Pharmaceutical Processing created a questionnaire to learn more about Omega Design Corporation, their technologies, and some of the upcoming trends they are seeing in the industry. Omega Design Corporation is an exhibitor at PACK/Pharma Expo 2016. Chris Siegele, Serialization Specialist for Omega Design Corporation, answers our questions.

Below are the edited responses to this exclusive Q&A.

Tell us about your company. Specifically, what do you do and what are some of the areas that you excel in?

Siegele:

Omega Design Corporation is a global provider of innovative packaging solutions for the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and consumer healthcare industries. Since 1969, Omega has specialized in the design, manufacture, service, and support of a broad range of container handling and packaging equipment systems, including bottle unscramblers, bottle-puck handling systems, shrink bundlers, stretch banders, secondary bottle and 5th panel carton orienters, canister and pouch-style desiccant/oxygen absorber feeders, as well as coding, vision, and packing modules supporting lot and unit-level serialization.

Omega’s brand protection division, Unit Level, specializes in deploying and servicing serialization solutions along packaging lines, particularly within pharmaceutical and other life sciences segments. Unit Level offers project management, validation services, and integrates line level devices with serialization data management software for unit level product identification and tracking. The demo lab at Omega’s facility showcases the seamless integration between packaging line equipment and serialized data management software.

Omega Design Corporation operates from a fully integrated facility in Exton, Pennsylvania, that provides product research and development, product line engineering, parts manufacture, machine assembly, and testing.

What are some of the major innovations that have taken place in your industry in recent years? How has it impacted operations?

Siegele:

Serialization has been a game changer for the entire pharmaceutical supply chain. Multiple companies have come out with new ways to put codes onto product and read those codes at high speed on packaging lines. The impact on engineering and development has been substantial, with Omega Design putting out new machines multiple times a year to address the new needs of our customers.

What are the biggest challenges in your industry? How have companies endeavored to address this?

Siegele:

Pharmaceutical manufacturers were slow to adopt serialization initiatives, but all of the big companies are running now. They are seeing the potential benefits of gaining product visibility at the unit level throughout their supply chains. We’ll see companies that have invested in their supply chains separate from the pack while others who were slower to adopt struggle with capacity issues, line down time, and taking on systems that were designed for someone else. Omega has dealt with this by launching a Rapid Deployment program to offer pre-configured machines to the industry on short lead times that are flexible for a variety of use cases.

Where do you see the most room for growth within your industry?

Siegele:

Increased data analytics at the smallest saleable unit level is the logical step that grows from this newfound visibility into each drug’s path from manufacturer to patient. Serialized product enables process improvements at the manufacturing phase that were unavailable without unit level data.

What are the biggest markets of your industry and why do you think that is?

Siegele:

I’d say America. We have the most spending and foremost regulations that have driven these changes in the marketplace forward. Globally, America leads.

Will you be exhibiting any new products at PACK/Pharma Expo? If so, tell us about them!

Siegele:

Yes. We will premiere LabelSync™ 360° inspection and reject handling system for all markets, as well as two new versions of Intelli-Code Carton Coding solution at PACK Expo.

What are you most looking forward to at PACK/Pharma Expo this year?

Siegele:

PACK Expo is always an important week in the yearly cycle for us. Important months, actually—if we consider all the preparation and then the increased engagement with new customers. We are looking forward to presenting a variety of new products into the market place and are excited about the reactions we’ve been getting already.

What are some of the big trends you expect to see at the show?

Siegele:

The dichotomy of more specialized machines and growing standardization practices in the industry. By working on more specialized projects that solve a specific customer’s problem, Omega is able to constantly improve our more standardized systems and innovation becomes a natural part of the product cycle.

Click here to learn more about what Omega Design Corporation will be exhibiting at PACK/Pharma Expo 2016! To view the live show floor plan, click here.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates on the latest pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing news!