All of us must have
witnessed the care and attention paid to wraps, plastic packets, cartons,
wooden boxes, acrylic containers and so on when we order our favourite consume
products online. That’s done to protect the substances inside and to maintain
them in better quality, quantity and shape. Also, we have often witnessed
examples of packaging material malfunctioning. But, the point of consideration
lies in the fact that package materials can’t cause dysfunction, but our choice
of materials do. And similar to personal care goods, medical items, especially
sensitive pharmaceutical products like dangerous goods, clinical trials and
vaccines should be packaged thoughtfully.
Healthcare Logistics Solutions and
Packaging – what’s the relation?
It won’t be an overstatement if we remark these
factors to have a symbiotic relationship. The better the packing, more mental
peace at your end that the product is safe and would be shipped securely to the
laboratory, or a warehouse whatever the destined drop-off is.
5 basic things to consider while
packaging medical shipments
Here are five key factors to consider while packaging
medical products for the benefit of a wider ecosystem.
- Weight: it’s a highly important factor and
should be prioritized above all. While most of the times, weight is easier to
estimate, we should not forget to keep a margin if we several items are shipped
together or as collective units – for example, vaccines while they are
transported to a maternity home. Sometimes, the packages are small yet heavy,
while other packages may be too big in size and light-weight – remember that
your costs do largely depend on the weight of the shipment too.
- Seasons Shipments: If you have a seasonal or patterned
shipment, and a cold supply chain partner who takes patterned orders from you,
then there is less to worry about. However, if it’s a new item or a rare one
you plan to ship, then you’d have to consider the preferences of the vendor
too.
- Drop-off and estimated time of Delivery: Distance to drop-off position decides how long your healthcare logistics
would take to ship the item to the destination. While packaging, ensure that
the package materials are suitable for the no. of hours too. Samples, clinical
trials and even dangerous goods could evaporate after anticipated time and may
leak, causing serious damage.
- Cold-chain failures: Consider the most common health
care logistics failures, conduct a risk assessment and then choose materials
that are resistant to sudden drops in temperature and pressure if not anything
else. During downtimes, even though they are rare, your efficient and strong
packaging should be able to protect the medical item in case of emergencies.
- Consider product properties: While product
payload-to-shipping is a common ration used by all medical logistics companies,
it is also better to use other logical observations like the state of the
medical goods (may be solid, liquid, gas or even plasma in case of blood), the
ideal temperature for storage and for transportation, hours they can stay
effective in warehouses and other factors as recommended by authorities.
While temperature,
pressure, shipping profiles, size, time in transit and weight are highly
important, we ask all of our clients to check the pay-load and mock-test the sustainability
and strength of the items they plan to ship with us.