Keeping products safe is always an important aspect of package design, but with medical packaging, it’s even more crucial. In fact, it can be a matter of life or death. If you need medical packaging, here are some tips that will help you find the best medical packaging companies.
1. Experience Within The Medical Industry
Medical packaging is unique, and while many people focus on the quality of the products inside, such as medicines, syringes, equipment, etc., the packaging can be just as important. After all, if the packaging isn’t secure and sterile, this affects the quality of the equipment or medicine.
When shopping for medical packaging companies, it’s best to stick with experienced vendors with many years of experience working with the medical and pharmaceutical industries. For more than 50 years, Indepak has been producing low-particulate medical packaging, intended for non-sterile or downstream sterilization applications, depending on your needs.
It’s also smart to think about packaging in the early stages of product development. While a blister web filled with single doses of medication might fit conveniently into secondary packaging that stacks neatly on a shelf, other types of medical packaging also need to be convenient for the user.
Hospital and medical staff will appreciate blister trays and medical kits that are stackable and easy to store, and experienced medical packaging companies understand this aspect of packaging design. Our design and production teams can provide you with a design that is both safe and convenient for the user.
2. Experience With Required Materials
While many packaging companies can provide you with custom blister trays and other types of custom plastic packaging, when it comes to medical-related products, certain types of materials are needed (and required) to ensure safety.
Not all thermoform plastics are approved for medical packaging, and you need to work with the packaging supplier that has experience with the materials suitable for medical and pharmaceutical packaging.
While the process of thermoforming is similar for all types of plastic, the plastic materials have vastly different properties. For instance, each type of plastic becomes malleable at a different temperature. Plastics such as PETG can be tricky to handle, and you need to find a company that has a good deal of experience working with this material and a variety of other materials.
At Indepak, our production team can work with virtually any type of thermoform plastic material, including PET, PETG, PP, HDPE and other materials approved by the FDA as medical-grade plastics.
Medical-grade plastics are ideal for medical packaging, such as blister trays, but also for use in the production many medical devices. They are easy to sterilize and some have antimicrobial properties or surfaces. Of course, plastic medical packaging and plastic devices are impact-resistant and shatter-proof, which is crucial if you need to take equipment or medicines out into the field or if you use plastic containers to hold biohazardous materials.
While safety and sterilization is the most important aspect of medical and pharmaceutical packaging, these materials also are cost-effective and most can be recycled, which makes them a sustainable option. In some cases, materials with recycled content can be used to create medical packaging, so that may be an additional sustainable option to consider.
3. A Commitment To Safety & Quality
Obviously, all medical packaging companies will speak to their level of safety. When selecting a company, you need to find a firm that provides you with detailed record-keeping and traceability down to the box level.
At Indepak, we have processes from material ordering and receiving through production and packaging that will ensure that your medical thermoform packaging meets agreed-upon specifications.
Additionally, we are ISO 9001 certified, which speaks to our commitment to quality. ISO certification is given to companies that meet or exceed ISO standards for quality management systems. When you select medical packaging companies, check to see that they have earned ISO 9001 certification, as this is an indication that the company’s processes are efficient and sound.
If you’ve been searching for medical packaging companies, consider working with the team at Indepak. We’ve been an industry leader since 1967, and have worked with many medical and pharmaceutical companies. In addition to producing quality packaging, such as blister trays, we also can provide you with unique designs to hold equipment and supplies. Give us a call at any time and we will discuss your unique project.
