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Packaging Trends

Every facet in view

© Gerhard Schubert GmbH

Safety has always been the first rule in manufacturing medicines, because mistakes can endanger lives. There is now a comprehensive body of rules, in which it is attempted to include all facets that are of decisive importance for safety. The GMP guidelines (Good Manufacturing Practice) were given a start in the 80s by the WHO, and since then turned into national law by the different economic regions. The principle in this is always the same: A constant quality standard in the completed product is only to be guaranteed if the quality control takes place continuously and thoroughly during operation and during the manufacturing process. Due to the importance of the corresponding markets, the versions of the American FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the European Union have a strong influence on the pharmaceuticals manufacturers and their suppliers.

Core discipline automation

In order to optimize the driving and controlling of a mechatronic system, the mechanical, electro-technical and information-processing-related (hardware and software) parts of the machine are to be regarded as a whole. This is the task that packaging mechanical engineering is giving itself. No wonder, then, that the experts of the industry are increasingly using the term mechatronics, when they speak of their work. In the past decade, it was only isolated packaging machine manufacturers that were trying to fully exploit the possibilities of the new control and drive technologies. In the 1990s, it becomes clear that the requirements of the packaging industry can no longer be met in another way.