News

In order to con­tin­ue to guar­an­tee the highest qual­ity and pre­ci­sion, Früh Ver­pack­ung­s­tech­nik relies on the digit­al meas­ur­ing pro­ject­or from Key­ence. This state-of-the-art device replaces tra­di­tion­al ana­log meas­ure­ment and offers numer­ous advant­ages. For example, it com­pletely elim­in­ates oper­at­or influ­ence. This saves us time and at the same time ensures optim­um pro­cess reliability.

The meas­ur­ing pro­ject­or pre­cisely meas­ures the length, width and height of an object — such as the cav­it­ies of a blister or the dimen­sions of a pouch. Com­pli­ance with tol­er­ance val­ues is par­tic­u­larly import­ant, e.g. for the seal­ing seams of a clos­ure. The pre­cise meas­ure­ment tech­no­logy ensures that no devi­ations are overlooked.

Tech­nic­al high­lights of the meas­ur­ing projector:

• Meas­ur­ing accur­acy: ± 0.005 mm
• Repeat accur­acy: ± 0.001 mm
• Meas­ur­ing range: 300 x 200 x 85 mm (extend­able up to 600 mm in the X‑axis)
• Sim­ul­tan­eous meas­ure­ment of sev­er­al blisters
• Light and height sensor for pre­cise dia­met­er and height measurements
• Easy pro­gram­ming
• Easy integ­ra­tion into the labor­at­ory thanks to com­pact design and integ­rated sensors for tem­per­at­ure and humidity
• Low doc­u­ment­a­tion effort with full audit trail and traceability
• This device ensures that our cus­tom­ers, includ­ing Gen­entech, bene­fit from accur­ate and val­id­ated pro­cesses without oper­at­or influ­ence. The meas­ure­ment pro­ject­or is there­fore an essen­tial com­pon­ent of pro­cess validation.

The BA10 pro­duc­tion machine, in use at Früh Ver­pack­ung­s­tech­nik AG since Decem­ber 2023, expands our capa­cit­ies in the pro­duc­tion of high-qual­ity pouch sys­tems. With the new BA10 pro­duc­tion machine, we are fur­ther expand­ing our pouch capa­cit­ies. The machine is spe­cially designed to pro­duce a wide range of pouch sizes and types that meet the high require­ments of the med­ic­al tech­no­logy and phar­ma­ceut­ic­al industries.

The pouches made from dif­fer­ent mater­i­al qual­it­ies are char­ac­ter­ized by their sta­bil­ity, strength and high bar­ri­er prop­er­ties. Each pack­aging is man­u­fac­tured under clean room con­di­tions and the strict­est qual­ity con­trols to ensure abso­lute safety and reli­ab­il­ity for your products.

With this invest­ment, we not only want to offer you a great­er vari­ety of pack­aging solu­tions, but also ensure that we can meet your high require­ments in the long term. The man­u­fac­tured pouches are either delivered dir­ectly to our cus­tom­ers or fur­ther pro­cessed in the con­tract pack­aging area, ster­il­ized and dis­patched as ready-to-use out­er packaging.

With the BA10 pro­duc­tion machine, we are ready to sup­port your pro­jects with innov­at­ive solu­tions and cus­tom­ized pack­aging options. We look for­ward to shap­ing the future of pack­aging tech­no­logy togeth­er with yo

We look for­ward to wel­com­ing new and famil­i­ar faces at booth 20D85. Do you have a new pro­ject or simply need some ini­tial advice? Our experts will be happy to take time for you. So stop by and talk to us.

PS: Do you prefer to get in touch with us before? Or talk about dif­fer­ent top­ics? 
Con­tact us via sales@​fruh.​ch

We are happy to inform you that we suc­cess­fully passed the re-cer­ti­fic­a­tion of our site in Fehraltorf, Switzer­land for the fol­low­ing Qual­ity Man­age­ment Sys­tem standards:

• ISO 13485:2016
• ISO 9001:2015
• ISO 22000:2018

The new cer­ti­fic­ates can be found here. 

Con­tinu­ous cer­ti­fic­a­tion status is guaranteed.

Find out more about spe­cif­ic blister devel­op­ment requests, secur­ing pro­duc­tion capa­cit­ies and a brief over­view of our ser­vices in our latest newsletter.

Read more here in our news­let­ter. 

Vis­it us in Stut­tgart and/​or Char­lotte in June and dis­cuss pack­aging solu­tions in med­ic­al tech­no­logy with our spe­cial­ists on site. 

MD&M South, Char­lotte (NC), 4 — 6 June, Booth 1835
Medtec, Stut­tgart, 18 — 20 June, Booth I‑328

Our cli­ents range from large inter­na­tion­al cor­por­a­tions to recently foun­ded start-ups, whose expect­a­tions and needs are often very dif­fer­ent. Our lean organ­iz­a­tion­al struc­ture, sim­il­ar to smal­ler com­pan­ies, allows us to be more agile, which is often an advant­age. We and some of our cus­tom­ers often wear sev­er­al hats and would prob­ably struggle to fit everything on to our busi­ness cards.

It is cru­cial for us to get to know our cus­tom­ers in order to under­stand what is import­ant to them. Is that old-fash­ioned? No, we don’t think so. Tak­ing the time to under­stand the cus­tom­er lays the found­a­tion for long-term cooper­a­tion. And for mutu­al growth, it’s best to start small.

For us, ser­vice is about more than mere deliv­ery – it is a cus­tom­ized exper­i­ence that is indi­vidu­ally tailored to the needs of each cus­tom­er. For us at Früh Ver­pack­ung­s­tech­nik, this is a core aspect of our busi­ness philo­sophy, and we are con­vinced that a sat­is­fied cus­tom­er is the best busi­ness strategy.

At a time when the mar­ket is char­ac­ter­ized by change – be it through the MDR*, new sus­tain­ab­il­ity goals, or the digit­al­iz­a­tion of the health­care industry – we see cus­tom­er focus as the route to long-term suc­cess. Wheth­er it’s eval­u­at­ing heat-sens­it­ive chem­ic­al sub­stances and their ster­il­iz­ab­il­ity or a pack­aging concept that takes into account both stor­age capa­cit­ies in hos­pit­als and meets cus­tom­ers’ brand aware­ness require­ments. Our abil­ity to put ourselves in the cus­tom­er­’s shoes enables us to define ser­vice in a unique way.

Ser­vice is like season­ing – you notice when it’s missing. 

Our exper­i­ence with you as a cus­tom­er has taught us that ser­vice goes far bey­ond the ful­fill­ment of spe­cific­a­tions. It’s about under­stand­ing the cus­tom­er­’s jour­ney, pro­act­ively address­ing chal­lenges and work­ing with them to find solu­tions. We rely on long-term part­ner­ships, where your suc­cess is our com­mon goal. We are look­ing for­ward to many excit­ing pro­jects and are sure to bring the neces­sary ​“season­ing” with us.

* Trans­ition from the Med­ic­al Device Dir­ect­ive MDD to the Med­ic­al Device Reg­u­la­tion MDR.

