Controlling the packaging process

Packaging has long been a crucial element of the marketing of a pharmaceutical product, but now the demands on security in the packaging process are stepping up a gear. There is now more demand for integrated solutions that manage inspection and security issues throughout the process, but few solution providers have managed to keep pace.

The demands on inspection processes and technology in the pharmaceutical industry are in a state of flux. We live in a more highly technologised world where the security measures incorporated into pharmaceutical products are becoming easier to circumvent. To preserve the integrity of the industry there is a huge need for security and traceability of products to be improved.

Regulatory bodies have become aware of this trend and are writing stricter legislation that impacts on the packaging process, and there is an unprecedented level of co-operation between the industry regulators and pharmaceutical companies. The aim is to dramatically increase the security measures applied to pharmaceutical packaging.

‘With the dynamics in the market and the new regulations that are coming in there are greater concerns than ever about issues such as counterfeiting and bio-terrorism,’ says Robert DeJean, CEO and President of Systech. ‘With the technology that is out there now it is now easier to duplicate and counterfeit pharmaceutical products or to hide tampering so there is a growing need for overt and covert security aspects in packaging.’

This new environment places new demands on providers of inspection technology for packaging lines. In the past inspection systems have often been applied at isolated points in the packaging process. Now there is a much greater need to gather data at all points in the packaging process and co-ordinate that data at a higher business level within a pharmaceutical company.

‘There is a need for products with greater security and traceability,’ says DeJean. ‘The demand is huge and is growing rapidly. The regulations are growing just as rapidly so there is much more need yet not much technology to fill that void.’

Systech is a leader in packaging automation technology and has developed an integrated solution that goes far beyond the typical capabilities of inspection systems. The company has worked for many years with the leading, global pharmaceutical firms and from this experience it has developed a co-ordinated solution that handles every level of packaging operations and masters all configurations and security functions through a single point of control.

The aim of this solution is to ensure fail-safe merchandise at every stage of the packaging production line. With that in mind the solution also needs to be easy to use and must fit neatly with the data flows within the company.

‘Unlike most machine vision companies we do not just provide a tool,’ says DeJean. ‘Our solution is useable out of the box, the interfaces are there and are designed for the operators. Workflow controls are built in to simplify the technology for the operators and give them easy, intuitive value. We saw that inspection was a small fraction of the value of the deployment of our solution. The real value lies in what a company can learn about the packaging line.’

Many solution providers are now reacting to the new regulatory regime and the more sophisticated demands of pharmaceutical companies in regard to security, traceability and packaging process management. Systech, however, has a solution that anticipated the recent changes and already focused on the broader management products and packaging.

‘Inspection systems are now accepted technology, we are past that,’ says DeJean. ‘Now we need to look at how to make an integrated solution that can really control the supply chain integrity of a product. The ability to track and audit products helps companies meet their regulatory requirements. It is no longer about inspection at a point, it is about managing the whole packaging operation.’

As the industry moves towards serialisation of unit doses to improve traceability, and perhaps towards RFID technology for tracking products, the demand for more integrated packaging management solutions can only grow further.

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