Cutting costs and sustainability were most frequently mentioned priorities among respondents to a Healthcare Packaging online survey conducted in September. Regulatory matters, packaging line efficiency, and multilingual language labeling were also noted as pressing issues for 2011.
“Cost savings is a huge issue right now,” said a pharmaceutical respondent. “With the company really budget-crunching, they are looking to packaging to reduce costs as much as possible, and that burden falls directly on our department as packaging engineers.”
A respondent from a medical device firm said, “Seeking financially viable sustainability initiatives, including going to PVC-free packaging,” was a corporate priority.
Time to market was also cited by respondents, with one medical device company respondent linking it to regulatory matters. The respondent said, “How to validate packaged in compliance and without delaying the projects. Shelf-life testing takes time and is being executed when we have a final product. Stability testing is not completely clear in the industry.”
What follows are some of the other 2011 priorities mentioned by survey respondents:
• “Staffing appropriately with individuals that have the right skill sets…finding 'A' players.”
• “How to get ready for the changes related to unique device identification.”
• “Fitting 20 languages on labeling without compromising packaging validation.”
• “We are a unique clinical study material packager. Our challenge is to control packaging costs on small-volume runs.”
• “The fairytale consequences of carbon footprints and related taxation plans.” -
Jim Butschli, Editor, Healthcare Packaging
“Cost savings is a huge issue right now,” said a pharmaceutical respondent. “With the company really budget-crunching, they are looking to packaging to reduce costs as much as possible, and that burden falls directly on our department as packaging engineers.”
A respondent from a medical device firm said, “Seeking financially viable sustainability initiatives, including going to PVC-free packaging,” was a corporate priority.
Time to market was also cited by respondents, with one medical device company respondent linking it to regulatory matters. The respondent said, “How to validate packaged in compliance and without delaying the projects. Shelf-life testing takes time and is being executed when we have a final product. Stability testing is not completely clear in the industry.”
What follows are some of the other 2011 priorities mentioned by survey respondents:
• “Staffing appropriately with individuals that have the right skill sets…finding 'A' players.”
• “How to get ready for the changes related to unique device identification.”
• “Fitting 20 languages on labeling without compromising packaging validation.”
• “We are a unique clinical study material packager. Our challenge is to control packaging costs on small-volume runs.”
• “The fairytale consequences of carbon footprints and related taxation plans.” -
Jim Butschli, Editor, Healthcare Packaging
