The Vital Role of Medical Device Labels in the Evolving Healthcare Industry

In the constantly evolving landscape of healthcare, the technology inherent in medical devices is no exception. With current trends and industry innovations always at the forefront, the significance of effective medical device labeling is paramount. Notably, according to AP News, the Biden administration provided $600 million in funding to produce COVID-19 home tests in September 2023, underscoring the critical role of effective labeling in such vital health initiatives. It is essential these labels not only dictate accurate and precise product information but also comply with the stringent regulatory requirements and industry standards. 

The challenge for medical device manufacturers is twofold: remaining contemporary with these rigorous demands and preserving a competitive edge in an ever-crowded marketplace. This article will delve into the technological evolution and its amplifying effect on the necessity for effective medical device labeling, the ongoing regulatory requisites, and the most recent advancements adopted by companies to maintain market dominance.

Evolution of Technology Increases Needs for Medical Device Labels

With an increased focus on technology, medical devices are becoming more advanced, and with this comes an increased need for innovatively designed and accurate medical device labels. The products may include pressure-sensitive labels, expanded content labels, pattern adhesive labels, tamper-evident, and tamper-proof labels, as well as other specialty labels. Among these, labels that are durable, economical, and require low maintenance are commonly used in medical devices. 

In light of the evolving technology, healthcare regulatory requirements are also becoming increasingly complex, which places an additional burden on manufacturers to ensure that their labeling accurately complies with industry standards. In many instances, failing to meet regulatory requirements can cause delays and downtime, which can directly impact a company's ability to compete in the market.

Stay on the Right Side of Regulatory Requirements

To remain compliant and keep things running smoothly, it's essential that a manufacturer chooses the right medical device label supplier that has the necessary facilities with certification. Medical device labels must adhere to industry-standard printing with enough capacity to produce accurate and precise medical device labels for certification purposes. 

The modern medical device label must be highly accurate and incorporate durable adhesive, specialized inks, and coatings to protect from environmental factors such as moisture, temperature, and other contaminants. Medical device manufacturers often incorporate color-coded labels to signify the device or the patient's needs. The medical device labels that are peel-and-stick, and easy-to-read have always been critical to patient safety.

Summing Up

In short, the healthcare industry continues to grow and innovate by incorporating cutting-edge technology to create advanced medical devices. Medical device labels are an integral part of the overall performance and safety of a medical device, ensuring that accurate and precise information is available for patients and healthcare professionals alike. The growing demand for more robust and accurate medical device labels has been magnified by the increasing complexity of regulatory requirements that medical device manufacturers need to meet. 

Due to the complexity and capabilities involved, it is important to select a trusted and experienced company like Premium Label & Packaging Solutions for your medical device labels. To discuss your medical device labeling needs, please reach out to us today.

Understanding the Impact of Recent Health Trends on Nutraceutical Labels

The shift towards a more health-conscious society has steadily risen for the last decade. With advancements in technology and medicine, people are living longer than ever. It is no surprise that the nutraceutical industry has benefitted as people continue to prioritize their health and wellness with products improving the way they feel and look. Weight loss and brain health are top of mind among many consumers, and the nutraceutical industry has grown to address these shifts. This blog examines these recent health trends and what they mean for custom nutraceutical labels.

Healthy Golden Years

With this new era of the "healthy golden years," Nutraceuticals are an attractive option for aging populations, and companies are noticing. More people are working to ensure long-term health by enjoying a healthy diet and using nutraceuticals to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's, arthritis, tooth decay, and much more. Nutraceutical labels often highlight ingredients supporting healthy aging, such as antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, and probiotics.  Companies offering nutraceuticals should consider emphasizing their products' health benefits to seniors as they age.

Weight Loss

The weight loss industry has undergone a significant transformation in recent years by promoting more natural and sustainable weight loss solutions. Gallup found that over half of American adults desired to lose weight between 2017 and 2022. Nutraceuticals have become an essential player in this space, offering a range of ingredients that promote healthy weight loss without harsh chemicals or stimulants. As a result, we now see more custom nutraceutical labels promoting ingredients like green tea extract, garcinia cambogia, and CLA. To make products more appealing to consumers, use custom nutraceutical labels to emphasize ingredients that assist with weight loss.

Brain Health

As people become more aware of the importance of cognitive health, brain health has emerged as a major health trend. A survey from the International Food Information Council found that 74% of Americans are confident that foods and drinks have some effect on their mental or emotional health. Consumers seek products that support brain function, memory, and focus. Nutraceutical companies are responding by incorporating ingredients like omega-3s, ginkgo biloba, and phosphatidylserine into their products. Nutraceutical labels now often highlight the cognitive benefits of their products, appealing to consumers looking for an edge in their daily lives.

Regulatory Changes

Along with these recent health trends, there have also been regulatory changes impacting nutraceutical labels. The FDA has implemented tighter regulations on labeling dietary supplements, requiring manufacturers to provide more detailed information about ingredients and health claims. This has led to more standardized labels that are easier for consumers to understand. Additionally, there has been a push for transparency in the industry, with some companies going beyond what is required by law to provide third-party testing results and ingredient-sourcing information on their labels.

