Addressing New Trends with Medical Device Packaging Companies

Change is the only constant. As science, technology, healthcare, and consumer trends evolve for medical device packaging companies and manufacturers alike, strategies must be adjusted in turn.

Packaging companies such as Amcor face daily challenges that include keeping the medical devices sterile, protected, and undamaged. Now, there are additional challenges currently facing the medical device industry as a whole, including:

• Increasing regulatory pressures
• Rising costs
• More focus on sustainability
• Evolving customer demands

And that list will continue to expand and transform over time. This is why medical device packaging is a key element that you as a manufacturer must consider. Addressing these challenges with an experienced packaging partner will most effectively help you overcome them and achieve your objectives.

Let’s look at some important considerations.

Enhance Regulatory Compliance

As regulations change, so must processes and products to remain compliant. Before making adjustments based on trends or customer desires, we ensure we’re following every regulation in a way that’s airtight against scrutiny. For manufacturers, it’s particularly important that every new product and package is in line. We can work on this together, since we’re well aware of the regulations that govern the industry.

For instance, all packaging must satisfy rules laid out by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO 11607-1:2019 is one example — written to develop standards for terminally sterilized medical devices until the point of use.¹

The United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has also created regulations manufacturers and packaging companies must follow. This includes Title 21, Volume 8, Section 820.130, which states every manufacturer must make sure that all packaging is “designed and constructed to protect the device from alteration or damage” throughout every step of the process until use.²

One more vital set of standards is ISO 13485. This isn’t mandatory for all companies, but Amcor holds this certification because we see it as critically important. ISO 13485 is internationally recognized, and by obtaining this certification, Amcor has demonstrated a valuable quality control system and an emphasis on risk management.

Medical devices are highly regulated — as they should be. We stay in the know about any new measures from the government or other regulatory bodies that affect the industry. Let’s follow the law and standards first, then go from there.

Reduce Costs & Improve Packaging Efficiency Through Innovation

Don’t cut corners, but do find where you can gain efficiency.

Conduct cost analyses and look to areas where opportunities exist to better optimize your spending. As a packaging partner, Amcor can help you find ways to lower your costs while retaining superior quality.

Innovation is one of our pillars, with our brilliant, science-driven employees always figuring out ways to create materials that ensure sterility and don’t compromise the integrity of the medical devices, surgical instruments, or any other items that need packaging.

Prioritize innovation and finding efficiencies, and you’ll be mastering numerous industry challenges all at once.

Understand the Latest Sustainability Options, Trends, & Technologies

It’s entirely possible to get the most out of your operations by streamlining the packaging process in ways that save money while shrinking your carbon footprint through waste reduction. Stay educated on all the latest technologies and options you have at your disposal to package your devices in ways that promote a good environmental conscience.

Think of what you can do with less materials. Consider just how much packaging you need for any given device. Will a more compact package work? Right-sizing is a significant sustainability trend in the industry right now, helping in the elimination of excess material, and it’s one of our own biggest focal points.

Sustainability is an impactful, primary objective at Amcor. We use eco-friendly packaging materials to boost sustainability measures and maintain our commitment to the environment. In the process, we never sacrifice safety or product integrity, or work outside of regulations. One of our best approaches to sustainability that can help you is ASSET™.

ASSET™ stands for Advanced Sustainability Stewardship Evaluation Tool. This is a life cycle assessment service that uses a Carbon-Trust certified toolkit to provide data that can help improve the environmental effects of our packaging solutions. You’ll have real data and numbers at your fingertips that show how much you’ve lowered your carbon footprint by using Amcor’s recycle-ready materials — data and numbers that you can report to your curious stakeholders, too.

Adapt to Evolving Customer Demands

The primary driving factor behind everything we do is patient safety and well-being. Whether that’s ensuring the sterility of a thermometer probe cover in a primary care doctor’s office or an at-home test purchased over the counter — we have to be certain that people using the products are safe doing so.

That can mean different things for different markets within the healthcare industry, and Amcor’s role with packaging is crucial in taking all markets into account. Our Catalyst program, for example, uses insight, creativity, and engineering backed by our expert technicians to produce consumer-driven packaging solutions that work for the marketplaces and can help your business grow.

Collaborate with a Partner

You don’t have to do any of this on your own.

When you team up with a medical packaging supplier such as Amcor, you’re paired with experienced, expert partners that engage with regulatory bodies and have industry associations who have their fingers on the pulse of current healthcare affairs. And innovation and sustainability in particular are key motivators at the heart of what we do. We’re the world’s first packaging company to pledge to make all our products recyclable or reusable by 2025 — a goal we take very seriously.

You’ll also benefit from our overall collaborative mindset. We’re right there with you to find the best solution that meets or exceeds every requirement. We invite you to see for yourself just what your products might need for reliable, sturdy, sterile, and more sustainable packaging. Click the link below to take our Packaging Needs Assessment today, and please feel free to contact us with any questions.

SOURCES
¹International Organization for Standardization, ISO 11607-1:2019, Packaging for terminally sterilized medical devices — Part 1: Requirements for materials, sterile barrier systems and packaging systems, February 2019.
²U.S. Food & Drug Administration, CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21, June 7, 2023.