Uhlmann – A Pharmaceutical Partner, for Life

It has multiple, region-specific mandatory regulations, which are complex and are the subject of constant changes. These regulations are crucial for pharmaceutical companies to ensure their products are safe, effective, and legally compliant, helping to maintain public trust while avoiding legal and financial repercussions.

Uhlmann Pac-Systeme (“Uhlmann”) has successfully navigated these ever-shifting rules over its long history to become firmly established as one of the pharmaceutical sector’s leading systems suppliers for the packaging of products in blisters, bottles, and cartons.

However, despite its success to date, Uhlmann understands the need to continually innovate and look to the future. Its own extensive research reveals that the pharma sector of tomorrow will be drastically different to that of today, meaning that all components, especially packaging suppliers, need to revisit how they can deliver the service that manufacturers are increasingly expecting.

Let us examine how Uhlmann is positioning itself for change to ensure it successfully navigates the pharma sector of today and tomorrow.

About Uhlmann

• Founded: 1948
• Headquarters: Laupheim, Baden Wuerttemberg
• CEO: Dr.-Ing. Matthias Niemeyer
• Locations:  USA, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, the UK, Sweden, Spain, Russia, Switzerland, France, Singapore, South Korea, China, India and Poland
• Industry: Industrial Machinery Manufacturing
• Special Expertise: Pharma Packaging, Parenteral Packaging, Bottle Packaging, End of Line Packaging, Smart Services, Software Services, Smart Production, Life-Cycle-Management, Blister Packaging, Cartoner, Direct in Carton, Serialization, Aggregation, Medical Device Tracking, and Pharma 4.0
• Website: http://www.uhlmann.de/

It has over 1,700 members of staff based across 15 global locations, complemented and supported by over 40 representatives. It is part of the wider Uhlmann Group which includes Koch Pac-Systeme in the Black Forest, Cremer Speciaalmachines in the Netherlands, Wonder Packing Machinery in China and Axito in Poland.

Since its formation in 1948, it has constantly pushed boundaries, carving out a solid worldwide reputation as a key provider of flexible solutions for international pharmaceutical companies, generics manufacturers, and contract packers.

Today, Uhlmann has a solid foundation and enviable reputation as one of the world’s foremost pharmaceutical packaging specialists.

Serialization – the core component of pharmaceutical complexity

Pharmaceutical packaging is the subject of multiple, geographic-specific regulations.

In the US, the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA regulates pharmaceutical packaging, while in the EU, the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, provides guidelines and regulations, with many other countryspecific regulations in existence too.

These rules, essential as they are, are arguably lacking in cohesion across the territories. However, they do have one common denominator – serialization, which has become entrenched as a core component of packaging lines across the world.

By providing a robust mechanism for tracking and authenticating pharmaceutical products, serialization plays a critical role alongside the wider packaging process in safeguarding public health and enhancing the operational effectiveness of the pharmaceutical industry.

The constant evolution of the pharma sector

Uhlmann’s own white paper, Packed for 2040, highlights how pharmaceuticals will become bio-chemically more complex.

The ever-longer molecule chains make the increased use of parenteral products unavoidable. This presents pharmaceutical companies and packers with new requirements throughout the entire value chain.

Add to this the ever-changing regulatory requirements which are forever becoming more rigorous to ensure the safety, efficacy, and quality of pharmaceuticals. Compliance with these regulations involves extensive documentation, testing, and quality control. Navigating different regulatory landscapes in various countries adds to the complexity. Pharmaceutical companies must adapt to diverse regulatory standards and approval processes.

Furthermore, leveraging AI and big data for drug discovery, development, and personalized treatment plans necessitates advanced data analytics capabilities and cybersecurity measures, and managing complex global supply chains, especially considering disruptions like the COVID-19 pandemic, demands robust logistics and risk management strategies.

This increasing level of complexity has led to issues for some manufacturers, especially the smaller ones who cannot be expected to be an expert across every single discipline. As a result, many of the smaller or medium sized manufacturers, those without the resources to employ experts covering every single production discipline, are becoming reliant on the counsel given by specialist suppliers.

Uhlmann and advanco – making clients stronger, together

Uhlmann aims to be the leading provider of sustainable packaging solutions driving the transformation of the pharma value chain.

Already known as a total solution provider, Uhlmann offers consultation, project management, implementation, and services from a single source. One of the highlights of this consulting approach, allowing it to advise clients over the lifetime of the partnership and supplying multiple services under one roof, is strategically partnering with other suppliers, such as its serialization partnership with advanco.

Advanco is an enterprise software company specializing in product identification for regulated track and trace since 1981, utilizing serialization technologies to prevent counterfeits in the life science sector. It has been focusing on customers in the pharmaceutical industry since 2008, with its first customer being Pfizer Turkey, establishing itself as a leading independent provider from Level 2 to Level 5 for regulated track and trace throughout the entire supply chain and around any ERP system.

Uhlmann’s specific track and trace solutions portfolio includes specialist machines for serialization and aggregation, complemented by its specialist Pexcite platform software with solution apps for Level 1 to Level 3. Pexcite is a future-oriented modular platform for intertwined software solutions, ensuring the intelligent connectivity of machines, devices and data which enables pharmaceutical firms to make data-driven decisions quickly and soundly.

The strategic partnership with advanco means that Uhlmann can offer the full range of the most watertight serialization solutions available for the pharmaceutical sector today, seamlessly working alongside its specialist packaging solutions. Together, Uhlmann and advanco can provide serialization levels 1 – 5, meaning the entire serialization eco structure is covered under one roof.

Furthermore, clients benefit from one point of contact and one project manager, no matter which solutions are being provided by which company.

Conclusion

The pharmaceutical sector’s constant evolution means that strategic partnerships, which enable one company to offer clients an over-arching, best-in-class, Level 1 to Level 5 solution, by tapping into the products offered by a fellow company, will become much more relied upon by pharma manufacturers.

Uhlmann’s Packed for 2040 whitepaper highlights the depth of change we can expect, incorporating technology, processes and even human behaviour. We will see improved medications that offer more personalized treatments with fewer side effects, aiding in the cure and treatment of diseases considered incurable today. However, its production, packaging, and logistics will present several challenges to the industry beforehand – challenges that will need constant innovation to change.

By continuing to evolve, readdress the solutions it is offering, and entering strategic consulting partnerships such as that with advanco, firms such as Uhlmann will continually position themselves at the cusp of this change. They will be perfectly positioned to take full advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead thanks to a vital ability to offer clients the consulting approach they increasingly want, backed up by delivering the solutions they increasingly need.