These were among the recommendations offered by Gates, senior packaging engineer with medical device maker Guidant Corp., St. Paul, MN. Her presentation opened the January 10 morning session, “Packaging Update: Engineering,” at the Medical Design & Manufacturing conference, held in Anaheim, CA, January 10.
Referring to her speech as “Packaging 101,” Gates noted that packaging newcomers focus on packaging, but “have to learn to consider the medical device product. Engineers need experience in the field to understand regulatory issues, graphics design, seal strength, equipment, sterility, and barrier properties.”
Gates devoted considerable time to discussing the testing of paperboard, printing, labels, laminates, plastics, distribution and transit, and warehousing and shipping. She focused on test methods from the American Society of Testing and Materials, International Safe Transit Assn., the Food & Drug Administration, International Standards Organization, Measurement and Analysis of the Distribution Environment, FedEx, UPS, and the Michigan State University Packaging Consortium.
