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Type: News

Section: Machinery > Packaging/Filling

Cost pressures cloud healthcare packaging's future

Mounting financial pressures top a list of issues driving the pharmaceutical, biologic, and medical device sectors. In an exclusive interview, Freedonia senior healthcare consultant Bill Martineau discusses where packaging fits into these issues. Even before the recent global financial turmoil, pharmaceutical, biologic, and medical device manufacturers faced considerable economic pressures. Corporate efforts to control costs continue to trickle down to the packaging function, with packaging line efficiencies more closely scrutinized, and material decisions made based on performance and economics.

December 18, 2008

Package Design

Air displacement web guide on hf/f/s machine improves medical kit packaging

Cardinal Health's Mannford, OK facility needed guidance to get its medical procedural kit packaging back on track-literally. The film used to seal preformed trays of medical instruments often shifted out of alignment with the company's horizontal form/fill/seal machine, resulting in wasted product and time spent rethreading the film. The air displacement web guide from Coast Controls shown here now keeps film from shifting to one side.

December 17, 2008

Package Design

MediSeal's expansion focuses on pharmaceuticals

MediSeal GmbH recently completed an expansion at its Schloss Holte, Germany headquarters that extends its production hall (shown) by 1,300 square meters. In addition to an expanded assembly area, separate clean rooms were created for pharmaceutical product filling and packaging under climatically sterile conditions. Ultra-modern equipment in the clean room area is complemented by special safety precautions such as access control and pressure monitoring.

December 4, 2008

Packaging/Filling

Pharmaceutical/medical device packaging helping Ireland's economy

After enjoying years of prosperity, Ireland has been hit by challenging economic times that have touched many countries around the globe. A medical device sub-contract manufacturing/packaging company's managing director believes "things are likely to get worse before they get better" in Ireland. The good news: Through government-based groups such as Enterprise Ireland, there is a commitment to financial investments in the life sciences sector, as well as to student education, and workforce development, all of which bodes well for the future. Today, pharmaceutical and medical device businesses provide considerable employment and generate revenues in Ireland. That's the take from Healthcare Packaging's visit to Ireland.

October 23, 2008

Packaging/Filling

Tolmar transitions to thermoformed trays for packaging prefilled syringes

As specialists in formulating, filling, and packaging of pharmaceutical products, Tolmar, Inc. of Fort Collins, CO, has been packaging prefilled syringes for more than a decade. Using barrier thermoforming material for packaging of prefilled syringes into trays is new. According to Lori Fischer, Tolmar's engineering manager, "The contents of the polypropylene syringes can be damaged by exposure to air or moisture, which is why we need barrier packaging in the first place. We had been using a foil pouch with a tear notch, but it was cumbersome. You had to shake the contents out. Also, once packaged, you could not see inside to do a check of the contents." Enter Klöckner Pentaplast with its Pentamed Aclar polyester barrier material. Tolmar also installed a Model R230 thermoform/seal machine from Multivac when it switched to the new Klockner Pentaplast material.

October 17, 2008

Packaging/Filling

Alcan Pharma Center more than doubles in size

Complex and sometimes confusing, the Drug Supply Chain Security Act poses challenges to the pharmaceutical industry. Dirk Rodgers’ book explains the law for stakeholders throughout the supply chain.

September 22, 2008

Packaging/Filling

Roche goes green, saves greenbacks

A change to more readily recyclable fiberboard for its Boniva (ibrandronate sodium) prescription-only osteoporosis wallet pack is yielding economic and environmental benefits for Nutley, NJ-based Roche, a division of Swiss pharmaceutical giant, the Roche Group (F. Hoffmann La Roche, Ltd.). Roche's reintroduction of Boniva in the fiberboard wallet packs reduces costs, while machinery modifications increase OEE to 84%.

September 9, 2008

Packaging/Filling

On-line printing brings efficiency to Allpack

A new blister-pack line at pharmaceutical contract packaging firm Allpack in Basel, Switzerland, is notable for its use of on-line UV-cured flexo printing of foil lidstock. ...On-line printing of foil lidstock can go a long way toward simplifying inventory and minimizing waste. Just ask Allpack, a pharmaceutical contract packaging firm located near Basel, Switzerland, that handles a variety of human and animal healthcare products.

