Last month, I was happy to represent DDL at ISTA’s first annual International Transport Packaging Forum. While I was presenting” Laboratory Practices for Optimal Thermal Gel Design and Specification” DDL’s own Mike Woletz, Packaging Engineer and Project Manager, was attending multiple presentations, networking, and since the event was held at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, most likely having a little bit of fun.
It is my pleasure to introduce below a guest post from Mike Woletz sharing his thoughts on the first annual International Transport Packaging Forum:

Lately, we in the packaging industry have been thinking a lot about the concept of sustainability, particularly as it relates to package design.

The following, is the Message From the Chairman message I wrote for the most recent ASTM D10 Newsletter that helps clarify this issue and exactly what sustainability and sustainable packaging means, and will continue to mean, for our industry.

As a company, DDL looks at sustainability as vital not just to our industry, but to the world we are charged with improving for future generations.

Despite rumblings of a weakening economy, firms in the health care and medical manufacturing industries are relatively sheltered, as I recently quoted to Minnesota based Upsize Magazine.

The reason for this is simple. The only constant we as Americans experience in our lives is that we age. Going hand in hand with this sometimes stark reality is that we will all require increasingly more health care despite nearly all other external factors.

While health care may never be a subject we discuss comfortably, firms like DDL help to ensure we experience it more comfortably.

DDL, the leading package testing services firm specializing in medical device testing, and TCP Reliable, a thermal packaging solutions manufacturer, have announced a merger, making the combined company the leading packaging engineering provider specializing in the medical device and biopharmaceutical industries.

This merger represents a natural expansion into new areas of the packaging lifecycle that began this year with DDL’s launch of custom package development and prototyping services.

Be advised that DDL will continue to operate its testing and manufacturing separately, and maintain its current locations, staff, and superior level of service as a wholly owned subsidiary of TCP Reliable.

DDL was founded with the understanding that time to market would be critical to the competitive advantage of our clients. This mantra has helped shape the development of our world class package testing, and launch of our custom package development, services. In combination, these services help ensure you “Beat The Clock” in getting your product to market.

Inspired by this success, DDL will be launching our “Beat The Clock” game live this week at our booth at BIOMedevice in San Jose and continuing later this month at MD&M in Minneapolis.

Medical device companies must work through a number of challenges facing their corporate packaging engineers. In my article, “Six Benefits of Outsourcing Your Packaging Engineering Activities - A Case for Virtual Package Engineering for the Medical Device Industries“, I discuss the benefit of outsourcing and other important issues challenging today’s packaging professional.

These six benefits can significantly reduce the time needed to get a product to market. In addition, outsourcing your package engineering can allow for more effective problem solving and innovative design. By outsourcing, your company focuses on what it does best, while getting the crucial packaging completed through the use of a virtual package engineering support team.

The buzz words for today are Package Design and Prototyping. We are now offering complete package design, development, prototyping, consulting and qualification services to companies in the lifesciences industries. We are very excited to offer this new suite of custom designed engineering services and look forward to helping you achieve packaging success now and in the future.

Our principals leading this effort are expert lifesciences packaging engineers, with combined 50 years of package design, development and qualification experience for top tier medical device and pharmaceutical companies. Our package design and prototyping professionals have broad and deep packaging industry contacts which will provide you unparalleled access to the best packaging suppliers in the nation.

Medical device companies of all sizes are challenged to meet the increasing demands generated by factors such as broad technology advancements and the increasing life expectancy of the global population.

In response, organizations worldwide are looking to outsourcing partners to meet the challenges and requirements within a tightly compressed and highly competitive time frame.

There are 6 major benefits to your company’s business and market objectives to be derived through outsourcing:

Benefit #1: Reduced time to market

Benefit #2: Significant cost savings

Benefit #3: Innovation and design excellence

Benefit #4: More effective problem solving

We have recently discovered that there is an inaccuracy in the environmental test conditions contained in the 2A test procedure.The temperature condition called ‘desert (Dry)’ of 60C and 30% RH is really not desert, nor is it particularly dry. In fact, these conditions have almost the same moisture content (absolute humidity) for the environmental conditions of 38C and 85% RH, which is defined as ‘Tropical Wet’.

An internet tool is available to calculate the comparable RH values for a desired temperature when the ‘ambient’ conditions are known. See Psychrometric Calculator.

Time-to-market is a key concern for many manufacturers. DDL has developed a 5 Step Guide to facilitate the packaging and distribution process.

Step 1:
It is imperative to define the packaging system. The packaging engineer/ designer must collaborate with project team members to create and refer to a packaging design requirements document.

Step 2:
Perform a packaging system hazard analysis early on. This will ensure safety of the product and package as well the product’s efficacy.

Step 3:
Identify the labeling requirements. Develop labeling content early on in the device development stage as copies of labeling are required within the regulatory submission package to the FDA.