Packaging, supply and logistics
“In general, in the packaging industry, the cleaner and safer you can package a product the better,” says Ken Braney, managing director of Thermoforming Solutions and past president of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE). “Thermoforming progressed from the food industry into the medical area and now, even when people pop a pill, it comes from a flat sheet formed around the pill, sometimes by thermoforming.” “The medical sector is a logical step for this technology,” he adds. “Plastic is clean, despite some issues around disposal and recycling. All of the items you would normally use in an operating theatre come pre-packed in thermoformed containers – needles, scalpels and everything else – because everyone in the medical sector is concerned about cleanliness.” A recent report by Global Industry Analysts suggests that the global market for thermoforming plastics grew to more than $35bn in 2020 and is expected to exceed $51bn by 2027. The US market alone is worth around $9.5bn. In China, the market could grow to more than $11bn by 2027, with strong growth also expected across Europe.
Some of this acceleration in the use of thermoformed plastics can be attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic, with demand for blister packs, closures and rigid plastic packaging materials requiring an uptick in global supply. “It is a trend that was building
anyway, though Covid made everyone more nervous about any risk,” says Braney. “It accentuated concerns around hygiene and sterility and the efficiency in production to go from a made part to being gas-sealed – where a product is held in neutral environment within the pack – means that thermoforming can help to resolve concerns about storage.”
“Devices must be stored in a sterile environment and a pre-packed container does away with the need for other things, such as controlling the storage environment, so cost is more efficient for shipping and storage,” he adds.
Cost efficiency, control and cleanliness
Thermoforming rigid plastics has many advantages. As Braney points out, there is cost efficiency to be derived from
making storage of sterile medical devices simpler. Furthermore, as well as providing an effective barrier to potential contaminants, thermoformed plastics are extremely versatile and can be used for small units as well as larger and more complex items. When thermoforming is performed in a cleanroom, as is the case with the packaging of many medical devices and pharmaceutical products, the environment is kept free from particulates. As a result, the contents of the packaging are secured in a sterile environment without any microbial or bacterial matter. This has been particularly important during the pandemic, be it in the packaging of testing kits or vaccines.
Opposite: Thermoforming is commonly used in medical device packaging due to its hygienic qualities.
INNOVATION FOR THE WORLD SOLUTIONS FOR YOU
d
Applications • Medical & Dessicant packaging
• steam sterilization
• Performance Advantages • Competitive material performance with resistance to tear and puncture
• Clean, consisntent, and strong peel performance when combined with DirectSeal™
• •
berryglobal.com Contact us at
medicalpackaging@berryglobal.com
Interactive Product Downloads
Medical Device Developments /
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