Should package development be done in-house or with vendor help?

That’s the question George Hill, Senior Research Principal in Packaging R&D with The Scotts Company, poses in a fantastic guest column he wrote for our friends at Packaging World. His thoughts are universally valuable to brand owners and contract service providers alike, since both parties should be working together—and early, as F4SS’ Lisa Shambro recently told CP readers—as partners in the package development cycle.

Hill, with 40-plus years in package design and development, notes that “all of the large consumer product companies I have been associated with have faced many design challenges in making sure each package had the best appearance possible at retail, yet also conveyed a quality product to consumers.” While each of these companies he served had an internal package design staff, he nonetheless cites “many good reasons to tap into the expertise of packaging vendors.”

Click to read those reasons >>

Blister packaging line helps Almac expand contract services in the U.K.

Almac, a provider of contract services for global pharmaceutical and biotech markets—and subject of Contract Packaging magazine’s July/August cover story, added a Noack N 623 blister packaging line from Romaco at its U.K. commercial packaging facility, which is approved by U.S. and U.S. regulators. The flexible, cGMP-compliant technology can be configured to process both thermoform and coldform materials, with maximum blister sizes of 220 mm x 155 mm; capacity exceeds 25,000 blisters/hr.

“Through this acquisition, coupled with our imminent entry into the U.S. commercial packaging market, we continue to expand our capabilities and flexibility to meet our client’s needs,” said Geoff Sloan, vp of manufacturing operations. He added that the system presents a solution for blister size and dosage formats, which are “becoming increasingly more complex,” as well as a way to manage “innovative new molecules [using] enhanced environmental controls.

Read the full story >>

Compliance package makes inroads at Walmart pharmacies

Last December, Healthcare Packaging reported that St. Louis-based contract pharmaceutical packager Legacy Pharmaceutical Co. was investing in automated blister lines for pharmaceuticals in the Ecoslide-RX package as part of an effort to increase business with national pharmaceutical retailers including Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS, and Costco.

At present, that effort is paying off. A Sept. 24 press release entitled, “Ecoslide-RX Adds 5,600 U.S. Retail Pharmacies including Walmart Stores,” notes that Keystone Folding Box Co.’s Ecoslide-RX is “a pharmaceutical compliance package that is more environmentally sustainable than traditional packs, will soon be arriving to Walmart’s pharmacies.”

The Ecoslide-RX package, Introduced in late 2011, is senior friendly and achieves an F=1 child-resistance rating for customer safety and ease-of-use—two challenges for environmentally sustainable products in the pharmaceutical industry.

In a recent independent survey, the press release said Ecoslide-RX “tested well among both pharmacists and consumers" for factors including environmental, ease of opening, compliance and safety, and ease of storage and transport.

Read the full story >>

Pharma/personal care packager Unicep sells to top execs

Last year, Unicep Packaging, Sandpoint, Idaho, celebrated its 20th year. This year the ownership of the contract services firm, serving personal care, pet care and pharma sectors, changed hands.

Two of the company’s executives, Marcus Anderson and Clint Marshall finalized the purchase of the company in mid-September from founder John Snedden. Anderson was company president and Marshall was CFO prior to the purchase. Both joined the company roughly five years ago.

Unicep began as a contract packager of unit dose packaging for dental materials. The company went on to develop proprietary equipment and methods for producing patented MicroDose and Twist-Tip dispensers. In addition to contract packaging, services include formulation development and non-sterile contract packaging and compounding for gels, liquids, lotions, and emulsions for oral healthcare, IVD, OTC, cosmetic and nutraceutical markets.

Read the full story >>