Dis­cov­er­ing the power of mono-pack­aging
Mono-pack­aging mater­i­al, a game-changer in terms of sus­tain­ab­il­ity, refers to the use of a single type of mater­i­al for pack­aging. This sim­pli­fies recyc­ling pro­cesses and addresses the chal­lenges posed by multi-mater­i­al pack­aging. This approach con­trib­utes to a more effi­cient recyc­ling pro­cess and aligns with glob­al efforts to achieve recyc­ling tar­gets and cre­ate a more sus­tain­able cir­cu­lar eco­nomy for pack­aging materials.

Unleash­ing sus­tain­able solu­tions for ready meals
In the con­text of the glob­al ready meals mar­ket, which was worth USD 135 bil­lion in 2022 and is expec­ted to reach USD 219.90 bil­lion by 2032, the impact of sus­tain­able prac­tices could be ground­break­ing. While they may not com­pete with care­fully craf­ted meal plans, con­veni­ence foods offer sig­ni­fic­ant bene­fits in our busy lives, includ­ing time sav­ings, on-the-go con­veni­ence and high-qual­ity, healthy options.

Fol­low­ing con­sumer trends
As con­sumer beha­vi­or merges with trends towards health­i­er life­styles and great­er sus­tain­ab­il­ity, mono-mater­i­al is prov­ing to be a com­pel­ling solu­tion for ready meals. We have teamed up with pion­eers and inves­ted in the devel­op­ment of mono-mater­i­al films for for pas­teur­iz­able and acid­ic foods: This ster­il­iz­a­tion-res­ist­ant oxy­gen bar­ri­er sys­tem pre­serves food qual­ity and col­or, mak­ing it a sus­tain­able choice.

Dis­cov­er here more about our film manufacturing.

• ISO 11607 – 2 cov­ers the require­ments for the pro­cesses of form­ing, assembly and seal­ing of the pack­aging. The pro­cesses involved are known as a (pack­aging) pro­cess val­id­a­tion.

• ISO 11607 – 1 focuses on the require­ments for the mater­i­als, sterile bar­ri­er sys­tem and pack­aging sys­tem. One of the main aspects of to be con­sidered are the pack­aging system’s per­form­ance and sta­bil­ity. The pro­cesses involved are gen­er­ally known as a pack­aging sys­tem design val­id­a­tion or simply pack­aging val­id­a­tion.

ISO 11607 – 2 – Pro­cess Validation

A pro­cess val­id­a­tion at a min­im­um must con­sti­tute of an install­a­tion qual­i­fic­a­tion (IQ), an oper­a­tion­al qual­i­fic­a­tion (OQ) and a per­form­ance qual­i­fic­a­tion (PQ). The gen­er­al goal is to make sure that the equip­ment oper­ates as inten­ded and that the pack­aging can be pro­duced as con­sist­ently, repeat­ably and reli­ably as expected.

Let’s take a closer look at the qual­i­fic­a­tion phases:

• IQ – Install­a­tion Qualification

The pur­pose of Install­a­tion Qual­i­fic­a­tion is to ensure that equip­ment, sys­tems, and facil­it­ies are prop­erly installed and meet the spe­cified design criteria.

• OQ – Oper­a­tion­al Qualification

OQ focuses on veri­fy­ing and doc­u­ment­ing that the equip­ment or sys­tem oper­ates accord­ing to its oper­a­tion­al spe­cific­a­tions under nor­mal oper­at­ing con­di­tions. For seal­ing pro­cesses this includes the determ­in­a­tion of the lower pro­cess lim­its (LPL) and upper pro­cess lim­its (UPL) for crit­ic­al pro­cess para­met­ers like seal­ing tem­per­at­ure, time and pressure.

• PQ – Per­form­ance Qualification

This phase focuses on demon­strat­ing that the equip­ment or sys­tem con­sist­ently per­forms accord­ing to its spe­cified design and oper­a­tion­al require­ments in the inten­ded oper­at­ing envir­on­ment. For seal­ing pro­cesses, pack­aging which were sealed at nom­in­al pro­cess lim­its (NPL) are checked.

Dur­ing the OQ and PQ, it is cru­cial to assess the effect­ive­ness of the seal­ing through seal integ­rity test­ing, seal strength meas­ure­ments and oth­er pack­aging tests. See below for fur­ther inform­a­tion on a selec­tion of these tests.

ISO 11607 – 1 – Mater­i­al testing

Major parts of ISO 11607 – 1 focus on require­ments for the mater­i­als used for the pack­aging sys­tem and sterile bar­ri­er sys­tems, as well as for the pack­aging sys­tem and sterile bar­ri­er sys­tem themselves.

A selec­tion of some of the most import­ant require­ments is lis­ted in the following:

• Micro­bi­al bar­ri­er properties

Ensur­ing a micro­bi­al bar­ri­er is crit­ic­al for ensur­ing integ­rity once ster­il­ized, as it pre­vents the ingress of microorganisms.

• Biocom­pat­ib­il­ity

Biocom­pat­ib­il­ity should show that there are no crit­ic­al sub­stances that could migrate from the pack­aging mater­i­al to the med­ic­al device and cause any harm for patients. Test­ing can involve cyto­tox­icity, non­volat­ile residue etc.

• Phys­ic­al and chem­ic­al prop­er­ties

Con­form­ing to a vari­ety of phys­ic­al and chem­ic­al prop­er­ties ensures that the mater­i­als are suit­able for the inten­ded pur­pose of ensur­ing the over­all product safety and espe­cially ensur­ing the integ­rity even under phys­ic­al stress dur­ing dis­tri­bu­tion. Test­ing for phys­ic­al and chem­ic­al prop­er­ties can for example involve burst test­ing, clean­li­ness, print­ing & coat­ing, tensile prop­er­ties, thick­ness etc. and have to con­form to estab­lished prop­er­ties and/​or values.

• Ster­il­iz­a­tion compatibility

The mater­i­als used for the pack­aging sys­tem have to be com­pat­ible with the inten­ded ster­il­iz­a­tion meth­od (e.g., Gamma-ray, X‑Ray, EtO). Com­pat­ib­il­ity can for example be sup­por­ted by test­ing of per­meance, biocom­pat­ib­il­ity, seal strength and burst test­ing after expos­ure to the ster­il­iz­a­tion agent. 

ISO 11607 – 1 – Pack­aging Validation

The main goal of a pack­aging val­id­a­tion is to estab­lish evid­ence that the pack­aging sys­tem offers suf­fi­cient pro­tec­tion of the product, and, most import­antly, that the sterile bar­ri­er sys­tem is cap­able of uphold­ing its integ­rity after ster­il­iz­a­tion, dis­tri­bu­tion and storage.

A pack­aging sys­tem sub­jug­ated to a pack­aging val­id­a­tion should be man­u­fac­tured under stand­ard oper­at­ing pro­ced­ures using fully qual­i­fied equip­ment & seal­ing pro­cesses and ster­il­ized using a val­id­ated ster­il­iz­a­tion pro­cess. In every aspect pos­sible the worst-case scen­ario should be considered.

