At DDL, our objective with this blog is to allow for far greater, far more meaningful conversations with clients, prospects, and industry friends like you than we had ever before thought possible.

Via comments left below, or thoughts shared with us later, we feel that we’ve helped build a forum where we can educate each other on what we truly care about – continued growth and development of the packaging industry.

Now, we’d like you to not only share what you think with us, but with a much larger audience.

Operating your business in a tough economy is certainly nothing any business owner or high level executive relishes.

In a previous post, I discussed how firms like DDL, who exist in the package testing and medical device testing services arenas, are relatively sheltered during these times. However, this is in no way meant to indicated that we do not experience – and in some sense have to refine our strategy – to ensure success.

Many companies find value in combining their package and product testing to ensure that their product is delivered to market in a timely fashion.

1) Eliminate Re-Testing
Knowing the product’s response to environmental forces and informing the Package Engineer of them early on can eliminate the need to re-test or conduct a second round of testing.  The engineer can use product data collected to make educated packaging design decisions with confidence.

2) Reduce Time to Market
Combining package testing and product testing from the start streamlines process and reduces the overall time to market.

I recently met with the Technical Committee 122 to discuss the proposed changes to ISO 4180 - “Packaging-Complete, filled transport packages-General rules for the compilation of performance test schedules.”

The objective of this meeting was to review the draft document developed from discussions during the first meeting in June 2005.

In the previous meeting, the Working Group had agreed on the structure of combining the two parts of the current standard into a single document.

The ensuing discussion revolved around the proposed 2nd draft of the revised standard. Some of the highlights of the proposed draft are presented below and revolved around the Test Schedule Tables.

DDL would like to welcome Kelley Newman as a new Project Manager at its Minnesota facility.  Kelley joins DDL from Spalding Corporation where she served as a Package Engineer, and will bring valuable quality assurance experience to the company.

Patrick Nolan, COO of DDL Inc., hosted the third and final Webinar in the ISO 11607 Revisions series in August.  All three Webinars are now available on-demand on the DDL website.

Webinar #1: The Revised ISO 11607-01
Webinar #2: ISO 11607 Revisions - Understanding Clause 6
Webinar #3: ISO 11607 Revisions - Implementing Clause 6

DDL West would like to welcome Karen Greene as its new Technical Director.  Karen joins DDL West from Seltzer Nutritional Technologies, where she was Director of Package Engineering.  As Technical Director, Karen will focus on increasing DDL West’s package testing business.

Patrick Nolan, COO of DDL Inc., hosted the third and final Webinar in the ISO 11607 Revisions series in August.  All three Webinars are now available on-demand on the DDL website.

Webinar #1: The Revised ISO 11607-01
Webinar #2: ISO 11607 Revisions - Understanding Clause 6
Webinar #3: ISO 11607 Revisions - Implementing Clause 6

Los Angeles, CA, July 20, 2006 – http://www.testedandproven.com/ddl-west.html - DDL West, a medical device package, product and material testing services laboratory, is helping medical device manufacturers and package engineers understand the implications of the recently revised ISO 11607-01 industry standard.

The new ISO 11607-01 standard, which is the foremost guidance document for validating packaging for terminally sterilized medical devices, has only just been published. Changes to this standard will impact compliance requirements for validating medical device packaging.

Minneapolis, MN, March 16, 2006 — http://www.testedandproven.com - Package testing expert, Patrick Nolan, COO of DDL, a leading package, product and material testing laboratory, has been elected Chairman of the ASTM Committee D-10 on Packaging.

The American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM) created the D-10 on Packaging Committee in 1914 to discuss the revision and development of regulated packaging standards.

“I am thrilled to be Chairman of the D-10 committee,” said Patrick Nolan, COO of DDL. “By being actively involved in the development of packaging standardization, I am in a position to offer the best knowledge and quality of service to DDL’s package testing customers.”

Minneapolis, MN, February 27, 2006 — http://www.testedandproven.com/11607-webinar.html - DDL, a leading package, product and material testing laboratory, is hosting a series of free webinars on how upcoming revisions to the ISO 11607 standard will impact packaging professionals.

ISO 11607 is the foremost guidance document for validating packaging for terminally sterilized medical devices. The proposed revisions will mean a change in compliance requirements for package testing and validation.

“DDL wants packaging professionals to be aware of the upcoming changes to the ISO 11607 standard,” said Patrick Nolan, COO of DDL. “Understanding the imminent revisions could mean the difference between pass and fail when it comes to package validation.”

Minneapolis, MN, January 26, 2006 – http://www.testedandproven.com – DDL, a leading package, product and material testing services laboratory, is offering advice to packaging professionals as to how ISO 11607 revisions will affect their business.