NEW EVENT! Cutting-edge Trends for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast
Discover all the latest packaging solutions for life sciences products at the all-new PACK EXPO Southeast in Atlanta, GA, March 10-12, 2025

Of Trees and Traceability

Intelligent supply chains have the potential to improve efficiency at the natural resource level and create opportunity for OEMs. Can people look beyond the next fiscal quarter?

Environmental degradation is a real and pressing problem. There is a need for pharmaceutical and medical device companies to look at their business practices and reduce environmental impacts from packaging wherever possible, including upstream at the natural resource level.

Intelligent supply chains – next quarter and beyond

For OPTEL GROUP and many others in the Innovation Supercluster Initiative (more on that later), major focus is being placed on traceability and intelligent supply chains. “We need to optimize the healthcare sector from manufacturing to the patient. In the food sector, there is also a lot of waste with a big impact on carbon footprint and the availability of resources,” says Louis Roy, President of OPTEL, a Certified B Corp.

Roy laments that people are generally so focused on looking at the next quarter, and not the next 10 years. He is hopeful that if consumers and suppliers start to see goods in a different light—such as the kilowatts, water and materials that go into producing a phone—they’ll make more environmentally friendly choices.

Initially, OPTEL concentrated on the manufacturing plant, with vision systems for measuring quality, later aggregating the data within the line and then within the plant. “From the plant level, we had the possibility to connect to other IT systems or government organizations, but we felt limited in leveraging the supply chain and helping our customers secure their supply chain,” says Roy. “There are a lot of regulations around the world, but most of them are incomplete and will not necessarily solve the issue of counterfeited products and inefficiencies and drug recalls. We felt compelled to build a supply chain that is connected from start to end.” 

With the acquisition of Verify Brand, they now have the capability to connect to government agencies, third parties and end users. In healthcare, the aim is complete supply chain connectivity, not only for compliance but to improve performance and reach end users more effectively.

Reaching the end user

Roy emphasizes the importance of going beyond the pharmacy and connecting with the actual end user. In some regions of the world, counterfeited drugs are inserted into the pharmacy. The pharmacist may be profiting significantly from counterfeits, so the solution to solve the counterfeit and recall problem is to go all the way to the end user.

INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast
The exciting new PACK EXPO Southeast 2025 unites all vertical markets in one dynamic hub, generating more innovative answers to packaging challenges for life sciences products. Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity for your business!
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INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast