Flexible friends

High quality is vital in the production of packaging for pharmaceutical products, and it is often hard for companies to meet the industry’s standards on plastic packaging across vast product runs. A key factor is the relationship between a pharma company and its packaging supplier. Nolato Cerbo’s Glenn Svedberg unwraps the issue for World Pharmaceutical Frontiers.

In developing pharmaceutical packaging, there are many factors that simply cannot be ignored. Tightness, to protect against contamination by water or oxygen, child resistance and tamper proofing, ease of use and efficiency for filling lines are but a few, and packaging suppliers have invested heavily in meeting these criteria. Beyond these considerations, however, lies a more important ingredient: the understanding of individual customers’ needs.

Making a range of plastic packaging is just part of the story. More important is developing consistent quality and longterm client relationships.

	Plastic fantastic: new products are childproof yet easy to open for adults.

“We have a standard range of packaging, but some customers have unique demands and we can help them decide on the best solution,” says Glenn Svedberg, Managing Director of Nolato Cerbo. “The most important things are quality, tightness and delivery. Everyone can produce good packaging, but the question is whether they can maintain that quality over hundreds of millions of products. Third-party tests have shown that there are differences between manufacturers, and we are among those that are of very high quality.”

Focused solely on primary plastic packaging for the pharmaceuticals market, Nolato Cerbo counts many global companies among its clients, including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and generic manufacturers. Its complete standard range of caps and containers is to be found on many leading prescription and over-the-counter pharma products, as well as vitamins and food supplements.

Quality and creativity
Nolato Cerbo draws on its long experience of injection blow moulding to provide high-quality products to its blue-chip clients, but for Svedberg, the key differentiator is the ability to focus on safety, user-friendliness and flexibility, to develop unique products to match its customers’ brands. Quality, creativity and innovation, as well as efforts to shorten lead times, are the building blocks of long-term partnerships with customers.

“We can take each individual case and develop several concepts, which we discuss with the client. Innovation is very important, but we understand that it can be a slow process because our clients have regulatory demands. We can adapt our ideas to ensure that our clients have easier regulatory updates,” he remarks. Proof of the company’s appetite for innovation is a new range of packaging that is both childproof and yet easy to open. This could be a significant step forward for people with conditions such as rheumatism.

The new concept uses a protected, one-module closure that clearly shows whether a product has been opened previously. It also reduces the overall cost of the packaging.

“We have not yet launched this concept, but we are developing it with customers. The innovation came from us, but we looked at inputs from many stakeholders including the Swedish Rheumatism Association,” says Svedberg. “We knew that it was something our customers needed. We are also working on another study, in which we are talking to 34 customers and their clients, and which is generating a lot of diverse ideas for product development.”

Business restructure
But what about costs? “We are looking at possible ways to improve the supply chain and reduce the cost of shipping the containers to customers’ filling sites,” he explains. “There is more pressure on costs in the pharma industry now because of consolidation and expired patents, so our clients are looking to re-engineer their businesses.

“For us, that means focusing on efficiency in our production facilities and reducing the weight of our products, which is also good for the environment. The main message, however, is to be flexible and innovative, and that is what we have always tried to be.”

Company profile

Nolato Cerbo

For further information, visit: www.nolato.se/nolatocerbo