Printing for the Pharmaceutical Market

Johnson adds, "It starts with having 24/7 surveillance throughout the entire building." The printing process also must be secure and accounted for. "For printing, you've got vision scanners, bar code scanners, and glue detection systems," he asserts.

Scheer states that background checks on employees, as well as being able to account for materials and supplies, means printers must open themselves up to audits. Johnson concurs. "All waste streams have to be secure. You can't just take your additional makeready sheets, bundle them and send them out to recyclers." Rather, he says, they must be chopped up, or sometimes the pharmaceutical brand will demand that the printer incinerate the sheets. "And, you have to have a videotape of the actual incineration," he quips. "There's a very tight screen on that as well."