone retired, you went to the person, even if you didn’t know him well – something that hardly ever happens today.”

Arthur Buetzberger, who began his career as a chemical worker in Klybeck in 1975, also paints the picture of a lively neighborhood. But he also points to the strictness that prevailed at that time: “As a young employee, you always had to take a back seat. During this era, there were still chemists and managers in the company who had great authority. But with the merger in 1996, the position of associates was strengthened and hierarchies were flattened. In the past, chemists used to have their own washrooms, and you were required to address them as doctor. Today, we are on first-name terms, which I consider a very good thing.”

Things changed a great deal from the mid-1990s onward – and not just in terms of how people treated each other. Klybeck, once the headquarters of Ciba-Geigy and one of the world’s most important chemical production hubs, was gradually dismantled after the merger. This process was also in line with the trend of moving industrial operations out of urban centers.

Piero Bonfiglio, who worked at the St. Johann site for a few years following the merger, couldn’t believe his eyes when he returned to Klybeck during the last stage of his professional career. “When I came back in 2013, I was a bit startled. It was all so empty. There were only three buildings that were still operating. Nothing like before. It did hurt a little bit.”  

But not everything succumbed to the wrecking ball or was gutted and put to a new use. While the chemistry operations were slowly phased out, new investments were made in the field of biology – a new beginning, so to speak.

Iso Lengwiler has followed this development from the start. The Head of Quality Control at Klybeck, who joined the company in 1981, took an interest in biotechnological processes early on and completed his chemistry studies in the mid-1980s before continuing his professional career in Klybeck in 1987.

“I’ve witnessed the development of biotechnology products, which are now an essential pillar for Novartis, and watched as they’ve gained significance. Over the years, what had been a broad portfolio – which had consisted of chemicals, plastics, additives and dyes – has become more and more concentrated. As a result, some divisions were sold to other companies. At the same time, a new biotechnology R&D hub has emerged in Klybeck, where I continue to work today.”

In the beginning, Klybeck served as a testbed for experimenting with new approaches, which suited Iso Lengwiler well: “I’ve always had a great affinity for biology, having completed an apprenticeship as a lab technician. During my studies – I studied chemistry, as there was no biotechnology program at the time – I began experimenting with baker’s yeast. This, in turn, encouraged me to go back to Klybeck and work for Ciba-Geigy, since the first yeast-based clinical manufacturing processes were developed here.”  

Chemistry was still the dominant sector at that time. Nevertheless, people were already looking for new ways to make production more sustainable and natural. “You could also tell this by the smell. It didn’t smell exactly like in a brewery, but somewhat similar. We always looked at nature: What does nature do, can you imitate it, can you derive certain medicines from it?”

In this pursuit, scientists first experimented with leeches and milk, followed by animal cells in the 1990s. This was made possible on the back of new genetic engineering techniques that allowed the production of proteins with the help of animal cells. In this process, cells are genetically modified to express a specific protein that can be used for medical purposes. In 1982, insulin was synthesized for the first time by applying this method.

Novartis devoted many efforts to this field early on, and Klybeck came to occupy a significant role in its development. Following the merger in 1996, the company decided to concentrate its biotechnology activities in Klybeck, right next to the Wiese river.

The decision to focus on biotechnology has more than paid off as Novartis has been able to bring almost a dozen new active ingredients to the market over the past 20 years. The team in Klybeck, which played a substantial part in this success, was able to turn the site into a research and development hub with global appeal, according to Thomas Meissner, who now works as Site Quality Head.

In fact, one of the most recent projects in Klybeck was so successful that the pilot production line, which only had limited capacity, was transformed into a large-scale facility from where patients around the world are now supplied.

“The nucleus of biological sciences has always been here. With the decline of the chemicals sector, which is no longer as present here, new space for biology has opened up. We are now witnessing a shift in our product portfolio, with many new biological molecules being synthesized. And this in Klybeck,” Meissner explains.

Meissner and his colleagues are proud of this achievement. “It started small. At first, we had only one line and now there are three in total. One of them is a research and development line, whereas on the other two, we produce for practically the whole world,” he continues.

It is clear that Klybeck will remain busy in the coming years. Biological research, development and production will continue to operate here until at least 2029, supplying the growing biotech network of Novartis.

After all, it is impossible to imagine the pharmaceutical industry without biotechnology, which is expected to play an increasingly important role in the future, especially when it comes to treating complex diseases. This will also benefit the environment: “Biotechnology is green technology. And, of course, biotechnology is characterized by the fact that it doesn’t use any inorganic solvents at all. Everything is of natural origin.”

But classical medicines, at least in pilot operations for small quantities, will continue to be produced in Klybeck, and associates are already looking forward with anticipation to the future development of the site. So is Matthias Kastner, Head of Pilot Plant Solids, who knows Klybeck like the back of his hand: “When I started working here in 2006, the chimneys were still smoking, and the dye production was still operational. There was really a lot of steam around.”

Working and living

When Kastner learned that Klybeck would be sold, he didn’t sink into despair, even if he, like many of his colleagues, looks back somewhat wistfully at the golden age of the chemicals industry. He sees not only his professional future in Klybeck, but also his personal one: “When I learned two years ago that the Klybeck site was being sold, I thought to myself, yes, this could be something if the lovely brick buildings on Mauerstrasse were converted into lofts. And if I perhaps get a raise, I could imagine living there one day, because it’s such a nice area in the middle of the city. I will certainly follow the development process, and maybe it will really happen that I will live in Klybeck one day.”

Of course, nobody knows what Klybeck will look like by then. But veteran workers will be likely to recognize those areas where production was carried out “properly” – back in an era when steam, coal and the pungent smell of solvents were synonymous with civilizational progress and success. “The memories will remain, and you’ll be able to tell what used to be produced where,” explains Marcel Brunner, who worked as an engineer in almost all of the buildings in Klybeck. “Even if someday children will play here, some things stick with you for life.”