Originally Published PMPN April 2001
CASE HISTORY
Hanging Around Gets the Job DoneAn innovative label that doubles as a hanger for IV bottles helps a drug manufacturer increase line speed and reduce inventory needs.
Rick Majszak's job once required a lot of elbow grease. Manager of packaging at Aventis Behring LLC (Kankakee, IL), Majszak is charged with the packaging and labeling of the firm's intravenous pharmaceutical products. For years his team placed traditional bail caps, plastic cups, and metal bail bands onto the IV drug bottles so the bottles could hang upside down from IV stands. Such an operation required a lot of manual labor and inventory tracking. In addition, explains Majszak, "the cup slings were difficult to apply and required extensive inventory space." "
After years of relying on this labor-intensive method, Majszak sought an easier, faster process and investigated a label construction from Pharmagraphics (Itasca, IL). Called Pharma:Sling, the label consists of polyester that is laminated to Valtuff, a material from Valéron Strength Films (Houston). After being printed, the label is die-cut to form a hanging loop. Once the label is applied to bottles, the loop can be used to suspend those bottles from IV stands.
Majszak and his team decided to use Pharma:Sling to replace the traditional bail caps, plastic cups, and metal bail bands. By eliminating capping from the packaging process, "we gained efficiencies in our packaging line," he explains. Use of the new construction also reduced Aventis Behring's overall production costs and sped up its packaging line, explains Glenn Grosskopf, vice president of product development at Pharmagraphics, who spearheaded the development of Pharma:Sling.
Because Pharma:Sling can be printed, Aventis was also able to replace its traditional pressure-sensitive IV bottle label with the new laminate label. According to Grosskopf, Majszak was able to use equipment he already had in-house to automatically apply the labels to bottles.
In addition to realizing in-house efficiencies and savings, Majszak says that end-users are also served. "Hospitals are benefiting by an easier and quicker activation or hanging of the bottle," he explains.
Pharma:Sling has been applied to more than 50 million IV bottles ranging in volume from 50 ml to 2 L, and there have been no reported failures to date, says Grosskopf. Such a track record should appeal to drug packagers, whom Grosskopf says are looking for "labels that do more than just identify products."
Copyright ©2001 Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News
