Productivity Gains in High Barrier Medical Packaging

Recently there have been significant advances in packaging those medical prod ucts requiring moderate and high barrier protection. Examples include intravenous drug solutions that require protection from evaporation; bacterial diagnostic mate rials that are highly sensitive to H2O; and medicated petrolatum burn wound dressings that need a nearly perfect O2 barrier for storage. The conversion of this type of package to horizontal dual web form/fill/seal machines has resulted in 1) lower costs due to labor and material savings and 2) improved package appearance and per formance. In addition to a discussion of applications, technical consideration is given to forming, registration, and package cutting.