Growing pharma packaging sector presents 2021 opportunities
The Pharma packaging sector has experienced a significant impact from COVID-19 on a truly global scale. While the challenges are great, the continued growth of the sector will present more and more opportunities during 2021, according to recent professional data.
A report released by Research and Markets includes data and strategic analysis from leading packaging industry experts and predicts global industry growth to more than 1,000 billion dollars (USD) by 2021. This has been impacted by the COVID-19 situation, with large scale PPI, medical and healthcare product requirements soaring to unprecedented levels.
However positive this news is from a commercial perspective, the reality is that many pharma packaging businesses still face mounting challenges during the pandemic. These need to be addressed before the opportunities can be fully harnessed.
Addressing the challenges
In addition to rising demand for products, pharma packaging businesses are facing the need for extreme caution to limit the spread of the virus. This includes social distancing measures, touch-free processing and raising hygiene standards to levels previously never envisaged, to name just a few.
The growth in Pharma packaging is not likely to slow any time soon, particularly with research into treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 also accelerating. As demand soars, the packaging sector will come under even greater pressure to fulfil global needs and businesses need to be ready to handle it.
With such large scale demand, there has also been diversity, which has increased the competitive edge for a range of sectors. Many businesses previously comfortable outside the pharma sector have faced a major rethink during the pandemic. Some have closed, some have reduced operational capacity and others have changed focus and diversified.
At the beginning of the global health crisis, companies faced unprecedented challenges:
- Widespread lockdowns
- Halted operations
- Additional health and safety measures
- Reduced workforce
- Increased demand
- Supporting social distancing
Although the sector has managed to get back on its feet quickly, resuming initially limited operations, it has required commitment and investment from businesses and flexibility from the workforce. Whether businesses adapt for long- or short-term changes is a matter of planning and foresight to a certain degree. But with the sector experiencing such growth and development, pharma packaging lines all over the world could become much busier, very quickly. Now is the time to address the challenges and prepare to overcome them.
Harnessing the opportunities from pharma sector packaging growth
A significant number of pharma packaging sector companies have embraced the opportunities and met the challenges head-on with a combination of innovation and automation. Automating the pharma packaging line can tick many of the vital boxes needed:
- Creating a hands-off approach
- Increasing hygiene standards
- Increasing output speed
- Creating consistency
- Maximising distribution efficiency
- Supporting social distancing and multi-shift patterns
- Enabling multi-product packaging
Automated packaging machines have been steadily increasing in popularity for some years. But now, are now providing a clear route enabling companies to navigate through the stormy seas of rising demand. As a result, automating packaging and production is experiencing a global shift in many sectors, not just pharma.
How Jacob White can help
Jacob White packaging machines take automation to a completely new level. With more than 100 years in the industry, we understand the pressures that evolving standards and fluctuating demand can put on your packaging line. Because of this, we have been supporting our clients throughout the pandemic, speeding up the delivery of our machines, continuing to provide vital maintenance and parts and more.
We have also introduced a packaging machine hire service to help your pharma production line meet the challenges and harness the short-term opportunities. If you’re looking for a longer-term solution to help future-proof your packaging line, then let us help you. Our packaging machines can be uniquely tailored to your exact requirements and can be integrated to form an end-to-end approach.
Find out more about our range of semi-automatic and fully automated pharma packaging machines and talk to us about how you can grow your business and meet demand.
Founded in 1911, Jacob White is a world-leading manufacturer of packaging and cartoning machines for food and drink, hygiene, healthcare and pharmaceutical products. Our high-quality machines, renowned for their delicate product handling qualities, are all engineered in the UK and installed in more than 60 countries across the world.
For more than a century, Jacob White has been a world-leader in the manufacture of packaging and cartoning machines. Whether standard or custom-built, our machines are designed to solve even the most delicate of packaging challenges for customers in the food and drink, hygiene, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. They are all proudly engineered at our site in the UK while our install base spans more than 5,000 sites and more than 60 countries across the world.
