As pharmaceutical manufacturers face growing SKU complexity, shorter production runs and more variable demand, packaging strategies are also evolving.
Hapa
One emerging approach is to postpone printing and customisation until closer to the point of demand, reducing the need to manage large stocks of pre-printed packaging.
Hapa’s blisterjet agile applies this late-stage customisation model to pharmaceutical blister packaging. Instead of purchasing pre-printed foil stocks, the system enables digital printing of artwork and variable data directly onto pre-filled and sealed blisters.
Moving printing closer to demand
The concept is relatively straightforward: pharmaceutical manufacturers can produce blank blisters efficiently and add the required artwork, branding or variable information at a later stage. This can help reduce dependence on inventories of pre-printed packaging and provide greater flexibility when products, markets or quantities change.
The approach is particularly relevant to high-mix, low-volume production, where conventional printing can become less economical and production planning more complex.
Blisterjet agile supports both full-colour and monochrome variable-data printing, with resolutions of up to 600 dpi and printing speeds of up to 27 m/min, depending on the application.
Digital flexibility for pharmaceutical packaging
Beyond changing artwork, digital printing can also support the growing need for product-specific and market-specific information. By moving customisation downstream in the packaging process, manufacturers can delay decisions on exactly what needs to be printed until production requirements are clearer.
This can be particularly useful in environments where multiple SKUs, markets and smaller batches need to be managed without increasing packaging inventory.
Automation and control
Blisterjet agile is designed as an integrated system, incorporating Hapa’s Vision Secure inspection technology to support reliable print quality and automated quality control. The system also provides an audit trail, helping to ensure consistent and traceable digital blister printing processes.
The wider significance of technology lies less in digital printing itself than in where and when packaging information is applied. By postponing customisation until after filling and sealing, pharmaceutical manufacturers can gain greater flexibility in responding to changing production requirements, as the market continues to evolve towards increasingly individualized products and smaller batch sizes.
For an industry increasingly balancing product variety, shorter runs and tighter inventory control, late-stage customisation offers a different way of thinking about pharmaceutical packaging: rather than printing everything in advance, manufacturers can increasingly print what they need, when they need it.