With increasing regulatory oversight and a demand for transparency, nutraceutical labels have also evolved to provide more detailed information about their products. As the health and wellness industry evolves, it will be interesting to see how nutraceuticals adapt to these changing trends and regulations.

Are you looking for top-quality custom nutraceutical labels that meet regulatory requirements? If so, contact Premium Label & Packaging Solutions to learn more about how our products can benefit you.

PLPS is Profiled in this Month's Label & Narrow Web

Label & Narrow Web magazine, the premier resource for label professionals and those in the branding and packaging fields  chose PLPS for this month’s “Company to Watch.” The piece showcases how we started and where we are going. https://www.labelandnarrowweb.com/issues/2023-10-01/view_features/companies-to-watch-premium-label-packaging-solutions-plps/

Acquisitions of mid-size companies by large groups result in powerhouses with combined technologies in commercial hubs around the world. Conglomerates form to cover markets in strong nations and continental regions, and smaller groups emerge everywhere. Many are powered by private equity, and all compete regardless of size.

PE firms are finance organizations with profit the primary goal. They target industries with health and growth in the short term, possibly long term. One essential to financial goals is experienced leadership on the ground.

Over the past two years, family-funded Dunes Point Capital (DPC) acquired four well-established label and packaging converters in the Northeast US. The small PE company created Premium Label & Packaging Solutions and now has seasoned industry leaders, from within the operations and from outside, honing a dynamic group with high performance in several strong packaging markets.

In 2021 and 2022, Premium Label & Packaging Solutions (PLPS) acquired Overnight Labels, Label Graphics Manufacturing, HP Mile, and Luminer Converting. PLPS now comprises eight plants in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, and employs 225 people. Its customers range from small to very large manufacturers with global reach in healthcare, wellness, personal care, and industrial segments.

In the late 1980s, Luminer was launched in southern New Jersey; at the same time Overnight was being built in Long Island, NY, into a regional contender. “They were not really competitors,” says Leslie Gurland, vice president of sales at PLPS. “Overnight was in prime labels and Luminer was mostly pharmaceutical. As time went on both founders were looking to move their businesses to the next stage and found an acquirer in PLPS.”

Over the years, HP Mile in Syracuse, NY, had been busy with acquisitions of its own: Privateer and Label One, both in Old Saybrook, CT. Label Graphics, in Little Falls, NJ, was the most mature company in the group with 44 years in business. Quite a few specialists remain on the ground in all four companies. They are involved in sales, product development and general management of their facilities.

“This is Dunes Point’s first foray into packaging,” Gurland says. “They wanted to be in the beauty, personal care and wellness markets. First they targeted Overnight, which produces high end, sophisticated graphics and labels.” Overnight’s specialties are vitamin supplements, nutraceuticals, sports nutrition, food and beverage, health and beauty, and household products. But the acquirer gained much more as it expanded its reach.

Luminer focuses on the pharmaceutical business and makes extended content labels for clinical trial work and other pharmaceutical applications. HP Mile’s expertise is in pharmaceutical and medical labels, as well as specialty tapes. Label Graphics is known for its range of packaging products, like plough folds, multi-page booklets, peelbacks, tube laminate decorating, and hot stamping.

Yet each knows something about the other shops’ expertise. “Every business PLPS acquired has an overlap, additional expertise that the next company does,” says Gurland. “We are always expanding our breadth and our depth.”

One example is a project with a large customer who wants to move to 100% recyclability, with new materials, new inks, new adhesives. “It’s a huge undertaking,” Gurland adds. “Combining the technical expertise and unique capabilities of each location allows us to bring the same solutions as the bigger players in the industry with the passion and speed to market of a smaller organization. This is what is resonating with our customers.”

“We’re now making stand-up pouches. We have an entire factory doing those,” says Gurland. “It’s a big investment, the kind most people aren’t going to make. We needed a bigger press, so we just took delivery of a new Lombardi, giving us a larger ROI.”

Sales teams from the four companies are now one. Gurland, former executive VP at Lux Global Label and an industry presence for decades, heads a sales force that represents the spectrum of processes, capabilities and enhancements offered by the expanded business.

“The companies that formed PLPS were entrepreneurs, and we are keeping that entrepreneurial spirit,” Gurland says. “We are available 24/7. We have to try harder. It’s in our DNA. Our customers want that.

“Our slogan is ‘Changing the Packaging Paradigm.’ We are branding our group. We’re not just focusing on our bottom line, but also our culture, who we are. It’s about our customers, our people, our community. Our mission is whatever the customer’s need is. We make the customer’s reality.”

PLPS runs 51 presses in a wide variety of print processes. Nilpeter and Mark Andy equipment are dominant, and four HP Indigo digital presses. In addition to the new Lombardi, two older units operate in the Little Falls plant, each 24" wide with a 36" repeat. All are flexo with LED curing.

