Protect and Inform

cGMP, which stands for Current Good Manufacturing Practice, helps ensure a top-notch product, but also one that is providing accurate information.

“We want to make sure you have high quality with low variation,” Dixon says. “You want to have complete segregation of your product and have complete line variances of your product so that there’s no mixing and there are no text problems.”

SKU Proliferations

As pharmaceutical companies change their approach in how they present their products, Dixon says packaging companies have had to adapt as well. According to Dixon, there has not necessarily been a volume increase in the pharmaceutical world, but a SKU proliferation.

He says that major blockbuster drugs are no longer popular items in the field. Instead, companies are spreading their brands and offerings across multiple platforms. For example, a drug company’s base product may be a cough and cold suppressant, but in addition to that base product it will likely also have a fast-acting offering, a long-lasting item, and separate medications for days and nights. And a travel version of each.

Dixon says the printing process has changed with this SKU proliferation because now, instead of setting up a long run, there are now several more steps to produce the same quantity of folding cartons.

“Now you’ve got a high number of setups, a high number of plate changeovers, and a high number of wash-ups and text changes,” Dixon says. “There’s a lot more complexity in managing the same volume.”

While digital printing has not yet come to Rondo’s Pennsylvania location, the company’s Swiss location does provide digital services. Because the company produces packaging for an international customer base, using a hybrid offset and digital process can improve production, notes Dixon.

For example, if the same product is being sold in multiple countries and requires different languages, the base carton can be produced offset and after adding registration marks, the changing text can be printed digitally.