Speaker

Oliver Kaerst

Head of GHO Engineering, Merck Healthcare KGaA

With over 15 years of specialized experience in pharmaceutical and biotech engineering, Oliver Kaerst is a distinguished leader in the field. As Head of Global Healthcare Operations (GHO) Engineering, he oversees engineering and capital expenditure initiatives across 20 manufacturing sites worldwide, driving excellence in pharmaceutical manufacturing and packaging.

Oliver has a proven track record in leading global pharma engineering and packaging reliability programs, including the successful integration of IoT and Industry 4.0 technologies. He also contributes as a key advisor on the Pharma Maintenance USA advisory board, where he offers expert guidance and highlights emerging trends in global maintenance practices.

His extensive background in strategic project management, regulatory compliance, and operational improvement underscores his leadership and deep expertise in optimizing complex global operations.

Company

Merck Healthcare KGaA

Our passion for science and technology is what drives our around 63,000 employees across 65 countries to find solutions to some of today’s toughest challenges and create more sustainable ways to live. We are here for people at every step, helping create, improve and prolong life. We deliver personalized treatments for serious diseases and enable people to achieve their dream of becoming parents. We empower the scientific community. Our tools, services, and digital platform make research simpler, more exact, and help to deliver breakthroughs more quickly. We provide progressive treatment solutions that help improve access to health thanks to the accuracy of our tests and the reliability of our medicine. As a company, we are at the forefront of digital living. Our science sits inside technologies that change the way we access, store, process, and display information. Our innovative technology drives human progress and opens new possibilities to transform life on Earth as we know it. Thanks to the constant curiosity of our employees, we are making discoveries that can change the landscape of entire industries. For more than 350 years, we’ve been pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, and we’ll continue to do so in the years to come.