Healthcare Packaging Community Minute

• Flexible packaging company Ampac Packaging LLC acquired Sealed Air Corp.'s Trigon Security Products business and related assets in North America and Europe. Ampac also acquired Floeter Flexible Packaging Group, a stand-up pouch converter known for its retort pouch making.

• DataLase, a laser marking manufacturer, entered into a license agreement with Colorcon Inc., with both companies working to develop DataLase Pharmamark, an on-tablet marking technique for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries.

• Plastic thermoformed packaging company Tray-Pak Corp. added a class 100,000 cleanroom for medical and pharmaceutical applications designed to house two thermoforming machines.

• Irish healthcare services firm United Drug acquired the pharmaceutical and healthcare packaging unit of Belgium-based Budelpack Intl.

• Following its recent acquisition of Koch Maschinenbau GmbH, the Uhlmann Group announced the founding of Koch Packaging Systems, LP (Koch USA), to serve the North American packaging markets.



• Catalent Pharma Solutions, formerly Cardinal Health Pharmaceutical Technologies and Services, announced its launch as an independent operating company. The Blackstone Group acquired the business from Cardinal Health in April.

• NJM/CLI opened a Liaison Office in India to cover the regions of Asia, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East. The packaging machinery supplier serves the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and cosmetic/personal care markets, among others.

• The Bosch Group acquired Pharmatec GmbH, Dresden, Germany, from Fresenius ProServe GmbH. Pharmatec focuses on hygienic and sterile process technologies in the areas of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

• Norwood Marking Systems/Allen Coding Systems announced the formation of a distributor agreement between ITW Ltd. and Allen Codiergerate GmbH that gives the ITW companies, Norwood Marking Systems,
and Allen Coding Systems exclusive rights to distribute the
coding and marking equipment designed and manufactured by Allen Codiergerate to all the regions of the world not
currently served by Allen Codiergerate.

• Oliver Medical added a new coater to provide 60"-wide web and in-line slitting capabilities at its new facility in Comstock Park, MI. The coater will be placed in a positive-pressure clean room within the 48,000 sq' building used for contract medical device assembly, adhesive manufacturing, offices, and warehouse and logistics operations.

• Engineering, design/build, validation, and compliance company Integrated Project Services announced the groundbreaking for RxElite Holdings, Inc.'s new facility in Nampa, ID. RxElite is a generic pharmaceutical company that makes specialty generic drugs.

• Videojet Technologies Inc., a maker of coding, printing, and laser-marking machinery, acquired PRISM Inc., a developer of variable-data control products in the packaging and printing industries. Together, the companies will provide comprehensive systems for track-and-trace applications.

Achievements

Klöckner Pentaplast of Brasil was presented the 2007 Febrafarma Quality Award by the Brazilian Pharmaceutical Industry Federation in the "Plastics Films to Blister" category.

Perritt Laboratories announced that its ISO 17025 certification was renewed for another year by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service. ...The Transported Asset Production Assn. announced that AstraZeneca became its 200th member in TAPA's Europe, Middle East, and African region.

Alcan Inc. announced that Alcan Packaging Kreuzlingen in Switzerland obtained ISO 15378 Quality Certification.

Atlas Vac Machine used customer input to design two new tray-sealer features that were recently awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent Office based on the application "Heat Sealer With Platen Surface Temperature Sensor And Load Sensor."

Cortegra, a provider of pharmaceutical printing, packaging, and labeling services, announced ISO 9001 certification for its facilities in Fairfield, NJ, Evansville, IN,
and Raleigh, NC.

People

Bill Finnigan was named product manager for the Swiftpack brand of electronic tablet counters by IMA Nova and IMA Swiftpack, suppliers that specialize in tablet counting machinery, tabletop and automated liquid and tablet fillers, bottle unscramblers, cottoners, capping machines, tube fillers, and line integration and validation services.

Aylward Enterprises appointed Dana S. Waterman as CEO. He brings more than 20 years of experience to the manufacturer of solid-dose tablet-feed systems and bottle fillers and cappers.

Althea Technologies, Inc. named Karen Daniels president of its Bio-Services Div. ...Chesapeake Corp. named John McKeough vice president of operations for its Chesapeake Pharmaceutical Packaging North America subsidiary.

Shawn Martin was appointed operations manager of Millstone Medical Outsourcing's Memphis, TN, service center. Millstone Medical Outsourcing provides custom outsourcing services in the medical device industry.

Herbert H. Keil, managing director and CEO of Uhlmann Packaging Systems, was appointed vice chairman of the board of directors of the Healthcare Compliance Packaging Council, a not-for-profit trade association that promotes the benefits of unit-dose blister and strip packaging. Uhlmann supplies packaging machines, monitoring and control systems.