Shipping medical devices requires more than just sturdy packaging. Consider protection against damage, return logistics and alignment with your customer's processes to save costs and guarantee reliability. This article shares five practical points to consider that will help you minimise risks and optimise logistics.
One of the industries where technological development plays a major role is the medical sector. At the same time, those developments make the medical supply chain a lot more complex. There is not only a lot of time and money in product development, but also in the logistics process surrounding it.
What if your company supplies medical devices to a practice, clinic or training site, what do you all need to consider? The medical industry is all about people’s lives and health. So poor packaging management and damage have many consequences besides huge costs.
To make you aware of what is involved in shipping medical devices, I have listed 5 points of interest for you:
DOAs are annoyance number one in the medical industry. Good equipment in the OR, treatment room or training room is crucial. A doctor who is about to treat a patient and finds out that the supplied material is defective or damaged is, of course, completely undesirable. So pay extensive attention to choosing appropriate packaging that properly protects the contents. This will prevent frustration and loss of face by your client and considerable costs.
Not only damage from rough handling during transport is an aspect to consider when choosing packaging. What does a package encounter en route, from the moment of packing in your warehouse to its use by the customer on site? And what are the risks? For example, is the medical device sensitive to light, temperature, dust or moisture? We develop custom packaging for you that takes all the important factors into account.
Delivering to a hospital or clinic is very different from delivering to a “standard” company. What do the internal logistics look like? Many are actually not equipped to receive and handle very fragile medical devices. This is evidenced, for example, here:
By asking your customer the right questions and immersing yourself in logistics and the user, you can put together a complete set of requirements. What does the packaging need to meet? In medical facilities, for example, it is important that the packaging be light handy, but at the same time robust. It is also very pleasant for users if the packaging is easy to open.
To ensure that a medical specialist – such as a surgeon, for example – does not misplace medical instruments or devices in the treatment room, such “sets” are often supplied over-complete. Much of this instrumentation remains unused and is neatly returned after treatment. Sounds simple, but there is a lot involved in such return logistics. After all, how do you ensure that your customer packages the products properly so that they are still usable for a subsequent order? A hospital or clinic is often not set up for this at all. Opting for reusable custom packaging is the solution:
For very fragile and valuable medical devices, dedicated transport is often a good choice. Much safer than via a hub where the packaging is transferred from one means of transport to another. Because despite the ‘fragile sticker’ you can count on the necessary throwing and tossing. If you do opt for transshipment, then this requires a much more robust packaging. In both cases, we are of course happy to help you find a suitable packaging solution.
As Account Manager at Faes, I – Carlo Leijten – am your point of contact for packaging in the medical industry. I know what is going on in this area and where opportunities lie in the packaging field, and this often goes beyond the packaging alone. So, are you looking for suitable packaging for a medical device or other medical products? I would be happy to tell you more about the possibilities during an informal meeting.
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Carlo Leijten is an account manager at Faes specializing in medical applications and audiovisual equipment. He helps customers in these plastics industries develop customized packaging solutions that meet stringent requirements for protection, cleanability and mobility.
More articles by Carlo LeijtenGood packaging doesn’t just happen by chance. Using a tried-and-tested approach, our specialists guide you step by step from the initial idea to the finished product.
