Perfecseal® Thermoformed Trays And Lids Reduce Package Size And Costs For Medical Device Manufacturers
28 November 2006
OSHKOSH, WI (March 1, 2006) - Perfecseal, the only custom-design thermoform manufacturing company specifically dedicated to the medical device and healthcare packaging industries, has designed a thermoformed tray and Tyvek lid solution that saved American Medical Systems (AMS) both material and labor costs and earned the SPE's 2005 Thermoforming Critical Barrier Package award.
According to Brent Binkowski, oerations egineering mnager for AMS, an internal study revealed that two of the company's most popular products for treating urinary stress incontinence: the SPARC™ Sling System and the MONARC Subfascial Hammock™ were over-packaged. The company worked with Perfecseal to design a packaging solution that would keep the products in place, maintain sterility and use minimal packaging.
"We selected Perfecseal because their design was the best fit to help us achieve our goals, make the products easier to use and reduce waste", said Binkowski. "Although it wasn't the main reason for the change, the source reduction coupled with a labor savings, generated both significant cost savings and return on our investment."
Size Reduction
Perfecseal engineers recommended reducing the size of the outer trays and re-orienting the confined devices. By implementing these recommendations, Perfecseal achieved volume reductions of ~68% for the sling system and ~54% for the subfascial hammock.
"The length and width of the trays decreased, while the depth of one the trays actually increased", said Steve Olson, Perfecseal project engineer. "As a result, the draw ratios had to be carefully planned. The tray material could not become too thin, otherwise the safety and sterility of the product would be compromised."
Olson said Perfecseal was able to reduce material thickness from.04in to.03in, which resulted in an additional source reduction of 25% for three of the trays.
Labor Savings
An additional cost reduction, in the form of labor savings was achieved by eliminating the use of interleaving.
"When stacked together, the former trays were nearly impossible to separate without using a tissue interleaf between every tray," said Binkowski. "As a result, the packaging process was quite cumbersome as we brought the materials into our clean room and began packaging the devices."
Olson said just changing the tray was not enough. All of AMS' sealing validations were completed using uncoated PETG trays. He said a silicone-coated material could have been used to eliminate the interleaving; however, the new raw material would have required customer re-validations. By recommending C0025 Internal De-Nest PETG from Pacur Inc., Perfecseal eliminated the tissue interleaf without AMS needing to re-validate seal parameters, thereby saving AMS time and money.
"We haven't heard anything but rave reviews from our customers", said Binkowski. "The amount of shelf space required to store the product has been reduced. The products are easier to access. The interleaving elimination has contributed in a large reduction in packaging material waste."