This includes:

• Worst-case med­ic­al device

If it is inten­ded to use the same pack­aging sys­tem for a med­ic­al device product fam­ily (i.e., med­ic­al devices that are sim­il­ar but not identic­al) the worst-case con­fig­ur­a­tion out of this product fam­ily should be used. This can for example be the heav­iest, bulki­est and/​or sharpest con­fig­ur­a­tion which poses the most stress on the pack­aging system.

• Worst-case seal­ing

Sterile bar­ri­er sys­tem (SBS) for the pack­aging val­id­a­tion should be sealed at LPL, which imposes the highest risk for com­prom­ising the integ­rity of the SBS.

• Worst-case ster­il­iz­a­tion

The samples for the pack­aging val­id­a­tion should be ster­il­ized in a way to impose a high­er chal­lenge com­pared to the routine ster­il­iz­a­tion para­met­ers. This for example can entitle a double-dose and/​or a double-cycle ster­il­iz­a­tion.

A com­pre­hens­ive pack­aging val­id­a­tion involves per­form­ance and sta­bil­ity test­ing. While it is not strictly pro­hib­ited to com­bine these two test­ing fields, it is recom­men­ded that they are kept sep­ar­ate from each other.

Pack­aging Val­id­a­tion – Per­form­ance Testing

Pack­aging per­form­ance test­ing involves a series of sim­u­la­tions and eval­u­ations to ensure that the pack­aging sys­tem can with­stand the chal­lenges encountered dur­ing the expec­ted hand­ling and dis­tri­bu­tion.

Some import­ant aspects to consider:

• Does the product ship as an indi­vidu­al box and/​or as an unit­ized load on a pallet?
• Will the product ship as full truck­load (FTL) or Less-Than-Truck­load (LTL)
• In what cli­mat­ic zones of the world will the product ship? What are the expec­ted cli­mat­ic con­di­tions which could be encountered dur­ing transit?
• Will the product be shipped by boat, truck, rail and/​or air?

Based on this inform­a­tion, it should be con­sidered what the most appro­pri­ate con­sensus stand­ard is that best aligns with the indi­vidu­al requirements.

Here is a selec­tion of the most com­monly used stand­ards for pack­aging per­form­ance test­ing for med­ic­al device packaging:

• ASTM D4332

This stand­ard is often used as a basis for test­ing envir­on­ment­al cli­mat­ic con­di­tions encountered dur­ing trans­it. Depend­ing on which cli­mat­ic zones the product will be shipped, the tem­per­at­ure can for example range from ‑40 °C to 70 °C and 10 % — 95% rel­at­ive humid­ity. Know­ledge of the expec­ted cli­mat­ic con­di­tions dur­ing trans­it is essen­tial, as these con­di­tions should be tested in a series of sim­u­lated cli­mat­ic con­di­tion­ing steps which com­bined is known here at Früh as a cli­mat­ic cycle.

• ASTM D4169

This widely used stand­ard for trans­port sim­u­la­tions can be used as a basis to eval­u­ate the abil­ity of the pack­aging sys­tem to with­stand the dis­tri­bu­tion envir­on­ment with a focus on mech­an­ic­al haz­ards, such as drop­ping, stak­ing and vibra­tion. Depend­ing on the ship­ment con­fig­ur­a­tion (single box vs. unit­ized load on a pal­let) and expec­ted ship­ment meth­od (truck, rail, cargo ship and/​or plane) the user can choose from a vari­ety of dif­fer­ent test sequences known as dis­tri­bu­tion cycles (DC).

• ISTA 3A

This stand­ard shares many sim­il­ar­it­ies with ASTM D4169 and is there­fore anoth­er great option for trans­port sim­u­la­tions for med­ic­al device pack­aging. One import­ant dif­fer­ence is that test­ing accord­ing to ISTA 3A can only be done on single boxes inten­ded to be shipped via a par­cel sys­tem. In gen­er­al, test­ing accord­ing to this stand­ard is more chal­len­ging but less cus­tom­iz­able than its ASTM counterpart.

After per­form­ance test­ing, sterile bar­ri­er sys­tem integ­rity has to be proven through integ­rity test­ing. Seal strength meas­ure­ments and oth­er pack­aging tests can be included as well. See below for fur­ther inform­a­tion on a selec­tion of these tests.

Pack­aging Val­id­a­tion – Sta­bil­ity Testing

The primary object­ive of sta­bil­ity test­ing is to assess the abil­ity of the sterile bar­ri­er sys­tem to with­stand the risks which can occur through­out the claimed shelf-life. The data from accel­er­ated aging, which is aging con­duc­ted at elev­ated tem­per­at­ures, is per­miss­ible to use for ini­tial mar­ket launches, but the claimed shelf-life must be con­firmed through real-time aging. ASTM F1980 is the go-to stand­ard for estab­lish­ing accel­er­ated aging pro­to­cols for med­ic­al device pack­aging and gives guid­ance to cal­cu­late the time for the accel­er­ated aging based on the Arrhe­ni­us equa­tion.

Let’s take a look at an example:

An accel­er­ated aging tem­per­at­ure of 55 °C, an assumed real-time aging tem­per­at­ure of 25 °C and an Arrhe­ni­us aging factor of Q₁₀ = 2 allows for a reduc­tion of the real-time aging time by a factor of 8. There­fore, for example, accel­er­ated aging would shorten the time of 10 years real-time aging to 456.3 days (approx­im­ately 1.25 years).

After sta­bil­ity test­ing, sterile bar­ri­er sys­tem integ­rity has to be proven through integ­rity test­ing. Seal strength meas­ure­ments and oth­er pack­aging tests can be included as well. See below for fur­ther inform­a­tion on a selec­tion of these tests.

Integ­rity and oth­er pack­aging tests

Pack­aging sys­tems includ­ing all sterile bar­ri­er sys­tems have two very import­ant func­tions in the life cycle of a ter­min­ally ster­il­ized med­ic­al device:

• Pro­tec­tion of the med­ic­al device from dam­ages until the point of use
• Ensur­ing ster­il­ity of the med­ic­al device until the point of use

Wheth­er the pack­aging sys­tem is able to ful­fill these func­tions has to be tested after each step of the pack­aging validation.

For this pur­pose, ISO 11607 – 1 lists a mul­ti­tude of tests to choose from. Some of the most com­monly used tests are lis­ted below.

Integ­rity Tests:

• Bubble Emis­sion Test through intern­al pres­sur­iz­a­tion (ASTM F2096)

The pack­aging is placed under­wa­ter and sub­jec­ted to increased intern­al pres­sur­iz­a­tion. Con­stant bubble streams emer­ging from the pack­aging point to the exist­ence of leaks.

• Bubble Emis­sion Test – neg­at­ive pres­sure (ASTM F3078)

The pack­aging is placed under­wa­ter in a cham­ber. A cer­tain level of vacu­um is applied to the cham­ber, which causes a pres­sure dif­fer­en­tial between the inside and out­side of the pack­age. Con­stant bubble streams emer­ging from the pack­aging point to the exist­ence of leaks.

• Dye Pen­et­ra­tion Test – por­ous pack­aging (ASTM F1929)

A dye solu­tion is injec­ted into the pack­age, or, altern­at­ively, the edges of each side of the seal are dipped into the dye solu­tion. Each side of the seal seam is inspec­ted for channels.

