A custom-engineered packaging solution for the life sciences industry

How do you open a shrink-wrapped package of test tubes when you’re wearing surgical gloves?

A global manufacturer of laboratory instruments wanted our help with an industrial packaging challenge. The products in question—medical test tubes—are shrink-wrapped to ensure antiseptic delivery to the life science research and clinical testing labs that use them. No problem there.

But laboratory users open the box in a clean room environment. That can be tricky when you’re wearing surgical gloves.

They asked us to find an easier way to ensure sterility, but make opening the packages easier in awkward clean-room garb. Our first thought was to include a ‘zip strip’—a tear strip across the top of the test tube box, integral to the shrink wrapping. That turned out to be the right solution, but getting to it wasn’t as easy as it sounds.

Our team provided a custom solution that called for integrated packaging equipment from two manufacturers (Kallfass and Sealstrip Corporation) to make the shrink-wrap zip strip a reality. It took some custom engineering and careful testing, but the solution works as though it were designed that way from the beginning.

We couldn’t be more delighted with the result, considering that the end user’s satisfaction, safety, heightened customer satisfaction and growth are testing positive.

Have a difficult packaging solution you’d like some help with? Contact us…we love a tough challenge!