10.03.2025
How do Bavarian SMEs implement the strategic approach of "customer centricity"? In practical company portraits, we show how companies consistently place the customer at the center of their activities - including ABF-Pharmazie GmbH & Co. This best practice shows how customer centricity contributes to business success.
Interview with Dr. Iris Hofmann: Customer centricity at ABF-Pharmazie
ABF-Pharmazie is a family-run healthcare company with over 45 years of experience. It originated from a pharmacy in Fürth near Nuremberg and has specialized in the manufacture of sterile products since the 2000s. Today, the group of companies comprises more than 380 employees and offers various services. These include the ABF pharmacy, which supplies doctors' surgeries and patients, the manufacturing company ABF-Pharmazie, which produces sterile products for pharmacies, and Shared Services GmbH, which handles central tasks such as IT and human resources.
ABF is one of the larger providers in southern Germany and specializes in the patient-specific production of pharmaceuticals. Its products include chemotherapies, sterile eye injections, painkillers and antibiotic therapies, which are manufactured aseptically to enable customized therapies for patients.
Dr. Iris Hofmann, Managing Director at ABF-Pharmazie, told us in an interview how the focus on the customer is lived in the company.
"Our digital ordering process is a service improvement that we have developed together with our customers. [...] In order to provide optimal support for the system, we have deliberately appointed a product owner. She collects requirements from the internal order-to-cash process as well as from customers and sales and integrates them into regular releases. In this way, we are constantly developing our order module - for our organization and for our customers."
Dr. Iris Hofmann
Managing Director at ABF-Pharmazie GmbH & Co. KG
What strategic goals have you set for your company?
Iris Hofmann: It is very important for us to continue to ensure patient-centered care in the future.
We supply our customers within a radius of up to two hours around Fürth and beyond with our own logistics fleet. In addition to Bavaria, our regional focus is on Baden-Württemberg and Hesse, where we are continuing to expand our sales radius. Demand is growing due to the increasing incidence of cancer and demographic change. Our aim is to make these growing requirements possible in the long term. We are doing a great deal to ensure this.
You just used the term patient-centricity. What does customer centricity mean at ABF?
Iris Hofmann: Customer centricity is very important to us. Our end customer is the patient, for whom we produce infusion bags or syringes in batch size 1 - individually and personalized. However, we are not in direct contact with patients like a traditional B2C pharmacy, but are B2B and supply registered specialist practices.
Our one-word equity is "caring" - our ABF brand core value. We integrate seamlessly into the daily practice routine and ensure that every practice is optimally cared for - without additional effort.
Customer centricity in the innovation process: from the development of new products to service improvements: Where and how do you involve your B2B customers here?
Iris Hofmann: One example of service improvements is our digital ordering process, which we developed together with our customers. It is extremely important for both sides because there is little time due to the shortage of specialists. Time that is better invested in patient care than in tedious ordering and administration. With this digital ordering process, we are also increasing safety in the production of medicines. The legally compliant ordering process is seamlessly integrated into the practice processes and, of course, into our own processes.
Whether ophthalmologists or oncologists - we have involved various types of practices, implemented the process together, tested it in test phases and implemented it successfully.
In order to provide optimal support for the system, we deliberately appointed a product owner. She collects requirements from the internal order-to-cash process as well as from customers and sales and integrates them into regular releases. In this way, we are constantly developing our order module further - for our organization and for our customers.
Our other innovations are always developed around the product to make it easier for medical practices to use. Many innovation impulses come directly from sales. Our sales team is very well trained and regularly obtains customer feedback. When we launch a new business unit or doctor group, we learn together with the doctors what they really need in their day-to-day work. This results in best practices, which we then offer to other practices.
One example is our eye injections: We have developed our own quality system that takes into account the processes in the operating room. Thanks to appropriate packaging and handling, doctors can use the syringes easily and safely directly at the operating table.
This is part of our success story. We receive extremely good customer feedback, which naturally makes us very happy.
At the same time, supply also means spontaneous deployment - we produce until late in the evening to ensure supply in order to deliver everything on time and are even available around the clock in an emergency.
What role do existing customers and new customers play in your business?
Iris Hofmann: Both are important to us.
We have been working with many existing customers for many years - we are very proud of that. Dedicated contact persons ensure smooth processes in day-to-day business when working with medical practices, while our sales force collects feedback in a structured manner. In addition, our business unit managers and the management itself maintain close contact with the practices.
In this way, we provide sustainable support for existing partnerships, are close to the market and integrate new customers efficiently.
We also expect more inquiries for patient-specific care in the future. Especially in oncology, as there are more and more patients and a constant stream of new active ingredients. At the same time, reimbursement from health insurance companies is becoming tighter, while quality and safety requirements are increasing.
What visions and plans do you have for the future of your company and how do you see your industry developing over the next five to ten years?
Iris Hofmann: In future, seriously ill patients will be treated in an increasingly targeted and precise manner. Genomic tumor analyses, for example, enable tailored treatments based on the genetic characteristics of the tumor. As a result, patient-specific drug therapy continues to gain importance through advanced therapies such as immunotherapies or personalized cancer vaccines. Demographic change and advances in medical technology continue to progress and a large number of patients will demand outpatient drug treatment.
In order to meet these future challenges, we are increasingly relying on digital tools to reduce the media disruptions that are omnipresent in the healthcare sector. We are also focusing on professional process management. This allows us to increase our efficiency and maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. By exchanging information with experts in our care areas, we keep a close eye on market and product innovations and adapt our portfolio accordingly in order to always ensure the most modern supply of medicines for patients.
Interview for Bayern Innovativ, conducted by Dana Arzani,
founder and shareholder, THE SPARKLE ACADEMY GmbH, on 26.02.2025
Successful in the market through customer centricity
We are convinced that companies with a clear focus on the customer are more successful in creating the optimal solution for their
target group. In our opinion, customer centricity is more than just an optimized process - the ideal "customer journey". It is a
company-wide attitude - the customer-centric mindset: We want to maximize added value for our customers. We
focus on long-term customer relationships. We place the "voice of the customer" at the center of everything we do.
As Innovation Management (TIM) at Bayern Innovativ, we show you the path to customer-centric innovation - using selected
company examples. In short portraits of Bavarian SMEs, we shed light on how customer centricity works in practice: from understanding
and defining customer needs to designing products, testing and obtaining feedback.
CEO-Talk Mittelstand „Customer centricity & innovation"
May 15, 2025 | Nuremberg
Making future-proof decisions for your company:
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