• Dye Pen­et­ra­tion Test – non-por­ous pack­aging (ASTM F3039)

A dye solu­tion is injec­ted into the pack­age. Each side of seal seam is then inspec­ted for chan­nels. Under cer­tain con­di­tions, it is addi­tion­ally pos­sible to inspect the flat sur­faces of the pack­aging for leaks.

• Visu­al Inspec­tion of the seal­ing (ASTM F1886/F1886M)

This meth­od focuses on visu­ally detect­ing chan­nels and oth­er qual­ity rel­ev­ant seal char­ac­ter­ist­ic, such as under­seal­ing, over­seal­ing, folds etc.

Mater­i­al Tests:

• Tensile Strength and Elong­a­tion at Break (DIN EN ISO 527−1÷527−3)

Tensile strength and elong­a­tion at break are two import­ant mech­an­ic­al prop­er­ties used to char­ac­ter­ize the beha­vi­or of mater­i­als under ten­sion. Tensile strength is the max­im­um amount of tensile (stretch­ing) stress that a mater­i­al can with­stand before fail­ure or break­ing. Elong­a­tion at break meas­ures the extent to which a mater­i­al can stretch or deform before it breaks. Both val­ues are meas­ured by pulling apart a strip of the test material.

• Punc­ture Res­ist­ance (DIN EN 14477 or ASTM F1306)

Punc­ture res­ist­ance is a mech­an­ic­al prop­erty that meas­ures a mater­i­al’s abil­ity to with­stand the pen­et­ra­tion of sharp objects without tear­ing or punc­tur­ing. The test is per­formed by for­cing a probe into the mater­i­al until com­plete pen­et­ra­tion, res­ult­ing in the meas­ure­ment of the force and energy at break.

Oth­er pack­aging tests:

• Seal strength (ASTM F88/F88M)

The pur­pose of seal strength test­ing is to eval­u­ate the abil­ity of a seal to with­stand the stress and pres­sure encountered dur­ing trans­port­a­tion, hand­ling, and stor­age. For this test, a defined sec­tion of the seal seam is pulled apart until full sep­ar­a­tion, res­ult­ing in the meas­ure­ment of the seal strength.

• Visu­al inspec­tion of pack­aging (in-house method)

By visu­ally examin­ing pack­aging signs of dam­age, such as tears, punc­tures, or deform­a­tion, weak­nesses and vul­ner­ab­il­it­ies in the pack­aging sys­tem can be iden­ti­fied. Invest­ig­at­ing these issues helps to pre­vent product loss, con­tam­in­a­tion, or dam­age, ulti­mately safe­guard­ing the sterile bar­ri­er sys­tem and the pack­aged product. 

• Dimen­sion­al meas­ure­ments (ASTM F2203 or in-house method)

Dimen­sion­al meas­ure­ments can be taken from any part of the pack­aging. Most com­monly this test is used to meas­ure the seal width of the sterile bar­ri­er sys­tem either with a steel ruler (ASTM F2203) or with a digit­al cal­iper (in-house method).

2023 was a year of pro­gress and sig­ni­fic­ant change for us. Unlike in 2022, we were able to focus entirely on our mar­ket expan­sion and were not at the mercy of extern­al influ­ences such as the situ­ation regard­ing energy and raw mater­i­als. We have suc­ceeded in meet­ing our growth tar­gets – a suc­cess that we owe to our val­ued cus­tom­ers and sup­pli­ers. Read more about it here in our news­let­ter. 

Would you like to receive the next news­let­ter? Register your­self here.

We were awar­ded Gold status for our sus­tain­able stand con­struc­tion at Pharma­pack. Thanks to the mul­tiple use of the graph­ic wall, the screen, the rent­al fur­niture and the clev­er power sup­ply plan­ning, the event3 stand con­struc­tion team was able to ful­fill all sus­tain­ab­il­ity require­ments perfectly.

We sub­ject our qual­i­fied facil­it­ies and envir­on­ment­al con­di­tions as well as all pro­duc­tion pro­cesses to a con­tinu­ous valid­ity check with the fol­low­ing GMP standards:

Design qual­i­fic­a­tion (DQ) 
In doing so, we ensure that the plan­ning and design of our facil­it­ies meet the defined require­ments from the out­set. This is the first step in guar­an­tee­ing the qual­ity and func­tion­al­ity of our solutions.

Install­a­tion qual­i­fic­a­tion (IQ)
Dur­ing install­a­tion qual­i­fic­a­tion, we check that our facil­it­ies and devices are cor­rectly installed and con­figured. This check ensures that all com­pon­ents func­tion in accord­ance with the manufacturer’s spe­cific­a­tions and our own high standards.

Design of exper­i­ment (DOE)
With this approach, we sys­tem­at­ic­ally exam­ine the influ­ence of vari­ous factors on our pro­cesses. This helps us identi­fy optim­iz­a­tion oppor­tun­it­ies and increase the effi­ciency of our processes.

Oper­a­tion­al qual­i­fic­a­tion (OQ)
Oper­a­tion­al qual­i­fic­a­tion is a crit­ic­al step in which we test the per­form­ance of our sys­tems under defined con­di­tions. We ensure that our facil­it­ies oper­ate con­sist­ently and reli­ably under all inten­ded oper­at­ing conditions.

Per­form­ance qual­i­fic­a­tion (PQ)
In this phase, we val­id­ate the per­form­ance of our pro­cesses in reg­u­lar oper­a­tion. We con­firm that our sys­tems will oper­ate con­sist­ently and in accord­ance with the spe­cified spe­cific­a­tions over a longer peri­od of time.

Through these com­pre­hens­ive qual­i­fic­a­tions based on GMP, we ensure that our facil­it­ies and pro­cesses not only meet the highest stand­ards but are also reg­u­larly checked and updated. This con­tinu­ous mon­it­or­ing and improve­ment is part of our com­mit­ment to provid­ing our cus­tom­ers with the highest qual­ity and safety in med­ic­al device and phar­ma­ceut­ic­al packaging.

We sub­ject our qual­i­fied sys­tems and envir­on­ment­al con­di­tions as well as all pro­duc­tion pro­cesses to con­tinu­ous val­id­a­tion checks.

Hygiene val­id­a­tion
Thanks to our many years of expert­ise in pack­aging phar­ma­ceut­ic­al and med­ic­al devices under con­trolled clean room con­di­tions accord­ing to ISO 7 and ISO 8 as well as the con­tinu­ous improve­ment of our envir­on­ment­al mon­it­or­ing sys­tem, we ensure the highest safety stand­ards for the products we pack­age. We are com­mit­ted to provid­ing the best pos­sible pro­tec­tion against extern­al par­tic­u­late and micro­bi­o­lo­gic­al con­tam­in­a­tion for our cus­tom­ers’ products.

Pro­cess val­id­a­tion
The effect­ive­ness of a pro­cess always depends on the qual­ity of its indi­vidu­al com­pon­ents. We there­fore pay par­tic­u­lar atten­tion to the qual­i­fic­a­tion of all key pro­cesses (e.g. the seal­ing pro­cess) as well as our clean rooms and pack­aging machines. This care­ful pre­par­at­ory work forms the basis for the actu­al val­id­a­tion of the product pack­aging process.

