Packaging Supply Chain Support Enables Growth, Automation Integration | Life Sciences

3/18/2024

RRD’s supply chain support accommodates leading pharma company’s in-house production line automation

CHALLENGE

A leading pharmaceutical company was seeking additional packaging support for their new manufacturing operation — ideally with a partner that had a facility nearby. The company currently worked with a single packaging supplier, and essentially felt at the mercy of that lone supplier. 

They sought to add to their packaging supplier base — and outsource a portion of their packaging supply chain —  to accommodate growth and new in-house production line automation. The new supplier needed to produce a final product that seamlessly integrated with this in-house automation technology, met their required quality standards, and could scale to support future capacity.

SOLUTION

A longstanding existing relationship — as well as the proximity of a leading RRD packaging facility — led the pharma company to turn to RRD for additional support.

The first order of business was working with the company to determine which board stocks would work best with their new automated equipment. As it stood, they had just two stocks approved, and were seeking alternative stocks that could be accommodated. 

RRD helped the company source and test a range of board stocks on the equipment, even as it was being installed and fine-tuned. Following multiple rounds of testing, RRD was able to identify several board stocks that met the equipment’s demanding automation requirements — ensuring RRD’s final product would seamlessly integrate with the company’s supply chain.

Certification also came into play since the printed packaging materials RRD was producing would be utilized for consumer pharmaceutical products. The RRD facility’s ISO certification and PS 9000 compliance ensured adherence to strict industry regulations.

Once completed, the final printed packaging materials were shipped flat from the RRD facility to the company. There, the company’s in-house automated machinery assembled and glued the pieces together to create the final branded container, and then inserted the company’s product. The final boxes were then shipped to the company’s distribution facilities and, ultimately, to end consumers. 

RESULTS

RRD’s printed product worked seamlessly with the pharmaceutical company’s automated equipment, providing extensive supply chain support. The partnership also enabled the company to look forward to their projected future growth (doubling output volume over the next five years), with additional board stocks readily available. Other benefits included:

• RRD integrated into the company’s existing supply chain, providing comprehensive and compliant print support and directly shipping materials to the company for final configuration
• RRD’s facility met the company's criteria from a quality, location, and scalability standpoint
• RRD provided myriad samples and identified robust materials that met highly automated requirements for packaging
• By identifying multiple approved board stocks, RRD ensured the company could maintain their speed to market even as they installed additional manufacturing lines