(L-R) Joachim Hoeltz, CEO Rondo AG, Giovanni De Luca, director operations Switzerland Rondo AG, and Philippe Andrey, Heidelberg Switzerland
Rondo AG, which is part of the international Körber Group, is conducting the first beta test of the Heidelberg Primefire 106 press for pharmaceutical packaging.
The B1 format press has been installed at the company’s facility in Allschwil near Basel in Switzerland since April this year, where it forms the final piece in the packaging specialist’s Supply on Demand Service. CEO Joachim Hoeltz explained, ‘The trends in the pharmaceutical industry are heading towards ever declining runs and shorter delivery times in response to personalised medicine, increasing language and country versions and much shorter delivery times.’
The company launched the new service at Interpack last year and has since been supplying a key pharmaceutical customer with a large number of folding carton orders with very short delivery times.
Mr Hoeltz continued, ‘Our production consists entirely of secondary packaging. Through process automation and close IT integration, we offer our customers a just-in-time service and by doing so help them to optimise their own supply chain.’
Hans-Peter Süßlack, business process manager, added, ‘Offset printing has its limits when it comes to the personalisation and run lengths of just one pack. That’s why we took a serious look at digital printing. We saw the Primefire 106 at drupa 2016 and opted for this machine after various tests.’
The new press will also be used for a special project next year that will see individual serial numbers added to pharma packaging in order to comply with the EU Falsified Medicines Directive.