Product val­id­a­tion
Our focus is on con­firm­ing all require­ments of the products and, in par­tic­u­lar, the indi­vidu­al cus­tom­er require­ments for the products to be pack­aged. In addi­tion to the qual­i­fic­a­tion of the pro­cess com­pon­ents, this val­id­a­tion also includes sta­bil­ity and per­form­ance tests such as pack­aging integ­rity tests. Our goal is to ensure the highest level of product and pro­cess safety for the pack­aged cus­tom­er products.

Ster­il­iz­a­tion val­id­a­tion
Products sub­jec­ted to final ster­il­iz­a­tion (e.g., gamma or X‑ray radi­ation) under­go ster­il­iz­a­tion val­id­a­tion in accord­ance with the EN ISO 11137 series of stand­ards in cooper­a­tion with our cus­tom­ers. This val­id­a­tion ensures that the norm­at­ive require­ments for the reduc­tion of micro­bi­al con­tam­in­a­tion are met to mark a med­ic­al device as ​‘STERILE’.

Our com­pre­hens­ive val­id­a­tion pro­cesses ensure the qual­ity and safety of our pack­aging solutions.

We will be exhib­it­ing almost sim­ul­tan­eously on 2 continents: 

On Janu­ary 24 and 25, you can meet our team at Pharma­pack in Par­is, booth J89.
From Feb­ru­ary 5 to 8, we will be exhib­it­ing as a part­ner of Swiss Glob­al Enter­prise at MD&M West in Ana­heim, booth 2956. 

There is news worth men­tion­ing at our sites in the USA and Fehraltorf. Read more about it in our News­let­ter. 

Would you like to receive the next news­let­ter? Register your­self here.

In the spring of 2022, an energy and raw mater­i­als crisis began in Europe the likes of which we have not seen in the last two dec­ades. The changes in the mar­ket hit the pack­aging industry with full force and changed the entire industry. Depend­ing on the coun­try, the cost of energy in Europe rose to dimen­sions that are new to all of us.

Früh AG has been a lead­er for years in the pack­aging sec­tors of med­ic­al tech­no­logy, phar­ma­ceut­ic­al industry as well as in the chem­ic­al-tech­nic­al sec­tor. Our pack­aging mater­i­als and the asso­ci­ated tech­no­lo­gies are very energy-intens­ive and thanks to the fact that we set the course towards energy effi­ciency years ago, we were well posi­tioned against the energy crisis of 2022. In addi­tion to our con­tri­bu­tion to vol­un­tary energy effi­ciency, which we imple­ment with the Energy Agency for Industry (EnAW), we work with the Eco­vadis organ­iz­a­tion — with sil­ver status.

We achieved the major and for us import­ant effect for energy con­sump­tion with the new con­struc­tion of our pack­aging pro­duc­tion. We have inves­ted in state-of-the-art infra­struc­ture and pro­duc­tion facil­it­ies at our Fehraltorf site in order to ensure, on the one hand, the increas­ing demand for our products, the com­pet­it­ive­ness as well as the sus­tain­ab­il­ity of our pro­duc­tion. For example, we work with the most mod­ern print­ing and lam­in­at­ing machines and a new RNV plant (regen­er­at­ive thermal after­burn­ing). Where­as total energy con­sump­tion in 2014 was 6 mil­lion kWh, in 2022 it was 10 mil­lion kWh. At the same time, we doubled our pro­duc­tion out­put dur­ing this period.

This res­ults in a reduc­tion of 20% in gas con­sump­tion des­pite a massive increase in pro­duc­tion. In the case of elec­tri­city, where we obtain 95% from sus­tain­able pro­duc­tion, we were able to reduce con­sump­tion by over 10%. If we com­pare the energy con­sump­tion in the med­ic­al tech­no­logy area in rela­tion to the pack­aged implants, we have even been able to achieve a reduc­tion of 50% since 2014.

Anoth­er key fig­ure is the kWh con­sump­tion per employ­ee: In 2014, this was approx. 20,000 kWh, cur­rently approx. 14,500 kWh, which cor­res­ponds to an improve­ment of almost 40%. The num­ber of employ­ees was 300 in 2014 and cur­rently around 700.

By invest­ing in for­ward-look­ing and effi­cient pro­duc­tion lines, we have suc­ceeded in massively redu­cing our CO2 emis­sions. The path to sus­tain­ab­il­ity is a cent­ral top­ic at Früh Ver­pack­ung­s­tech­nik AG, which will also accom­pany us in the future.

If you are inter­ested in how the above-men­tioned reduc­tions have been achieved in detail, we will of course be happy to provide you with fig­ures and fur­ther information.

After the intens­ive trade fair spring, the next round starts soon. We will be exhib­it­ing at these two conferences: 

Oct 05 — 06 PPL Ber­lin (Pharma­pack­aging and Labeling).
Oct 09 — 10 WICD Lon­don (Wear­able Inject­ors and Con­nec­ted Devices)

Are you also attend­ing? Take the oppor­tun­ity and dis­cuss your con­cerns and chal­lenges with our sales men, togeth­er we will find a suit­able solu­tion for all requirements.

For our cus­tom­ers, this means accred­ited test meth­ods for:

- Integ­rity tests
- Bubble emis­sion tests by intern­al pres­sur­iz­a­tion or in a vacu­um cham­ber
- Dye pen­et­ra­tion tests for por­ous and non-por­ous pack­aging
- Visu­al inspec­tion of seal seams
- Pack­aging and mater­i­al tests
- Seal strength
- Tensile strength and nom­in­al elong­a­tion at break
- Lin­ear dimen­sions of pack­aging
- Punc­ture res­ist­ance
- Visu­al inspec­tion of pack­aging
- Cli­mat­ic con­di­tion­ing and pack­aging val­id­a­tions
- Sta­bil­ity tests
- Per­form­ance tests

Please do not hes­it­ate to con­tact us for indi­vidu­al con­sulta­tion or fur­ther inform­a­tion.

The première at MD&M East was a suc­cess! Yasin Gencel and Miki Velick­ovski were able to inspire the many new inter­ested parties with our products and also inform about the open­ing of the site in Exton PA.

The première also went well in Geneva at «Connect in Pharma 2023». Chris Reiser, Ivan Orlando & Markus Bischof provided information primarily about pharmaceutical packaging solutions.

Medtec 2023 was inaugurated with a new booth design. Furthermore, the focus was on the validated (and soon to be accredited) lab services.

We are pleased to present the first news­let­ter from Früh Ver­pack­ung­s­tech­nik. Our goal is to provide you with inform­a­tion about the latest devel­op­ments, trends and innov­a­tions two to three times per year, start­ing with this issue. The news­let­ter will provide you with insights into our work and keep you up-to-date. Read more about it here in our news­let­ter. 

Would you like to receive the next news­let­ter? Register your­self here.

