Editor: Crayon Zhang
22 Oct 2008 03:14:01 GMT
…says Mike Schmitt, president, Alcan Packaging Food Americas and Global Pharmaceuticals Division. Alcan Global Pharmaceutical Packaging (AGPP) currently employs 4,500 employees located in 39 cGMP-compliant facilities within 13 countries and regions on three continents.
Schmitt previously served as president - Food Packaging Americas and before this assignment, he was president of Food and Specialty Flexible Americas, a position to which he was promoted following Alcan’s acquisition of Pechiney. In a previous assignment, he was with Bemis Co, as the vice president and general manager of the PET products division.
With a BS from Michigan State University’s School of Packaging, and an MBA from Wayne State University, he is also armed with the Six-Sigma certified yellow belt. In this exclusive e-interview with Mike Schmitt, Nishan Chandran unravels the force and fuel behind the success of this mammoth organisation.
Current scenario in the global packaging industry, and more so in the pharma packaging industry…
The global packaging industry is doing well as are the pharmaceuticals and medical packaging industries. To succeed, it is important to have a global approach not only because of stiff competition but also due to the tremendous opportunities for the industry brought by the rapid growth of the markets. The market is very challenging, especially for organisations like us who always raise their productivity levels to world-class standards.
Emerging trends in the pharmaceuticals packaging industry…
The latest trend in the industry is being responsive to the customers’ unique product needs, and working closely with them to understand the challenges that their products face - whether it is to protect highly sensitive products, tracking & tracing the supply chain or increasing the adherence of end-users to their drug therapy.
Sustainability is also a new component that is now part of any successful business strategy in an organisation. I believe that sustainable-packaging initiatives could serve the environment better. In today’s struggling economy, revisiting packaging may be necessary given the rising price of oil and therefore, resin and energy costs. To remain profitable, companies have to be looking at ways of running leaner and more-efficient packaging operations.
It is mandatory for us to position ourselves in a way that we can offer top-quality products & services and act as a high-performance partner. Hence, we have focussed our investments on the development of modern production facilities equipped with state-of-the-art equipment. Moreover, we have established a network of Centers of Excellence throughout the Americas and Europe, notably resulting in the purchase of new equipment, the construction of new infrastructure and the optimisation of some facilities with one common goal - customer benefit.
The key issues and challenges that need to be overcome by the pharma packaging industry…
Margin pressure from both rising raw material costs and price sensitivity pose quite a challenge to the pharma packaging industry. Moreover, the exchange rate also has a significant impact on us, especially in the folding carton industry. Therefore, it is mandatory for us to keep improving our productivity and invest in state-of-the-art technology.
AGPP’s global pharmaceuticals’ packaging market share…
Alcan Global Pharmaceutical Packaging’s current global market share is 4 per cent. Out of Alcan’s total pharmaceutical packaging business in pharmaceutical flexibles, India contributes 2 to 3 per cent. We intend to continue this association because the Indian market is currently seeing a very rapid growth and we want to ensure our expertise is offered to
this market.
The various kinds of packaging technology offered by AGPP and its quality systems…
AGPP’s multi-material and multi-region offering, helps its customers succeed by designing products to fulfil the specific needs of pharmaceuticals and medical device manufacturers, ensuring compliance, barrier properties, sterility and other requirements. Our company has established the same standards worldwide to ensure consistency in our processes and compliance with regulatory requirements.
Our product portfolio includes markets like contract packaging, glass tubing, medical, flexible packaging, pharmaceutical flexible packaging, plastics and specialty cartons.
Our quality management systems are compliant with the ISO 9001:2000 standards across all of our operating sites and we have achieved 100 per cent compliance with ISO 14001:96 and OHSAS 18001:99, which denotes that our systems are environment-friendly.
On recent innovations and initiatives by AGPP …
Alcan Global Pharmaceutical Packaging has demonstrated its leadership in innovation since the
past months. Our innovation efforts are focussed on our customers’ specialised needs, and we work closely with them to optimise product integrity while delivering a high-level of customisation for their individual product requirements.
