Cardboard Boxes for Medicines and Pharmaceutical Products
PHARMA PACKAGING
FOLDING BOX
Cardboard boxes for Medicines and Pharmaceutical Products
Internal challenges: Corporate Governance, upsizing and critical mass, innovation, financial markets, education and culture.
External challenges: laws and regulations compliance, research and innovation, incentives and changes in fiscal policies, education and culture.
This complex organization can never stop because of the enormous costs that would cause.
Outer packaging must guarantee business continuity and ease logistics
Cartons are a key part of the supply chain of every pharmaceutical company and they must guarantee:
- Supply continuity
- Perfect machinability
- Complete traceability
- No mix-ups
- Accurate management of print runs and reprints
- Strict compliance with GMP and AQL
- 100% quality control
These folding cartons’ features are not obvious but they are taken for granted by the packaging departments of pharma companies.
Supply continuity
IGB is the only paper converting company which has been awarded an ISO 22301 - Business Continuity Management certification.
This has allowed IGB customers to have always been served in compliance with SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and with a 100% OTD (On Time Delivery) even in the most difficult times like from 2020 on (pandemic and raw material supply disruptions).
Quality and machinability
Since cardboard is the most important raw material when manufacturing cartons, to offer excellent results, IGB carefully chooses the best suppliers and materials and is able to supply boxes manufactured with all types of single or double coated products on the market:
- GT1 GT2, GT3, GT4, GD2 (recycled cardboard)
- GC1, GC2, (boxboard, also called FBB, made of virgin fiber or wood pulp)
- Kraft
- SBS, GZ (fully bleached chemical pulp cardboard)
How the cardboard is stored in the IGB warehouses
No powder
In order to avoid using anti-set-off spray powders, IGB has developed exclusive powerful dryers. This means:
- Clean and tidy equipment: without powder, the customer’s packaging lines keep clean, delivering flawless performance
- No contamination: no powder contaminates pharmaceutical products
SECONDARY PHARMACEUTICAL PACKAGING
What is meant by a secondary standard pharmaceutical packaging?
A standard secondary standard pharmaceutical packaging is the cardboard intended to contain medicines, medical devices, vaccines, and healthcare products.
It represents one of the fundamental elements of the pharmaceutical supply chain.
What functions does a pharmaceutical carton perform?
The carton performs several functions:
- product protection
- medicine identification
- serialization support
- communication of mandatory information
- traceability support
- protection during transport and distribution
- anti-counterfeiting
Why is a pharmaceutical carton not just a simple box?
Because it must meet very strict requirements related to:
- quality
- safety
- regulatory compliance
- machinability
- traceability
- production continuity
What characteristics must IGB cartons have?
IGB cartons are designed to guarantee:
- perfect closure
- high mechanical resistance
- printing precision
- perfect folding
- maximum compatibility with automatic lines
Why is machinability fundamental in pharmaceutical cartons?
Because cartons must be able to be used at high speeds without causing:
- jams
- slowdowns
- waste
- machine downtime