Gamma irradiation has been the usual method for sterilizing medical products for more than five dec-ades. However, there have been problems sourcing cobalt of late, calling into question whether this process is sustainable and efficient. X-ray irradiation has turned out to be a promising alternative, as it is a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective method that is accepted by the regulatory authorities and offers a number of advantages over gamma irradiation. Find out more about the chal-lenges of gamma irradiation and the compelling reasons for switching to X-ray irradiation in this arti-cle.

Uncertainty concerning cobalt sourcing for gamma sterilization
Gamma irradiation of medical products has been the state-of-the-art method for more than five dec-ades. Many products are treated with a minimum dose of 25 kGy in accordance with the validation process as per the EN ISO 11137-1/-2 standard and VDmax25 method. Gamma irradiation is defined as a clean and cold form of sterilization because no chemicals are used and the sterilization tempera-ture rarely exceeds 45° C. However, there have been increasing problems sourcing cobalt in recent years. Cobalt is used as a source of irradiation in most gamma equipment in the form of the radioac-tive isotope cobalt-60. Mining, processing and transforming cobalt-59 iron ore into cobalt-60 is a complex and expensive process. Furthermore, cobalt is becoming increasingly scarce. This is putting greater pressure on source operators, as cobalt-60 has a half-life of 5.27 years and cobalt sources must be replenished periodically in order to maintain activity and thus the strength of the source at the highest level possible. If the source strengthen wanes, this increases the irradiation duration for the medical product and results in backlogs if the source is not replenished in time. In addition, there is an increasingly critical view of transporting radioactive materials by land and by sea, resulting in in-creasingly stringent regulations. This has led to higher costs for source operators. Because of the controlled end storage of radioactive materials, gamma irradiation can be described as a clean tech-nology, but not a green one.

The environmental and economical alternative: Advantages of X-ray irradiation
One solution to the problem is X-ray irradiation, which has become increasingly popular in recent years. X-ray irradiation, also known as "bremsstrahlung," has the same basic effects as gamma irradi-ation on microbiological systems like bacteria, molds and yeasts. For this reason, X-ray irradiation is described in EN ISO 11137-1/-2 as equivalent to gamma irradiation and the validation requirements are exactly the same. However, X-ray irradiation has considerable advantages. For example, X-rays are produced by transforming or slowing accelerated electrons, while electrons are produced in a ma-chine by means of an electromagnetic field. The electrons are then accelerated to an energy level of up to 7 MeV. The X-ray machine works solely on the basis of electricity. Thus, there are no costs for cobalt and no transportation costs, as is the case with gamma irradiation. As with gamma irradiation, absolutely no chemicals are used in X-ray irradiation. Since there is also no necessity to dispose of waste or other materials, X-ray irradiation can be classified as a clean and green technology.

Why X-ray irradiation is the preferred method for sterilizing medical products
There are two other advantages. The first is that while X-rays have the same properties as gamma rays, their lower average level of energy means they do not penetrate materials as deeply as gamma rays do and thus represent a lower risk of structural modifications, especially in plastics. The second advantage is that there is a much lower thermal load on the products than is the case with gamma irradiation because the products are only exposed to the rays for a few seconds in total. As a result, the temperature does not climb as high as it does with products that are kept in a gamma irradiation room for several hours. For these reasons, it can be said that X-ray irradiation is the preferred method for treating medical products effectively and sustainably. X-ray irradiation is a clean and green tech-nology that is carried out under the same regulatory requirements as gamma irradiation and has the same effects on microbiological systems. X-ray irradiation is softer and produces a lower thermal load than gamma irradiation, which reduces the risk of transforming the product's characteristics. In addition, the operator of the irradiation equipment does not need to worry about sourcing cobalt and customers do not need to worry that equipment capacity will fall. X-ray irradiation is the method of the future and an increasing number of medical products will make the switch in the coming years from old methods like gamma and ethylene oxide to X-rays.
Did you know that we need less than 48 hours for sterilization and transport to you? And refrigerated goods only require 24 hours for Swiss customers.
If you have any further questions about the sterilization options, please contact our specialist Alexander Müller.

Things are heat­ing up at Früh in May and June, as we are par­ti­cip­at­ing in these three great trade shows:

May 23 – 25 in Nurem­berg at Medtec, Hall 3c, booth 15
June 13 to 15 in New York at the MD&M East, booth 1557
June 14 – 15 in Geneva at Con­nect in Pharma, booth D3

We can hardly wait & are already look­ing for­ward to many visitors!

Pre­par­a­tions for the first trade show in 2023 are in full swing: At the begin­ning of Feb­ru­ary, we will present our new con­gress booth at Pharma­pack in Par­is (booth G88).
Vis­it us at G88 — our sales team is look­ing to see­ing you there!

We are delighted to inform you that we will be open­ing our new pro­duc­tion site in Exton (PA). From the end of 2023, ​“Fruh Pack­aging Inc.”, which will oper­ate as an inde­pend­ent com­pany, will meet its cli­ents’ needs by expand­ing its pack­aging ser­vices to the USA.

After care­ful con­sid­er­a­tion, we have decided to enter Amer­ica’s east coast mar­ket for con­tract pack­aging for med­ic­al devices. The ser­vice cata­log includes the same options as those offered in Switzer­land. This will allow us to offer the val­ued expert­ise our cli­ents have come to expect from us, just 40 minutes from Philadelphia.

The infra­struc­ture qual­i­fic­a­tion and cer­ti­fic­a­tion phase will begin in Octo­ber 2023, with plans to start pro­duc­tion by Q1/2024. We will remain an inde­pend­ent, fam­ily-run busi­ness, and will be rep­res­en­ted in Exton by Alex­an­der Früh.

We are already look­ing for­ward to this excit­ing mile­stone and will, of course, keep you up to date with how the pro­ject is progressing.

The top­ics of ​“Energy + Sus­tain­ab­il­ity” have not only been on our minds since the cur­rent crisis, but have been part of our stra­tegic actions for a long time and serve as a basis for invest­ments in sus­tain­able and effi­cient technologies.

Would you like to know what/​how much e.g. the optim­iz­a­tion of the com­pressed air net­work, weak­er logo light­ing or regen­er­at­ive thermal oxid­a­tion cause? Read about it here.

In order to guar­an­tee error-free pro­cessing of pro­jects, we use a cloud-based print data portal, which is also oper­ated by the cus­tom­er and his agency. The tool is used for effi­cient com­mu­nic­a­tion and approvals and enables error-free pro­cessing includ­ing qual­ity assur­ance and archiv­ing. The auto­mated log book shows each indi­vidu­al pro­cess step and the asso­ci­ated respons­ible per­son. This way the cor­res­pond­ence can be reduced to the essen­tials and every­one knows exactly what has been done in advance or which step is next.

The release cycle (draft to GfP) takes between 2 to 4 weeks, depend­ing on the product and customer.

Vis­it us on Octo­ber 19 and 20 at the PDA in Palm Springs (booth 708). The focus is on ​“con­tract pack­aging phar­ma­ceut­ic­als”, but of course we are also happy to show you oth­er pack­aging solutions.

Fur­ther information.

The con­tract­pack­aging for med­ic­al devices goes through 9 steps in a record pro­cessing time of 8 to 10 days. 