In our plastics group, we recently launched a new product line of high-barrier plastic bottles. StabilitySolutions™ is a groundbreaking, innovative product for pharmaceuticals that requires the highest moisture and oxygen barrier. StabilitySolutions™ DRY and StabilitySolutions™ BARRIER use patent-pending technologies to ensure that the customers’ products maintain their efficacy for a longer period of time, delivering the greatest possible benefit to patients.
Our contract-packaging group launched ComplySolutions™, a line of products that feature efficient compliance packaging. This new product portfolio is customised for the management of patient compliance and persistence and assembles F1 child-resistance, high levels of patient/senior friendliness, ample space/innovation for brand establishment, the ability for simple incorporation of authentication features and packaging processes that are innovative as well as pragmatic.
Finally, last year we held our first international Alcan Packaging University (APU) seminar, where current and prospective customers from different countries around the world gathered. The goal of the educational seminar was to create a better understanding of customers’ expectations in terms of packaging innovation. Originally launched in 2006 on a European level, the positive feedback received led us to extend the pharmaceuticals packaging seminar to an international audience.
These challenges are at the heart of our innovation activities and have motivated our latest product developments and service enhancements.
On the way the packaging industry is helping tackle counterfeit problems faced by the pharma industry…
Anti-counterfeiting technologies are rapidly evolving to protect consumers and brand owners. They are expanding quickly to stay ahead of well-funded counterfeiters. It is the responsibility of packagers to develop new processes to make sure that the needs of their customers are fulfilled. Our organisation has developed a family of solutions under its N’Crypt brand name and our competitors are also moving forward to help fight this serious problem.
On the company’s iWheel solutions and its motto behind the conceptualisation…
iWheel SolutionsTM was created to communicate our vision of innovation across Alcan Global Pharmaceutical Packaging and offer a clear profile of all our products & services to our customers. This tool takes our conversations with customers beyond transactional activities towards developing value-added solutions based on the requirements of the end-users of their products.
iWheel SolutionsTM is an umbrella brand that showcases the innovative, intelligent and integrated solutions we offer our customers to address the diverse challenges faced by their products. We believe that packaging should act as an extension of our customers’ products and deliver a unique set of benefits. At AGPP, we strive to understand the business challenges of pharmaceutical and medical companies and design targeted solutions that continue to add value to their products all the way down through the supply chain and into the hands of the consumer.
With needs ranging from maximising their brand equity to managing concerns of product counterfeiting or supporting patients in compliance to their medication therapy, iWheel SolutionsTM demonstrates the broad spectrum of expertise and support that we offer.
The motto behind your recent acquisition of Associated Capsules Pvt Ltd’s flexible packaging plant in Chakan, India…
Chakan is a well-equipped plant with dynamic people and an asset base that will definitely complement our current product portfolio. The expertise with local pharmaceutical companies will be an excellent addition to our organisation, increasing our ability to service global and regional customers while maintaining the high quality standards they expect from us.
On the future plans of AGPP in India…
Alcan Packaging has been providing pharmaceutical flexible packaging in India for over 15 years and has gained a first-class reputation as the leader in quality, service and innovation. Dr Erwin Pasbrig, director - R&D, AGPP, has held many seminars to educate the pharmaceutical industry about packaging solutions and technology. The high-barrier blister packaging Formpack® is recognised as the world-leading brand in alu-alu blisters and is firmly established as the benchmark in India.
The company recently cemented its commitment to supporting growth in the emerging markets by announcing a new organisation. Further, a new business unit dedicated to emerging markets was created in July 2008.
Alcan Packaging with its newly-created business unit - Pharma Emerging Markets expects the demand for packaging in India to not only increase in volume, but also consumer expectations. Therefore, most modern drug delivery systems and innovative packaging solutions will also be in great demand.
Due to our unique and extensive network, we are able to offer systematic back-up capabilities giving our customers an unrivalled security of supply on key products.
We also intend to review strategies in some key areas such as generics, biotech, etc, and would continue to remain proactive in the areas of compliance, sustainability, track and trace, product security and RFID.
Future outlook for the pharma packaging industry globally and
in India…
As the Indian economy grows, there will be a huge need for high-quality packaging to meet the rapidly growing demands of the market. The future is promising and we constantly evaluate ourselves on the way we do business with all our customers around the world.
