3 Ways Medical Packaging Suppliers Help Improve Operational Efficiencies

Medical manufacturers are acutely aware of how important packaging is to product integrity and patient safety. They are also aware of how difficult it can be to reach and maintain high-level packaging standards while also remaining focused on their core businesses.

Choosing only one of these goals isn’t an option…but there is a solution. Partnering with a multi-segment packaging supplier that’s established across the entire medical industry eliminates the push-pull of competing priorities. It also provides opportunities to leverage a supplier’s experience to gain medical packaging operations efficiencies that can help get products to market faster – and more profitably.

As a global leader in healthcare packaging, Amcor has the technical experts and capabilities necessary to link material science and operational excellence.

1. Technical Expertise

Amcor believes that one of the most effective ways for a medical device packaging supplier to support medical manufacturers is to work alongside them. The Amcor Technical Optimization Services (TOS) team of medical packaging experts goes into the field, but not just to troubleshoot.

Being able to work in a manufacturer’s facility on their equipment provides opportunities for the TOS field engineers to guide discussions about operational efficiencies, including:

• Best practices in running packaging machines that can help reduce waste and increase throughput
• Suggested equipment features, updates, or additions that could aid in more efficient packaging production
• Ways to make new equipment installations time- and cost-efficient
• Audits and validations of machine/process/materials

Direct field experience and specialized training give the TOS team valuable instincts for ways equipment can impact medical packaging operations efficiency. The benefits multiply when paired with the team’s depth of materials science knowledge and their strong relationships with packaging machine manufacturers.

2. Prototyping Insights & Action Steps

The breadth of the Amcor products portfolio presents manufacturers and design engineers with several top-quality options for medical packaging.

Prototyping is a valuable exercise in helping determine which choice is most viable in relation to the needs of the application and the characteristics of the materials. Interacting with physical or virtual representations of the package provides real-time answers about:

• Structural integrity and feasibility of the design
• Materials compatibility
• Sealing, opening, and special features functionality
• Feasibility of aesthetics, labeling, and regulatory requirements

The iterative nature of prototyping ultimately leads to documentation of critical data about the packaging. Testing results, observations, adjustments, and decisions are captured to inform both the next steps in the process and subsequent medical packaging needs. Most importantly, as experts in healthcare packaging, Amcor engineers are going to ensure that new packaging ideas are going to be manufacturable at scale. It’s a dual operational efficiency — confidence in the current solution, and even faster time to market in the future.

3. Supply Chain Fluidity

To maximize medical packaging operations efficiency, manufacturers must closely scrutinize their supply chains. Moreover, the partners they’ve entrusted with their products and brands need to deliver on the promise of business continuity; recent years have demonstrated the cost and chaos of disruption.

What does business continuity look like for medical packaging partners? For Amcor, it’s a strategic infrastructure of capabilities that ensure supply chain fluidity:

• Reliable sourcing through global reach
• Alternate materials expertise and access
• Demonstrated risk mitigation and management procedures
• Responsive communication, service, and support