In an industry where precision, performance, and regulatory rigor are nonnegotiable, the value of workforce knowledge cannot be overstated. That’s why, for over 30 years, the member companies of the Sterilization Packaging Manufacturers Council (SPMC®) have applied their expertise to educate and empower packaging professionals on issues that can impact the safety and sterility of medical packaging.
Best known for its role in developing FAQs, consensus standards, and technical webinars, SPMC® has extended its reach through a growing collection of white papers. The documents are designed to demystify common packaging challenges and support decision-making across the supply chain.
“Over the past six years, SPMC®’s Technical Committee has taken a methodical approach in addressing some of the most vexing issues our packaging sector faces,” explains Bill Cassidy, product development manager at Amcor Flexibles and chair of the committee. “We aim to help medical packaging professionals at all levels better understand the materials, methods, and science behind effective sterilized medical device and pharmaceutical packaging.”
To this end, the SPMC®’s Technical Committee has tackled a range of white paper topics, from understanding the impact of gels on flexible medical packaging to testing and measuring package integrity to how-to guides on writing both pouch and rollstock specifications. Most recently, the committee has released a series of white papers focused on the storage and handling of packaging materials.
The newest addition to the storage and handling series is titled “Impact of Cold Storage and Transit on Medical Packaging.” This white paper explores the unique challenges to sterile barrier systems created by cold temperatures. Chief among these is a phenomenon known as embrittlement, which reduces the packaging materials’ flexibility, potentially compromising package integrity.
Additionally, the paper provides insight into the many external forces that occur during transport and how low temperatures can exacerbate the impact of these forces, creating risks to the package. The white paper also examines how ambient temperature or pressure during transit can lead to the expansion and contraction of a filled package’s headspace and how thermal expansion and contraction can impact the sterile barrier.
For packaging engineers, quality assurance specialists, and design teams, SPMC®’s storage and handling series of white papers are must-reads, raising awareness for considerations that are not always top of mind during the package design process. More importantly, the papers don’t just address what can go wrong. They also offer information on how to mitigate those risks.
“The SPMC®’s mission has always centered around education, and our Technical Committee has continued to lead that charge,” Cassidy says. “Whether your company is onboarding new employees or offering continuing education, these white papers are a great resource you can tap into.”
All of SPMC®’s white papers are available for download for free on the organization’s Learning Tools web page, www.sterilizationpackaging.org/learning-tools. If there is a white paper topic you would like the SPMC® to consider, please complete the online request form at www.sterilizationpackaging.org/tech-assistance.
Lourdes Pogue is partner and creative director at Merakke. Reach her at lourdes@merakke.com.