Q&A: How Shawpak's new rigid blister machine can aid medical device firms
Following the launch of Shawpak’s new rigid blister machine, sales and marketing administrator Lucie Markgraf tells Med-Tech Innovation more about the company’s new development.
The company says the machine can create diecut rigid blister packs of up to a maximum size of 600 x 280mm giving a web width of 620mm and an index length of 300mm. A single blister can be produced at the maximum size or any combination of blisters to make up the 600mm width. Narrower materials can be loaded onto the machine down to a minimum width of 250mm. It forms the blister, diecuts the outer profile, automatically stacks them ready for use in production and includes a separate waste disposal.
The machine gives medical device customers flexibility when making packaging on demand from roll stock, rather than relying on supply chains. The tooling can be quickly changed to give full control and allows customers to make trays ahead of time, preventing the need to store surplus inventory of stock for months taking up space and tying up cash. This machine can help integrate a company’s supply chain and allow them to control serialisation and inspection as packs are made, allowing better quality control.
Lucie Markgraf told us more:
The new machine allows trays to be produced on demand, how many can it produce? Can you give us some insight into its capacity?
The machine has capacity of up to 700 trays per hour – depending on tray size
What other benefits does the machine have for medical device companies?
As well as everything already mentioned, Shawpak manufactures packaging machinery dedicated only to the medical industry, meaning we understand requirements from our customers. We design and manufacturer all tooling in-house through our ISO 9001 processes, we have the knowledge to understand requirements and maintain quality in our machines.
There’s mention of understanding customer struggles, what struggles does the machine address? Both supply chain related and otherwise?
The supply of rigid trays is in high demand and estimated delivery times are long, this will help customers to bring their packaging inhouse and take back control. The flexibility of the machine is also highly advantageous so customers can produce various trays with different tooling. Other struggles that they may see is wasted space full of inventory of stock, this also ties up a lot of cash; by producing your own trays you won’t need to store surplus inventory of stock for months.
How does the Rigid Blister Machine complement the rest of the Shawpak portfolio?
Like all our machines we keep things compact and flexible, the Shawpak Rigid Blister Machine is highly flexible and compact and gives the solution to rigid trays. Just like the Shawpak Pouch Machine this will help supply chains for our customers as they will be able to bring their packaging inhouse and take control!
Can we expect to see the machine at any trade shows in the next 6-12 months?
We are planning to take this to Interpack 2023, potentially Med-Tech Innovation Expo, and COMPAMED 2023.
Are there any other exciting developments in the pipeline that you can tell us about?
We are working on a new thermoform packaging project, the machine will be called the Shawpak Shuttle and it’s in early development. It will bring yet another unique thermoforming processing machine to the medical device industry.
Find out more from Shawpak at Med-Tech Innovation Expo 2023 on 7-8 June 2023 at the NEC, Birmingham. For more information, visit med-techexpo.com.