Pharmaceutical packaging: How much progress?

Yet we see solid movement in both these areas in other markets, evident monthly in our flagship publication, Packaging World, and particularly in our niche book, Shelf Impact!.

Half a decade later, these same issues are still front and center, illustrated during our third-annual live event, the Pharmaceutical Packaging Forum, held in Philadelphia April 14-15.

Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), from what I keep hearing, languishes in the 20 to 40% range, compared to 70 to 80% for soft drinks or beer. There are some exceptions, particularly in the case of high-output over-the-counter lines.

Package design, in terms of both form and function, trails 10 years or more behind food, beverage, health and beauty segments—hampered by the lack of ethnographic research (how the package is used in the field)--from storage and transportation to how the closure dispenses, etc.

We still talk track and trace and RFID, now adding a material's unique “DNA” footprint as yet another way to provide supply chain security. However, the consumer's interaction with the package to determine if it is genuine is not touched on, nor is unique serialization's complexity of a master database (where the new counterfeiters will be software hacks) instead of copycats.

I've got to believe we are years away from a cell phone scanning codes to crosscheck in a master file if the unique number (or structure) has been duplicated. Moms and Dads and Doctors without borders are still administering medications with no practical means of proving any pedigree, as Cortegra's Narendra Srivatsa told the PPF audience.

Pat Reynolds, Packaging World's editor, talks about a new era of collaboration between players in the supply chain in his May Packaging World magazine editorial. We have touted this community approach from day one at Healthcare Packaging, and we're seeing a similar collaborative trend developing in pharmaceutical packaging circles.

Körber Medipak Group held an open house in Clearwater, FL, on March 12-13 that focused on this same topic of collaboration, including the extra effort of having end-user partners participate; companies like Teva talking about lean packaging, small lot blister packaging with Omnicare and GSKBio talking about a vaccine packaging project.

Each is an example of unique collaboration between partners that includes less emphasis on speed of lines, but maximum focus on flexibility and modularity, even leaving “open spaces” in a machine's design so modules for track-and-trace features can be added at a later date—anticipating future use of the machine.

Körber Medipak's president, Gerhard Breu, opened the day citing current trends in pharmaceutical packaging, including site consolidation, which introduces challenges such as complex product portfolios coupled with complex package portfolios, shorter delivery cycles, and a reduction in working capital. “Only a true two-way partnership can lead to sustainable success,” said Breu. “And a solid financial partner is key.”

Both our Pharmaceutical Packaging Forum and Körber Medipak's Open House featured end users, contract packagers, and suppliers working together to move forward, but events like these are rare and progress is slow. The pharmaceutical community sometimes appears apathetic—low turnout at events such as Healthcare Compliance Council meetings.

At Packaging World's Packaging Automation Forum, Murugan Govindasamy, senior manager global manufacturing service at Pfizer, called for standards to make equipment installation and operation more efficient. We've been discussing such standards in Packaging World for the past nine years. The pharmaceutical community needs to look “across the aisle” at food and beverage, for collaborative automation solutions that deliver higher OEE.

--By Jim Chrzan, Publisher