How Can Pharmaceutical Companies Save On Film, Paper Banding?
By Magdi Bichay, general manager of specialty products, Pacific Packaging Products
“Give ‘em the razor, sell ‘em the blades,” a quote attributed to King Camp Gillette of the Gillette razor company, is perhaps the best known example of a strategy driven by revenue through the sale of consumables. But there are numerous other examples from inkjet printers, to mobile phones, to coffee K-Cups.
While this is a legitimate strategy, it is most profitable when the company supplying the consumable can remain the sole source provider. When that is the case, prices and the profit margin can be kept artificially high, and the end user has no choice but to keep coming back for more.
Invariably, however, alternatives sprout up. Be it generic options or third party suppliers, it is impossible to keep the lid on a consumable for too long.
Today, in the packaging world, this is playing itself out in the arena of film and paper banding. Many pharmaceutical companies use such banding to secure lids to containers as a security measure and to replace expensive shrink films which often compromise the integrity of the product due to heat exposure. Stacks of trays and sachets are also typically banded, replacing chipboard sleeves, trays, and small cartons.
Far from a “giveaway” product, banding equipment manufacturing is dominated by overseas companies. Still, those that invest in such equipment continue to purchase from the same source, unaware that less expensive domestic alternatives exist. As a result, the overseas equipment manufacturers hold a virtual monopoly on the pricing of film and paper banding rolls.
The “Other” Type Of Banding
Google the word “banding” and the top results are sure to be related to the industrial steel, poly, and polyester bands used to secure pallets or other boxed goods for shipping.
Less well-known is the “other” type of banding – poly film and paper used to secure lids to containers and products packaged in corrugated trays. Both banding film and paper are often used as more economical, “greener” (less waste) alternatives to shrink film and poly bags.
At first glance, rolls of film and paper banding might be considered a commodity product. Available in a variety of roll sizes in clear or colored poly or brown and white paper, these consumables appear to be standard items that could be supplied by just about any conventional packaging supply house.
However, this is not the case. Most packaging supply distributors offer conventional packaging materials (stretch film, bubble, foam, corrugated, and Jan/San products, etc.), but don't have the converting capabilities to provide these films or paper, so they don’t offer them.
Only a rare combination of paper/film distributor and converter is qualified to provide this type of material — one that understands the specific details of the consumables required for the various overseas brands and the requirements such as thickness of the material, width, and other key details.
Unlike overseas suppliers, which can take weeks of lead-time to restock banding supplies including production and shipping, a domestic source can ship standard stock the same day and most special stock requirements within a few days.
A domestic supplier has other advantageous programs as well. Stable pricing can be further achieved with contracted blanket orders and dated deliveries for up to one year. This eliminates the extremely high prices of foreign material and ensures meeting budgetary forecasts. Since consumables must be continually ordered, the savings go directly to the bottom line.
Ask Before You Buy
In order to ensure the packaging provider being considered is the best fit for a pharmaceutical company, it’s best to have a selection of question on hand to ask.
Here are some questions pharmaceutical companies should ask before selecting a packaging provider:
- Is the provider just a distributor or are they a converter?
- Can the provider ship next day?
- Does the provider offer equipment?
- Can samples be sent to be banded and returned with examples of the various options?
- Is the banding material printable?
- How does the cost of the banding material compare to shrink film, chip board sleeves, and corrugated trays?
- Does the provider offer custom sizes by converting in-house, or would they have to outsource this?
- Does the provider supply white paper, brown/craft paper, clear and colored films in various thicknesses and widths?
- Does the provider offer fixed pricing for six to 12 months?
- How quickly can the provider turn sample requests around?
Magdi Bichay has been the GM of specialty products for Pacific Packaging Products, a U.S. film and paper manufacturer, distributor, and converter, for close to 35 years. He has extensive experience in strategic marketing for new initiatives related to converted tapes, films, and paper, printed tapes, printed labels, and other value added packaging products. His special expertise is in the area of banding films and paper and double coated tapes for specific industries including pharmaceuticals.