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Laetus OpenHouse “Secure Track & Trace”
At their OpenHouse this year, Laetus used an example of a packaging line to give pharmaceutical manufactures an overview of the existing international regulations, and also introduced the innovative concept of Secure Track & Trace.
The protection of the supply chain against counterfeit products is currently an exceedingly important and much discussed topic. Anyone who on hearing this issue raised thinks just about trainers, watches and bags from the big-name brands, is failing to recognise the biggest problem of all: fake medicines which pose a serious risk to life and limb.
Understandably, respectable pharmaceutical manufacturers, medical insurers and state healthcare systems want to make sure that only genuine preparations and medications reach the market and go on sale. This is not just a matter of upholding the good name of the whole sector. It is a matter of the health and well-being of all of us.
At Laetus’ OpenHouse-Information Event this year, these topics were handled in an up-to-the-minute manner: Many pharmaceutical companies were present, and were given presentations about which national and international rules will have to be adhered to in the future, and – above all – about how Laetus can support them in this task. The issue of ITS/Turkey was discussed in particular detail. Moreover, those who attended obtained information about other forthcoming regulations such as those of the EFPIA, the Californian Law and the French CIP.
“As market leader in the branch of pharmaceutical packaging material control, we would like to acquaint manufacturers with the adoption of new labelling regulations for the printing, monitoring and administration of serial numbers on packaging units“, said Jörg Liedtke, Product Manager of the Track & Trace division. “The manufacturers are currently all asking themselves the same questions: Which types of labelling and identification on products will be compulsory in the future, and what action will be required of my business as a result of this?
The OpenHouse didn’t just provide information about the forthcoming compulsory product identification and labelling requirements however, but also about the concept in itself – and since demonstrations are always more readily understood than pure theory, the afternoon saw a shift to the more practical phase of the event.
The live demonstration started with the download of manufacturing data from the simulated company computer (lot number, dates of expiry, GTIN-article numbers, and necessary quantities of unique serial numbers), as an example of the system and the transfer of data on to the Line-Management System.
Subsequently, this data was brought up online, on a conveyor belt with a printer unit and a bundler, and applied to cartons and bundles. The varieties of direct printing with a TIJ-printer and the varieties of labelling with a thermal transfer printer were shown.
But that wasn’t all: The possibilities of manual packing of packages into shipping parcels were also demonstrated live and online.
The event was finished off with a presentation given by a partner firm of Laetus, on the issue of intelligent management of the collected data with a minimised outlay of memory storage space.
