Custom Pharmaceutical Packaging Solutions

In business, good communication is critical. At a large, well-established graphics communication and marketing firm, a diverse product line spans three significant industries - healthcare, financial, and insurance. Within their healthcare division, the firm provides expertise in labeling and packaging solutions in support of the hyper-precise needs and delivery expectations of many hospital, pharmacy, and laboratory-related services. Fundamentally, providing packaging materials for pharmaceuticals and life sciences materials traveling through the cold chain leaves no margin for error with potentially lethal consequences for overruns.

From surgery to supportive packaging, within every function of healthcare, all involved are in a continual state of improvement to the benefit of patient safety and successful health outcomes. Key contributors to this firm’s success in healthcare packaging are their well-tread distribution network and proximity to their customer base in the pharmaceutical industry. Considering the criticality in healthcare, those involved in pharmaceutical transport need to be not only confident in their product’s efficacy but cost-conscious in building-out their packaging solution.

DuraTherm molded polystyrene insulated shippers and box liners from Atlas Molded Products have proven themselves to be a reliable resource in both thermal- and structural- protection of packaged contents for a wide range of cold chain dependent products.

Challenges

Identify the specific client challenges and construction objectives.

Within the realm of packaging products that move through a cold-chain delivery process, there is little room for error. Delays in transit times, exposure of temperature-sensitive materials to excursions or even the packaging itself all represent significant threats to long-term profitability. Absolute certainty in packaging solutions is imperative to the many cold-chain solution providers counting on Atlas Molded Products’ molded polystyrene packaging materials.

In the case of this client, their internal objectives include establishing formalized processes for every business activity from product labeling to temperature-controlled, pack-out solutions in pursuit of optimal functional efficiency, and customer confidence. As a turn-key solutions provider, they consolidate vendors, eliminate variability, and standardize processes while also offering a wide range of both stock and custom pharmaceutical packaging solutions to flexibly serve their client’s shipping needs.

While product certainty and patient safety are the obvious top-level drivers in their work, like almost all of Atlas’ clients, operational reliability and cost efficiency also matter. In any shipping solution, the proximity between the product supplier and the product recipient is a key consideration in cost calculations. With a national network of distribution centers from locations in Crystal Lake, IL, Dallas, TX, Lithia Springs, GA, Wilks-Berre, PA, and Lenexa, KS, establishing partnerships with vendors whose manufacturing footprint favorably overlaps with these locations is critical.

Solutions

Detail what Atlas did to solve those challenges and meet the client’s project objectives.

DuraTherm molded polystyrene from Atlas Molded Products is made from closed-cell expanded polystyrene, which offers a combination of thermal protection and structural durability in a wide range of applications. Within the realm of cold-chain packaging, Atlas’s insulated shipping containers are used in a cross-section of industries including pharmaceutical, medical and life sciences, beverage and meal delivery services, and other temperature-sensitive payloads.

Atlas works closely with clients to understand needs and to deliver right-fit solutions and supplies molded polystyrene products in a variety of formats. In this case, the client annually uses approximately one million of Atlas’s molded polystyrene insulated shipping containers across a combination of three different standardized sizes, ranging from a small size of 6” x 5” x 4” up to 24” x 17” x 14”. Atlas also teams with clients to develop custom insulated shipping containers that can be designed to specific requirements and include client branding. This client also purchases pre-cut molded polystyrene box liners that are available in a variety of sizes and thicknesses. In both the box liners and the off-the-shelf coolers, Atlas can manufacture these products across a variety of thermal conductivity (K-value) profiles that range from 0.31 to 0.22 at 75°F.

Atlas' packaging products and OEM components have also been designed to effectively cushion and protect delicate payloads. Both the molded coolers and fabricated box liners are available in a range of compressive resistances, that start at 10 psi and extend up to 60 psi.

Atlas’ footprint of manufacturing facilities is extensive, with products and services dispersed from 16 different locations nationwide.

Conclusion

Summarize the overall solutions to client challenges to show why it matters to others.

In pharmaceutical packaging and many other types of cold-chain payloads, ensuring payload efficacy through thermal and structural certainty are imperative. Atlas Molded Products takes a leadership role in understanding client needs and responding with an appropriate combination of off-the-shelf and custom packaging materials to meet any of many temperature-sensitive transportation profiles. Our nationwide network of manufacturing facilities allows us to dovetail with our client’s distribution program to be a cost-positive resource for virtually any cold-chain packaging program. Throughout the full range of our molded polystyrene product offerings, Atlas takes pride in being more than merely a vendor, but a true partner to our clients in solutions building and rock-solid reliability.