Why thermoformed pouch trays can make ideal medical packaging

Anne-Sophie Belamine, European sales director at TEQ, offers six reasons why its thermoformed trays can compete with die cut backer cards. 

When looking for packaging, a lot of medical device companies strive to keep costs down while effectively protecting their device. And while die cut backer cards may seem like a feasible replacement for a thermoformed tray, there are a few reasons as to why it’s not as an effective alternative as some may think. 

1. Protection: One of the biggest advantages that thermoformed trays have when packaging a medical device is the protective nature of the tray. A medical device is snapped into a tray, preventing the device from being jostled or damaged in transit.
2. Handling Assurance: To ensure a device doesn’t compromise the sterility of the package, the packaging of a device needs to ensure that the movement of a device in its package won’t move or damage the sterile barrier. And some of our customers feel that the snap in a tray is superior to die cut card features for sterile presentation.
3. Product Orientation: Another way thermoformed trays help secure a medical device is providing a consistent product orientation so a device doesn’t deploy before it is intended too. For example, TEQ worked with a customer to design a new automation process that would put an end to rejections for quality to create a 19-cavity tray that held safety medical devices that could not be deployed before usage.
4. Assembly: While die cut backer cards may seem like the easier assembly option, TEQ has proven that isn’t the case. Multiple customers have come to TEQ seeking help with packaging redesign because the card backers are just too difficult to load, creating longer assembly time. With a thermoform tray, you simply have to snap a medical device in place and move onto the next. A thermoform tray also reduces repetitive strain injuries that could occur in the workplace. Improper loading techniques and repetitive motions can cause gradual build-up of damage to muscle and ligaments.
5. Material: TEQ is not only a highly skilled thermoformer of over 25 materials, including the latest renewable, sustainable, biodegradable and recycled plastics, but we have also developed proprietary materials such as TEQethylene. TEQethylene offers many additional benefits over conventional HDPE such as the biocompatibility and cytotoxin that comes with the material, backed by the TEQethylene real time stability study data we conducted.
6. Price: When it comes to tooling, card backers do have less expensive tooling costs. But when it comes to unit prices, TEQ has been very competitive when the package is produced in our TEQethylene material, convincing customers that a tray is the more logical route to take when packaging a medical device.