September 5, 2008

Contract Manufacturing & Packaging

GlaxoSmithKline to provide co-packing tips at CP 08

If you're looking for answers to the challenges using external resources when packaging your healthcare brand, the CP 08: Succeeding with Contract Packaging conference is the place to be. The conference is Sept. 16-17 at the Chicago Marriott Schaumburg. John Gagliardi, principal packaging engineer, third-party contract manufacturing at GlaxoSmithKline, will join Daryl Madeira, director of marketing at Alcan Pharmaceutical Packaging, in a presentation targeted to healthcare packaging professionals. Their topic will be "Balancing Design with Production: Lessons in Pharmaceuticals."

August 14, 2008

Packaging/Filling

Schwarz powers powder packaging

Asymmetric containers are more problematic for filling than symmetric ones, but they're little problem for Schwarz Pharma. The Seymour, IN-based pharmaceutical products company has packaged its oral solution powders into 4-L (1-gal) offset-neck high-density polyethylene bottles at rates around 20/min for years. Not bad. Yet that wasn't good enough to meet growing demand and future plans. Last year, Schwarz replaced that line to double speeds to 40 bpm, improving changeovers and cleanliness.

August 14, 2008

Adherence/Delivery

Sustainability issues challenge package designers

Package design for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products is becoming more complex and challenging for companies striving to reach a balance between becoming more sustainable while adhering to regulations and patient safety initiatives. "Furthermore, each change to packaging materials requires new validation trials, which are time-consuming and costly." That's according to the "Pharmaceutical/Nutraceuticals Packaging Machinery, Industry Segment Market Research Study," a Packaging Intelligence Brief issued by the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute.

August 5, 2008

Inspection

Beating the e-Pedigree deadline

The January 2009 e-Pedigree deadline set by California may have been pushed back two years, but that didn't stop Biogen Idec from forging ahead with a solution. The March 25 decision by the California Board of Pharmacy to push back the state's e-Pedigree deadline to January 1, 2011 (its second two-year delay) gives the overwhelming majority of the pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. new breathing room to meet the anti-counterfeiting measures laid out by the Golden State. But those same foot-draggers are now are at risk for being awarded the Black Hat worn by bad guys. That allows the small handful of companies who have solved the packaging serialization puzzle to claim the competitive and public relations benefits that come to those who wear the White Hats.

June 15, 2008

Packaging/Filling

Nested syringe filler

A series of inspection equipment helps pharmaceutical companies improve product quality and manufacturing efficiency.

June 15, 2008

Packaging/Filling

Single-piston filler

ECX-001 is a semi-automatic case packer with unit-level track-and-trace capabilities.

June 15, 2008

Packaging/Filling

Bottle containment filler plays it safe

When packaging operations for Abilify, a drug to treat schizophrenia, and Coumadin, a blood thinner, were transferred to a different plant, Bristol-Myers Squibb decided to install a new bottle containment filling line. The goal was to improve fill accuracy and protect workers from the products' dust. New Brunswick, NJ-based Bristol-Myers Squibb researched different fillers on the market and chose the Model 815 15-wheel bottle filler from Aylward Enterprises. This story describes Bristol-Myers Squibb's Mt. Vernon, IN, facility's employment of a restricted access barrier system to protect workers from high-potency drugs.

April 15, 2008

Contract Manufacturing & Packaging

The hype about OEE

Pharmaceutical company packaging OEE's (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) are reported to be among the lowest in the industry. Experience teaches that those feeling the greatest amount of pain are the ones most likely to successfully drive change. Perhaps that is why three giant pharmaceutical companies reported on their efforts in this area at ARC's Forum on Winning Strategies and Best Practices for Global Manufacturers.

March 26, 2008

Packaging/Filling

High speed blister-packaging machinery

Blister packaging machinery is fully integrated.

February 18, 2008

Packaging/Filling

AstraZeneca relies on robotics

Packaging a blockbuster prescription drug such as AstraZeneca's Nexium blister- and wallet-packs (shown in photo) demands efficiency. At AstraZeneca's plant in Södertälje, Sweden, nine robotic cells, featuring a mix of 16 robots from ABB Robotics and other suppliers, is providing that efficiency during case packing and palletizing on multiple packaging lines.

February 15, 2008

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