Sharp Ivers-Lee Adds Bottling Capabilities at West Caldwell Facility

Pharmaceutical packaging firm Sharp Ivers-Lee (Conshohocken, PA) has announced that it will install two new, upgraded bottling lines at its West Caldwell, NJ packaging facility during the second quarter of 1999. The bottling lines will accommodate a variety of packaging options including cottoning, desiccants, induction seals, tamper-evident banding, child resistant closures, outserts, and cartoning.

"The addition of these lines to the Sharp Ivers-Lee West Caldwell facility reflects our commitment to delivering bottle packaging that meet and exceed our customers' expectations," said Dan Dwyer, vice president of operations for the West Caldwell location.

The Sharp Ivers-Lee West Caldwell plant also houses production lines dedicated to pouching, clinical trials materials, and blister packaging. The 190,000 square-foot facility is staffed by more than 300 employees. All told Sharp Ivers-Lee controls 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space and employs 900.

With 80 years' experience in contract pharm packaging, Sharp Ivers-Lee provides commercial and clinical trial packaging to the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and personal care industries. The company specializes in reliable, cost-effective blister, carded blister, pouch and bottle packaging.

"We tend to do the jobs the manufacturer doesn't want to do or can't do," says marketing manager Deborah Pyle. "Drug manufacturers often turn to us for product launches, where they need to build up a large supply of packaged product and don't have the lines in place to do it themselves. Our services are also used in cases of overflow, and even for mature products." Pyle said her company's specialty is carded blister packaging. "Although manufacturers do some packaging at their own plants, pharmaceutical firms don't traditionally get involved in carded blister packaging because there's a lot of manual labor involved in these packages. This has become a large portion of our business."

Sharp Ivers-Lee takes what it calls a "strategic" approach to pharm packaging that involves participation in every phase of packaging planning, design, and implementation.

At the planning and engineering stage, the company uses advanced CAD/CAM systems to enhance the speed and accuracy of designs and modifications. At the pre-production stage, it offers a large inventory of films, cards, cartons, and other stock items. At the production stage, complete in-house control is maintained over printing, packaging, inventory, and shipping.

In addition to contract packaging at one of their plants, Sharp Ivers-Lee can also build a dedicated packaging plant for customers or manage packaging activity at the customer's own site.

For more information: Deborah Pyle, Marketing Manager, Sharp Ivers-Lee, Ridge Pike and Carland Road, Conshohocken, PA 19428. Tel: 610-279-3550. Fax: 610-279-4712. Email: deborah.pyle@sharpil.com.

By Angelo DePalma