The global pharmaceutical packaging industry has witnessed a robust growth in the last few years mainly on the strong demand for pharmaceuticals which is poised to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 6.5 per cent during the period 2011 to 2013, according to a research by RNCOS, a leading market research and information analysis company.
The growth also includes OTC drugs such as pain killers, syrups and food supplements which have witnessed a huge demand mainly due to the change in consumer's attitude, increase in awareness levels, and easy accessibility of medicines. This phenomenal growth has pushed the industry in developing innovative packaging solutions with companies trying to influence consumer decision in regards to product quality, reliability as well as value. This is also applicable to the Ayuvedic sector which has witnessed a change in its consumer demographics. With younger people opting for Ayurvedic medicines leading manufactures have turned towards new and trendy designs with easy dispensing and resealing capabilities.
Traditionally the requirements of packaging focused only on preserving the quality of enclosed medication. However now with several cases of counterfeit products being sold in the open market companies are trying to include innovative features which prevent product tampering as well as assure dispensing accuracy as per the recommended dose. Therefore the industry has seen a variety of packaging available in the pharmaceutical sector such as glass, pet bottles, strips and blister packs, injectables, ampoules, bulk packs and much more.
However as India steadily adapts itself to implementing these innovative pharmaceutical packaging methods, it still relies on imported technology and machinery that can accomplish international hygiene and quality norms. For Indian pharmaceutical companies to meet these stringent hygiene and quality norms , companies have felt the need to install vision systems which capable of not only inspecting the pharmaceutical packaging but also identifying minor defects to the packages which are not visible to the naked eye due to high speed in the production cycle. Machine vision system is an important ingredient in the factory automation process as it addresses three critical areas in the manufacturing process which are guidance, inspection and identification. Each of these processes has a huge impact on the quality control aspect of pharmaceutical packaging.
Further as the pharmaceutical industry aligns itself to high levels of automation thanks to the new governmental regulations and a need to meet international standards, track and trace systems will be imperative to monitor operations on the production line. Machines capable of reading multiple barcodes and inspecting impurities will be required to be installed in existing factories.
All these factors will help when new government regulations are introduced such the recent one where the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) of India set a deadline of April 1, 2010 for all medical supplies procured by the MoHFW to comply with GS1 Standards for bar codes which was later extended to July1, 2011. The MoHFW is responsible for the procurement of drugs, medical devices and other medical supplies for government run healthcare providers and for various national health programmes, including universal immunisation, tuberculosis control, malaria control and AIDS control.
Rising health awareness amongst consumers for more hygienic, tamper resistant and disposable packaging will further push the Indian pharmaceutical packaging industry towards a dynamic growth with a host of new designs and innovations coming soon to the India market. Moreover with globalization, signing of cross border trade agreements, easy availability of advanced technology and new packaging machines, many global pharmaceutical companies are setting up their manufacturing bases in India, China and other Asian countries which will further boost the pharmaceutical packaging sector across Asia.
- The author is Senior Vice President Worldwide Sales & Marketing, Cognex Inc.