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Sustainability through corporate cooperation

Many companies are faced with the challenge of making their production processes lower in CO2 and their packaging more environmentally friendly. A co-operation between Uhlmann Pac-Systeme and Etimex Primary Packaging shows how this can be achieved.

There is no way around the issue of sustainability, not even in the packaging industry. Many companies are faced with the challenge of making their production CO2-and make their packaging more environmentally friendly. A co-operation between Uhlmann Pac-Systeme and Etimex Primary Packaging shows how this can be achieved.

Genuine sustainability is more in demand than ever, and the product market is experiencing continuous growth in this area. As a result, the demand for sustainable packaging solutions is also changing, and a response to this is becoming a must for manufacturers. Here, manufacturers should not opt for a sustainable packaging material alone, but for an offer with cooperation between the system and packaging material manufacturer - for long-term use with success. The Uhlmann Pac-Systeme GmbH & Co. KG and the Etimex Primary Packaging GmbH have been exemplifying this model for decades, making the products of their customers in the pharmaceutical and food supplement sectors fit for the future.

The sustainability trend is bearing fruit and is helping the packaging industry to make a necessary change. After all, sustainability does not begin and end with the product, but encompasses the entire process - including packaging. This is why more and more manufacturers are entering the market for sustainable packaging solutions. Customers who not only want to make their products more environmentally conscious, but also the associated packaging, now have a wide range to choose from. However, new challenges are arising: The practicability and interfaces of newly developed solutions have mostly not yet been tested, and their long-term use has not yet been proven. How, for example, is it possible to find the packaging variant for which solutions for reliable and efficient processing already exist in a wide range of products?

Sustainable material must be workable

This is where established interfaces between manufacturers come into play. The example of the system manufacturer Uhlmann and the packaging material manufacturer Etimex illustrates this type of cooperation, which is beneficial to the customer.

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Etimex has already established its standing in the field of sustainable packaging and has Sustainability firmly anchored in the corporate strategy. The polypropylene (PP) monoblister, consisting of thermoforming film and press-through sealing film, received the German Packaging Award in the Sustainability category in 2021. With the Purelay blister Both components made from fully recyclable PP The PP thermoforming film „Purelay Pharm“ and the press-through PP sealing film „PurelayLid“. This means that the single-material blister fulfils the aspects of recyclability, that are demanded of sustainable packaging today, without losing any of its technical packaging properties.

The speciality: PP-Mono is not a new development, but has been on the market for 30 years. This has many advantages for customers: the product has been in use for years and is therefore tried and tested. Co-operation partner Uhlmann has also been familiar with the product for just as long and is constantly gaining important insights for highly efficient and precise further processing on its own packaging systems through repeated testing. Valentin Knupfer from Uhlmann: „A sustainable packaging solution can only be effective for the customer if it can be optimally processed on the packaging machine. This could only be achieved through decades of co-operation and development with Etimex.“

Long-term collaboration leads to efficiency

Uhlmann Pac-Systeme GmbH & Co. KG is a provider of packaging solutions for the pharmaceutical industry. The machine manufacturer's portfolio includes systems for packaging pills or parenterals with recyclable mono-packaging, for example blisters made from PP mono. Uhlmann came into contact with PP-Mono at an early stage through its long-standing co-operation with Etimex - enough time to familiarise themselves intensively with the product. With the resulting understanding, packaging material, machine features and the production process can be considered in an integrated manner.

This is precisely what guarantees a well-rounded overall result focussing on sustainability. This is because Uhlmann machines designed for processing PP reduce material waste in the packaging process to an absolute minimum. If the fully recyclable packaging material is also combined with digital solutions to increase the efficiency of the system or direct energy-saving functions, the CO2-footprint and thus further increase the sustainability factor.

The two companies also benefit from their close proximity in their co-operation. Martin Rank, Head of Sales & Marketing at Etimex, agrees: „Making co-operative development fun15 km as the crow flies - this is how PP monoblisters are produced with efficient and high-quality processes.“

http://www.etimex.de
http://www.uhlmann.de

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