Rewind equipment is from CEI and Rotoflex, and Karlville has supplied most of the flexible packaging converting machinery to handle seaming, pouching and inspection.

PLPS pays attention to manufacturing protocols. Its Farmingdale, NY, plant has Platinum GMI certification (Graphic Measure International), which ensures that color standards are met at the facility to provide control and uniformity. Plants producing pharmaceutical and OTC labels are ISO certified and cGMP compliant.

This year the company is particularly pleased to have received Safe Quality Food Certification (SQF), also at Farmingdale. SQF will let the company expand its food, beverage, and nutraceutical label work. The certification addresses food safety and quality management in a dozen food related categories, including food package manufacturing and consumer products packaging.

Increasing the value of a business is accomplished by acquisition and organic growth. Some companies focus on one more than the other, but PLPS works on both. “Everybody targets 10% growth per year, but we’d like to see 10% organically,” Gurland notes. “Additional growth comes from acquisition.

“What appealed to me, and a big reason I joined PLPS, is DPC’s commitment not just in increasing the financial value of the group but on making the businesses a better place for their employees. In an age when cost cutting is a given, PLPS improved the health benefits of the employees of three of the companies to match the excellent benefits Luminer was offering.

“DPC doesn’t just state its values, I feel they live them: honesty, humility, curiosity, impact, and team first,” she says. “To work alongside the industry greats – the four founders of Luminer, Overnight Label, HP Mile, and Label Graphics, people I have admired for years – is such an honor and privilege.”

Premium Label & Packaging Solutions Award News

Premium Label & Packaging Solutions Award News

SQF Certification News

Premium Label & Packaging Solutions Receives Safe Quality Food (SQF) Certification

Deer Park, NY, May 16, 2023 -- Premium Label & Packaging Solutions announced today that Overnight Labels, its facility located in Farmingdale, New York, has received the Safe Quality Food (SQF) Certification.  This location is focused on digital printing and, in particular, conventional and sustainable flexible packaging.  SQF certification will allow the company to expand its growing food and beverage business.

Recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), the SQF certification and quality standards are designed to meet industry, customer, and regulatory requirements for all sectors of the food supply chain, including packaging. It is recognized worldwide by retailers, brand owners, and food service providers as a rigorous and credible food safety and quality program. 

“Even prior to our SQF Certification, we employed a strict QA protocol to ensure that every production facility in our group and every label we print meets our high standards,” said Overnight Labels’ General Manager Tom Spina. “This new accreditation, combined with our Platinum-level GMI certification, demonstrates the company’s commitment to the craft of label and package printing and adherence to the strict protocols required by certain industries. We are excited to work with new food brands and co-packers that share our quality, safety, and overall product excellence philosophy.” Premium Label & Packaging Solutions was formed in 2021 to bring together a group of award-winning converters with decades of experience in the Pharmaceutical, Nutraceutical, Beauty, Food & Beverage, and Household Product industries. Forming one company with redundant capabilities, a large fleet of state-of-the-art equipment, and market proficiency offers the personal touch of a small business with the infrastructure of a large organization and a unique quick-turn model that puts exceptional quality, speed, and customer service first.  They supply pressure sensitive labels, shrink sleeves, extended content labels, and flexible packaging to CPG companies nationwide.

PLPS Featured in Beauty Packaging Magazine

Overnight Labels Designated Platinum Level By Graphic Measures International (GMI)

Overnight Labels, Inc. has gone from Gold (previously called Blue) to Platinum Level status in our certification from Graphic Measures International (GMI).  Only 5 label printers nationwide have achieved the Platinum designation, which is the highest available in the GMI ratings system. Certification is a process that holds packaging suppliers accountable to established brand owner standards.  It ensures brand integrity, ongoing production run sample measurement and in-store packaging assessments.  Being certified allows us inclusion on a network of printers who are approved to produce flexo and digital labels, shrink sleeves and flexible packaging for many retailer/CPG companies who utilize the GMI service, including Target, CVS and Walgreens.

GMI2

In order for Overnight Labels to achieve Platinum status, we met the following criteria:

Our original certification was awarded in 2016 following an intensive on-site audit involving independent testing and inspections of company-wide processes and capabilities.  It included an in-depth focus on graphics and color management to verify that we utilize the latest technology in our print and color management processes.  Other areas evaluated included press quality (registration, trapping, die-line accuracy, finishing) and quality assurance (process implementation, audits, traceability, barcode readability, non-compliance protocol).

“Overnight Labels is proud of our new GMI Platinum level status because it recognizes the quality we strive to achieve every day, said Don Earl, President of Overnight Labels. “Whether a company requires a GMI printer or not, color consistency has always been an area of expertise for us.  All of our customers are extra secure in knowing that we print to specific numbers and standards, not a subjective set of rules,” he added.

In addition to our Platinum Level GMI certification, we are also a Disney and Walmart certified printer and a Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP) printer.