Look to Sharp for Medical Bagging

Sharp Packaging Systems provides multi-layer plastic bags and complete filling systems for delivery of pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

Sharp Packaging Systems provides multi-layer plastic bags and complete filling systems for delivery of pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

When it comes to reliable packaging and delivery of prescription drugs, nutraceuticals and medical devices, Sharp Packaging Systems has it in the bag.

Sharp provides both materials and filling equipment for bags used in medical applications: Mailing prescription medications to consumers, and delivering medical devices and components to hospitals and other venues.

“Our company has become a leading supplier to the drug and medical industries, not just of films but of complete packaging systems,” says national sales manager Bart Gaffney.

USPS, UPS, FedEx and other shipping providers are an increasingly popular way for patients, especially those with chronic conditions, to get their medications. Sharp’s prescription and nutraceutical mailer bags contain a proprietary film, manufactured on-site and licensed to customers under corporate agreement, which protects product against the strains of shipping and preserves security and privacy.

Sharp EZ-Bags are connected on a roll or fan-folded in a box. An integrated, thermal printing assembly prints customer-specified information either on a label or directly on the bag. The printer, connected to an on-board PLC or computer, uses various database structures configured to hold and manage a huge number of labels and records. The bags are delivered pre-opened, where Sharp bagging machinery blows them open and allows the customer to insert medical devices, bottles or other products automatically, along with required inserts.

The bags that Sharp Packaging produces for medical devices and parts, such as metal fasteners, come on a roll or fan-folded like the prescription mailer bags, but often have to meet different demands, such as gamma radiation that sterilizes contents after packaging. The bag has to open easily enough to be convenient for medical personnel, but cannot have a detachable zipper or seal that might compromise a sterile field. To that end, Sharp Packaging Systems has introduced a new line of “Gamma Bags” to the medical industry.

Verification is one of the most critical elements of process control for medical packaging. To help end users with verification, Sharp works with various equipment suppliers who furnish feeding equipment such as funnels or bowls. These devices can be equipped with photoelectric sensors or vision systems that provide automatic verification.

Sharp Packaging Systems aggressively collaborates and partners with integration leaders to supply turnkey solutions that focus on ease of installation, operation and maintenance. “The Sharp bagger has become the heart of the system,” Gaffney says. “Ancillary equipment like feeders, sorters, conveyors, scanners, printers, optical readers and computers are then added, like building blocks, to the packaging process. Because of this, baggers must now be simple, easy to integrate and missile-proof.”

While medical applications are an important niche for Sharp Packaging Systems, they are by no means the only one. Sharp equipment today is in use worldwide, packaging almost any items imaginable.