1) con­sult­ing, engin­eer­ing, and pro­duc­tion for cus­tom­ized primary, sec­ond­ary and ter­tiary pack­aging
2) incom­ing inspec­tion with quant­ity and product con­trol
3) clean room label print­ing in germ-free envir­on­ment
4) final rins­ing in clean room accord­ing to ISO class 7
5) assembly as reques­ted in clean room con­di­tions
6) clean room pack­aging in inert gas atmo­sphere
7) final pack­aging and car­ton­ing
8) ster­il­iz­a­tion with gamma rays, X‑rays, or steam
9) logist­ics with ​“door-to-door” service

Record pro­cessing time in con­tract­pack­aging med­ic­al: from incom­ing inspec­tion to dis­patch in 8 to 10 days includ­ing sterilization.

Made pos­sible by spe­cial­ized pro­cesses and mod­ern infra­struc­ture from a single source.

Peel pouches offer reli­able pro­tec­tion as primary, sec­ond­ary and ter­tiary pack­aging for med­ic­al devices and phar­ma­ceut­ic­al products. Con­fig­ure your cus­tom-made peel pouch here.

At the PDA in Basel, the focus is on advanced pack­aging solu­tions. Vis­it us on June 2 and 3 at the con­gress cen­ter Basel, we will be happy to advise you at booth 23.

We are proud to have achieved ​“Sil­ver” status with Eco­Vadis in the areas of envir­on­ment, labor & human rights, eth­ics as well as sus­tain­able procurement.

At Medtec, which takes place from 3 to 5 May in Stut­tgart, the entire sales team of FRÜH awaits you. For the very first time, you have the oppor­tun­ity to take a peek at our pro­duc­tion facil­it­ies thanks to our vir­tu­al real­ity glasses.

You will find us at booth 10 – 212, pay atten­tion to the float­ing FRÜH logo, it can­not to be overlooked.

For fur­ther inform­a­tion click here.

On 18 and 19 May, Pharma­pack will take place in Par­is, it’s the European hub for the phar­ma­ceut­ic­al pack­aging and drug deliv­ery device industry. Dur­ing these two days, we will be happy to show you how we handle the require­ments for phar­ma­ceut­ic­al con­tract pack­aging and which solu­tions are already available. 

Our stand num­ber is G88 — Bienvenue!

For fur­ther inform­a­tion click here. 

From 12 to 14 April, we will present ourselves as a part­ner of Swiss Glob­al Enter­prise in the Swiss Pavil­ion at the MD&M in Ana­heim. The focus is on pack­aging mater­i­als for med­ic­al and tech­no­lo­gic­al and phar­ma­ceut­ic­al products as well as for con­tract pack­aging solu­tions for med­ic­al tech­no­logy and pharmaceuticals.

Vis­it us at booth #2869 in the Con­ven­tions Cen­ter in Ana­heim – we look for­ward to see­ing you!

For fur­ther inform­a­tion click here. 

We will be exhib­it­ing at Pharma­pack in Par­is on Octo­ber 13 and 14.

Wheth­er you are look­ing for a primary pack­aging for enter­al or par­enter­al use, a pack­aging for med­ic­al tech­no­logy products such as implants or a pack­aging solu­tion for syr­inges and vials, we have the right pack­aging and will be happy to advise you at our booth G96. We are look­ing for­ward to your visit.

Find more inform­a­tion about the exhib­i­tion here. 

The demand for hav­ing a fast time to mar­ket on a high level of Qual­ity and Yield has increased with­in the last years.

Our Webin­ar on the Septem­ber 9 will give you an over­view of the chal­lenges and of Fill/​Finish includ­ing ster­il­iz­a­tion and how to over­come them by work­ing with SME’s from dif­fer­ent com­pan­ies and achiev­ing a fast and reli­able solu­tion for bring­ing your product fast to the market.

Register here for our webin­ar.
https://​www​.busi​ness​-review​-webinars​.com/​w​e​b​i​n​a​r​/​P​h​a​r​m​a​/​A​s​e​p​t​i​c​_​F​i​l​l​_​_​F​i​n​i​s​h​_​A​_​H​o​l​i​s​t​i​c​_​A​p​p​r​o​a​c​h​-​L​X​c​P8myF

From August 10 – 12 we will par­ti­cip­ate in the MD&M in Ana­heim as exhib­it­or togeth­er with Switzer­land Glob­al Enter­prise. After more than a year without par­ti­cip­at­ing in a trade fair, we are allowed to be there in per­son. With our team of experts we will advise you on pack­aging mater­i­als for med­ic­al and phar­ma­ceut­ic­al products as well as con­tract pack­aging solu­tions for med­ic­al tech­no­logy and phar­ma­ceut­ic­als. We are look­ing for­ward to see­ing you at booth #2869 in the Con­ven­tions Cen­ter in Anaheim.

Find more inform­a­tion about the exhib­i­tion here.

Are you developing a new packaging concept and would like to know which is the most suitable sterilization type? Or would you simply like an overview of the various types of sterilization? Below you will find an overview of gamma, x-ray and steam sterilization at Früh Verpackungstechnik AG.

Gamma sterilization

More than 40% of all medical products marked «sterile» involve the use of gamma irradiation. With this process, the gamma irradiation is released from the enriched cobalt-60 isotope. During beta decay, unstable cobalt-60 is converted into an excited state of nickel-60 and is then changed into stable nickel-60 through the emission of two gamma rays of 1.17 and 1.33 mega-electron volts. The half-life of this decay cascade is 5.27 years, making it the longest-lasting of all unstable cobalt isotopes.

Because of its characteristics, the gamma quanta can be described as both particles and as waves. This quality allows the gamma irradiation to penetrate deeply into the materials, which in turn makes it very well suited for treating medical products on, for example, EU pallets.

In most cases, medical products are treated to reduce and kill microorganisms, such as bacteria, that are on the products being treated. Medical products are said to be sterilized when the treatment process meets the requirements of EN 556-1. The procedure for sterilizing medical products using gamma irradiation is describe in standards series EN ISO 11137.

X-ray sterilization

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the market for medical products has seen another very effective sterilization type, so-called x-ray irradiation. As the name implies, this involves the use of x-rays or bremsstrahlung. The characteristics of this type of irradiation are very similar to gamma irradiation, but with the major difference that x-rays can be created artificially using electron acceleration and abrupt braking. With the help of a powerful electron accelerator of up to 7 MeV, electrons are accelerated to nearly light speed and shot at a target. In addition to a large amount of heat, the abrupt braking of the electrons also releases x-rays. These are then used, like gamma quanta, to treat medical products, for example, on EU pallets.

It can be said that x-rays penetrate materials better than gamma rays. This is because of the spectrum of rays that are produced, which will not be explained in further detail here. In terms of standards, there is no difference between the sterilization of medical products using gamma or x-ray irradiation

Steam sterilization

Steam sterilization is one of the oldest types of sterilization and is based on the principle of killing viable organisms and cells using heat. This results in the denaturation of proteins and the interruption of essential cell processes, which in turn leads to the death of microorganisms and viable cells.

In addition to medical products, a number of pharmaceutical products are treated using steam sterilization to reduce and kill microorganisms and other harmful organisms.

