PA C K A G I N G It’s expected to reach a global value of $80 billion in the next three years, making it one of the most lucrative markets in the world. It’s called pharmaceutical packaging, and next month thousands of packaging purveyors descending on Sydney for the AUSPAK 2017 event will get a comprehensive overview of this genre. www.foodtechnology.co.nz 33 From March 7 to 10, more than 350 exhibitors and 1200 brands representing the processing, packaging, materials, components and materials handling sectors will converge on the Sydney Olympic Park for Australasia’s largest processing and packaging trade exhibition. And with pharmaceutical packaging a hot trend at the moment, AUSPAK2017 has come up with some trends to keep an eye on. • Plastic bottles are on the up, due to the decline of glass pharmaceutical bottles, and are tipped to be the most popular pharmaceutical container globally, with plastic bottles estimated to hit $20.6 billion by 2020. • Blister packaging will continue to grow, becoming the second best-selling pharmaceutical packaging thanks to the growing popularity of unit dose formats and built-in track-and-trace technology. • Pouches are particularly popular in the food industry, but pharmaceutical pouches are on their way out, due to the limited use. • Prefillable syringes could become the fastest growing aseptic packaging type, with growth of 11% per year. • The market for over-the-counter pharmaceuticals is highly competitive, so manufacturers need packaging that provides maximum shelf impact and includes eco-friendly options to cater for environment-conscious consumers. • With regulations requirements set to get more stringent, pharmaceutical manufacturers are stepping up their serialisation strategies. And for processors wanting to export to overseas markets, it’s never been more important to implement serialisation. Companies exhibiting at AUSPACK are developing products and technologies that provide the industry with the opportunity to leverage the state of the market and meet the growing needs of consumers: For example, the new Leuze (Stand 116) electronic DCR 80 and DCR 85 camera-based code readers are specially designed to read the smallest high density codes regularly used in the pharmaceutical industry. Qualicaps (Stand 788), a leader in gelatin and HPMC capsules, have developed the Multi-Dosage Weight Inspection Machine (MWI) to ensure the accurate measurement of a product’s mass. Designed for optimal usage, this MWI inspects the weight of two-piece capsules, soft gel capsules and tablets of various shapes and sizes in the same machine. Fewer change parts are needed, which reduces changeover time and costs. CEIA (Heat and Control, Stand 72) continues to innovate and lead in inspection through metal detection, as can be demonstrated by the evolution to their latest metal detector system, the THS/PH21N, which features extremely high detection sensitivity and precision for detecting all types of metals, whether ferrous, non-ferrous or stainless steel. AUSPACK 2017 IT’S ON! AUSPACK 2017 is free to register. Visit www.auspack.com.au for more information.
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