Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

Designation of occupation

Pharmaceutical technician
Recognized by ordinance of 8 March 2001 (BGBl. I. p. 419)

Duration of traineeship

3,5 years
The venues for training are company and part-time vocational school (Berufsschule)

Field of activity

Pharmaceutical technicians work process-oriented and in teams in the pharmaceutical industry. Their work is mainly concerned with the production and, to a minor degree, with the
development of drugs. They plan, check and document the work done in the production plant and the laboratory. In view of their great responsibility, they have to take care to ensure through checks and must document the compliance of their work with the rules and regulations of pharmacy law, environmental protection, health and work safety and especially with good practice rules for quality assurance in production.

Occupational skills

Pharmaceutical technicians have acquired a broad range of skills and knowledge in science, technology and process engineering as well as knowledge about technical processes and plant engineering and process control skills. During the last stage of their traineeship they have acquired specialized skills, depending on the most important operations of the company providing training, which enable them to do project-oriented team work in different fields of drug production.

Pharmaceutical technicians

• produce and package drugs, planning, carrying out, checking and documenting the necessary steps;
• operate and monitor pharmaceutical-technical equipment and packaging lines;
• ensure a trouble-free production process through servicing, preventive maintenance, trouble detection and troubleshooting on the devices, machinery and installations used;
• ensure product quality through strict application of the good practice rules for drug production;
• determine substance properties and constants and monitor process parameters in the framework of in-process control;
• use computers and process control systems for machine and plant control, data retrieval and processing and for documentation purposes, for obtaining information and for logistical and
• organizational purposes;
• observe, in the framework of "responsible care", the applicable work safety, environmental and health
• protection regulations when working with substances and machinery;
• ensure environmentally compatible disposal and recycling of waste.

Last modified on: July 30, 2007