Tailored to the large range of products, there are a number of different processes available. These can be roughly divided into hot air sterilization and steam sterilization. Steam sterilization will be described in more detail here. In this process, the feed water, following the steam saturation curve, is heated in a steam sterilizer using a steam generator and released into the sterilization chamber as saturated steam. The chamber must first be emptied of air (evacuated) so the steam can reach the products to be sterilized without hindrance. Any remaining air would function as insulation during the steam sterilization and the steam might not be able to transfer all of its energy to the goods being sterilized. In addition, care needs to be taken that suitable packaging materials are used during steam sterilization through which the steam can pass and end up on the product being sterilized. In many cases, a fractionated pre-vacuum process is used for the sterilization of medical products, with a final vacuum drying process (FRVV-VMT, or fractionated pre-vacuum process – vacuum with drying). However, the process can also be adjusted in a modular manner depending on the product or process specification. Standards series DIN 58950 provides further details (pharmaceutical sterilization products) about the individual processes using heat and steam.

Material suitability - which type of sterilization is the right one?

In general, the same materials are suitable for irradiation using gamma rays and x-rays, as both of these sterilization types involve electromagnetic irradiation that have an ionizing effect on the irradiated material through the interaction of photons and electrons An overview of suitable materials for gamma ray, x-ray and steam sterilization can be found in AAMI TIR17:2017.

Please note that the use of x-rays, which are created through the acceleration of electrons using more than 5 mega-electron volts of energy, requires a material activation test. This requirement is defined in EN ISO 11137-1.

Comparison of the types of sterilization

Meet the Expert will be held this year on April 28 and 29 in col­lab­or­a­tion with Ortho­man­u­fac­ture. This will com­bine two con­gresses of the implant industry.

The sched­uled present­a­tions will now all take place digit­ally. In addi­tion to the present­a­tions, attendees will be able to meet in vir­tu­al rooms. We are pleased to be included with a present­a­tion on micro­bi­o­logy and ster­il­iz­a­tion giv­en by Peter Huonker, Head of Quality.

More inform­a­tion you can find here.

Unfor­tu­nately, due to the cur­rent situ­ation, no trade fairs can take place live on site, so we offer you an altern­at­ive. Switzer­land Glob­al Enter­prise has launched a vir­tu­al trade fair of the Swiss pack­aging, pro­cessing and plastics industry. 

We are pleased to be part of it. Vis­it us at our vir­tu­al booth.
s‑ge.com/showroom-frueh

The demands on pack­aging in the med­ic­al and phar­ma­ceut­ic­al industry have increased. Much more extens­ive doc­u­ment­a­tion is required today, espe­cially with regard to val­id­a­tion and qual­i­fic­a­tion in the pro­duc­tion and use of pack­aging materials.

In our webin­ar on Feb­ru­ary 11, we will give you an over­view of our peel pouches. We would like to show you which dif­fer­ent mater­i­als are used and what the qual­ity char­ac­ter­ist­ics of our peel pouches are. We will show you the prop­er­ties and spe­cific­a­tions of the dif­fer­ent mater­i­al com­pos­ites and how they can be used for your products.

Register here for our webinar.

We wish you a Merry Christ­mas and a happy and healthy New Year.

Pack Expo Con­nects 2020 is a web-based event com­plete with live chats, live product demos and equip­ment and enga­ging edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tun­it­ies, this will be the place to inter­act with pack­aging and pro­cessing pro­fes­sion­als this year. It will take place on Novem­ber 09 until Novem­ber 13, 2020.

We are invit­ing you to attend Pack Expo Con­nects 2020. You can register for free.
You find more inform­a­tion here.

We are look­ing for­ward meet­ing you in our showroom.

Due to the cur­rent COV­ID-19 situ­ation, Medte­cLIVE, which was planned to take place in Nurem­berg from 30 June to 2 July 2020, can­not be held in per­son. Medtec will now take place vir­tu­ally via a plat­form.

You can register for par­ti­cip­a­tion under the link.
Fur­ther inform­a­tion can be found on the web­site.

As we already notified you in an earlier message, Früh Verpackungstechnik AG is doing its utmost to maintain our
production supply chain and minimize the impact of the coronavirus on our workforce.

More information can be found here.

We have been find­ing the best solu­tions for the toughest pack­aging chal­lenges since 1980. We ensure con­tinu­ous improve­ment in all areas in order to help our cus­tom­ers move for­ward with an out­stand­ing solu­tion. This ser­vice capa­city and our for­ward-look­ing per­spect­ive is expressed more clearly in our updated brand iden­tity. In addi­tion to a design refresh, we have adap­ted our slo­gan, which is now ​“pro­tect to per­form.” Behind this slo­gan is our belief that pro­tec­tion can always be increased. We are con­stantly improv­ing our solu­tions for cus­tom­ers. To ensure that every pack­aged product can unfold its poten­tial – and people can bene­fit from them without concern.

Because of the unusu­al situ­ation caused by the spread of the coronavir­us Medte­cLIVE has been post­poned. Medte­cLIVE will now take place from 30 June to 2 July 2020 in Nurem­berg. We are look­ing for­ward to wel­come you at our booth 611 in hall 9.

You find more inform­a­tion here: https://​www​.medte​clive​.com/en

Due to current circumstances and the spread of the coronavirus the situation in Switzerland has been categorized as special in accordance with the Epidemics Act.

Früh Verpackungstechnik AG has assembled an internal team comprised of members of executive and senior management. This team meets at regular defined intervals, uses the latest information (TV, radio, newspapers, government authorities) to analyze the latest developments and their impact on our company in order to be able to respond quickly to changing circumstances and recommendations by the national and cantonal authorities.

All employees are being made aware of the situation with the aim of providing them with in-depth information about current events, the spread of the disease in neighboring countries and among their friends and family as well as correct hygiene measures both within the company and outside of it. The hygiene measures and travel guidelines issued by the Swiss Federal Office for Public Health must be observed.

At present, we are not seeing any negative consequences in the supply chain and in our production. As a precautionary measure, we are increasing our stocks of face masks and disinfectants. Additional hand disinfectant stations have been set up for employees and visitors. We are reducing visits to foreign countries as well as customer and supplier visitors to our offices to an absolute minimum, and we are also postponing meetings that have already been until a later date set if such meetings are not absolutely necessary.

The aim of these measures as well as the ongoing involvement of our employees is to prevent the spread of the virus internally. The regular meetings will enable us to adapt the measures quickly to current circumstances and are intended to ensure the continued maintenance of production at our company.

Information (PDF)

The annu­al Medtec will take place in Nürn­berg, Ger­many on March 31 until April 02, 2020. Früh Ver­pack­ung­s­tech­nik will be there with a new stand and its experts.

The annu­al Pharma­pack will take place in Par­is on Feb­ru­ary 05 and 06, 2020. Früh Ver­pack­ung­s­tech­nik will be there with a new stand and its experts.

The annu­al PFS Con­fer­ence will take place in Lon­don on Janu­ary 15 and 16, 2020. Früh Ver­pack­ung­s­tech­nik will be there with a new stand and its experts.