New sense for clear water
Aluminium tubes offer a powerful combination
of barrier properties and environmental performance
so, with the right supplier, pharma companies
can easily combine value, performance and
sustainability in one package, as Obrist’s
Richard Jauslin tells World Pharmaceutical Frontiers.
 |
| Take the
tube: aluminium has several advantages over
other packaging. |
The development of new, high-performance packaging
materials is always of interest to pharmaceutical
companies but, whichever innovations hit the market,
there is one substance that has remained a constant
for decades. Aluminium tubes would have been as
familiar to customers purchasing pharmaceutical
products in the 1940s as they are today. Historically,
aluminium tube was used in the industry as packaging
because there was little alternative, but it turned
out to be a very good material.
It is the perfect barrier to oxygen, and ultraviolet
light, and
there is no migration from the outside. Aluminium
tubes
protect the filled product very efficiently.
“Migration from the packaging material into
the product is
very low because the inside lacquer is proven
to be stable,”
says Obrist’s CEO Richard Jauslin.
Further advantages are that “after dosing,
the tube doesn’t
suck back, so there is very little oxidation exposure
for the
filled product, whereas there is typically a lot
of air intake with
plastic tubes or other packaging concepts”
he explains.
“Aluminium tubes are also very light and
easy to print
on, so they are cost-effective. It is a low-risk
material and
customers know this, because it has been on the
market for
years. It has not been pushed out of the market
by new
materials or concepts.”
As well as its physical properties, aluminium
tubes are chosen
for both, its functionality and for environmental
reasons,” he adds.
Aluminium is an environmentally friendly raw material
for
packaging, and this has become a very important
consideration
for all industries in recent years. “No big
company can ignore
the environmental aspects in his value chain”
says Jauslin.
“Aluminium has outstanding recycling rates
because it can be
recycled many times over without compromising
its
performance. Globally, 86% of all aluminium is
recycled.”
Sustainable assets
Used aluminium tubes can be reclaimed and remade
into
high-quality aluminium products. Furthermore,
the process
of recycling aluminium uses up to 95% less energy
than the
production of primary aluminium. Aluminium may
have had
a bad environmental image in the past, but the
problems
that it had have been addressed since the 1970s.”
In choosing a supplier of aluminium tubes, however,
there
is more to consider than the natural qualities
of aluminium
that make it environmentally friendly and ensure
its high
performance as a barrier material.
For Jauslin, service and quality must be the differentiators.
“We try to do the same as other suppliers,
but better. We
are flexible on lead time and very reliable on
delivery, as well
as having a good record on quality.
We make and print tubes specifically for each
application,
considering the lacquer, the thickness of the
tube and many
other parameters – all our aluminium tubes
are made to
order for our customers,” he says.
With over 60 years’ experience in manufacturing
packaging from aluminium, Obrist has become a
market
leader, with customers in the food, pharma, cosmetics
and
technical industries. It counts some of the biggest
pharmaceutical companies and generic manufacturers
as
clients, largely because of its focus on service
as well as
product quality.
“Providing good-quality products in a reliable
manner
is what the pharmaceutical sector needs. We aim
to grow
with our customers, following them as they grow
into
new markets. Being certified according the ISO
standards
9001 and 15378, we speak a common language with
pharma customers.”
|
