Top 5 Webinars in the Healthcare Packaging Industry in 2024
This year, I learned what goes on behind the scenes to host a webinar. Seeing what goes into creating an educational presentation, the time spent practicing, and the complexities of the technology used to host the webinars, really put into perspective just how valuable the information is to our industry. Below are my top five webinars that were held this year in the healthcare packaging industry.
Collaborative Approach to Rigid Sterile Barrier System Design
Kicking off the list is my number one is the joint webinar between Oliver, Prent and SencorpWhite that took place in October of this year. This webinar gives you tips and tricks from industry experts who draw on their collective experiences to share the what, why, and how of developing the ideal rigid tray and lid sterile barrier system. Being newer to the healthcare packaging industry, learning how we all work together and how important it is to have input from all areas before putting a design into production, made for a very informative webinar.
Shared Experiences from Healthcare Packaging Engineers
Following closely behind is my number two is an Oliver hosted webinar and a collaboration with three packaging engineers from Teleflex, Olympus, and Network Partners. All three panelists were extremely knowledgeable in their fields and freely shared some of their best practices in the industry. The need for all parties to get involved early in the developing stage of a project was a big takeaway along with sustainability being one of the biggest challenges our industry is currently facing. I enjoyed the honesty and vulnerability that each speaker brought to the table during this webinar.
Medical Device: Validation & Testing Requirements for Medical Device Packaging
In third place, we have my number three, which is a webinar available through Packaging Digest. This webinar is very educational when answering the question “Why is packaging important?”. The speaker, Pavankumar Tailor, Senior Research Associate with TÜV SÜD South Asia - Healthcare and Medical Devices division, goes through all the steps of why packaging validation is important. He covers the stages of validation and different testing requirements that may need to happen. He also discusses some of the regional regulatory reguirements needed to get your product to market. This webinar is definitely worth a listen, especially if you’re just getting started on a new project.
Foil Fundamentals: A Guide to Different Foils in Medical Packaging Applications
Coming in at number four is, is the Oliver webinar, “Foil Fundamentals: A guide to Different Foils in Medical Packaging Applications,” presented originally in June of this year. In this webinar, expert Geoff Pavey – Technical Fellow, dives into the essentials of foil as a packaging material. I found his thoroughness and expertise very helpful in explaining the different types of foils that are available. When posed with the bigger question “is thicker foil always better?” Geoff dives in to further explain the various characteristics of foil barriers and how to best choose the proper foil structure for your application. This was a good webinar for proper material selection.
Gamma: Sustainable Sterilization for the Long Term
And rounding out the list, my number five top webinar is provided by Sterigenics. Richard Wiens, Director, Strategic Supply & Business Development, dives into how cobalt-60 is created and used for gamma sterilization method. Currently, this method is used in more than 30% of all single use medical device sterilization globally. However, we could see an increase as this particular sterilization method can help with long term sustainability efforts in the healthcare packaging industry. Unfamiliar with the ins and outs of different sterilization methods, I found this to be very informative on the future of sterilization.
