Mr. Hartmut Diehl Global Sales Director, KOCH Pac Systeme GmbH & Mr. Sumeet Arora Managing Director, Uhlmann India Pvt. Ltd.

Can you brief our readers regarding the journey of KOCH Pac-Systeme?

Mr. Diehl: KOCH Pac-Systeme GmbH with its head office in Pfalzgrafenweiler was founded in 1969. Today the subsidiary of the Uhlmann Group with 350 employees and a turnover of EUR 40 million is one of the leading manufacturers of packaging machines. The company develops, constructs and distributes packaging lines – from small blister sealing machines to high-performance blister lines to complex packaging lines including robots, product handling and end-of-line packaging.

Mr. Arora: KOCH Pac Systeme GmbH was incorporated in the year 1969. Since 1973, we have been specializing in design, manufacturing & supply of custom built Blister packing machines. In 2006 KOCH became an Uhlmann group company. Uhlmann India Pvt. Ltd, a separate legal entity was incepted in 2015. Uhlmann, along with its group company KOCH & Cremer caters to a wide range of Pharmaceutical and Medical packaging solutions. To increase our reach in India, we started our Indian operations since 2017.

What are the focus areas of KOCH Pac-Systeme?

Mr. Diehl: The KOCH packaging machines are designed for small, medium and large quantities. Our machines are used worldwide in industries such as contact lenses, consumer products and medical industry. KOCH with many years of competence has expanded in the field of medical technology. The brand KOCH Medplus was established in 2013. The new brand of machines meets the regulatory requirements of Medical and Pharmaceutical industry.

Mr. Arora: KOCH specializes in providing packaging solutions in Blister forming and sealing technology. KOCH also provides customized solutions which include Product feeding automation to Secondary & tertiary packaging. cGMP practices at KOCH make our packaging solutions best suitable for packing of Medical devices, Surgical Sutures, Sterile products & Eye lens.

Our readers shall be interested in knowing about the KOCH machine or KOCH packagingLine which can also be produced in the KOCH medplus medical version; do highlight us about the same and also do emphasize on the benefits of the new medplus brand.

Mr. Diehl: Packing of Medical and Pharmaceutical products have numerous requirements to adhere to the sterile & hygiene conditions. In line with international standards, KOCH Medplus, is designed and built with appropriate construction material apart from the use of cable ducts & special lubricants which are fit for Medical industry. Features which offer ease in cleanability and clean-room compatibility meet the requirements of the medical sector.

Mr. Arora: KOCH Medplus is a brand specific for medical applications. KOCH Medplus machines are built to comply with the Pharmaceutical & Medical device regulatory requirements. Machine design complies with cGMP standards. Machine construction is in compliance with GEP guidelines. KOCH machines are equipped with advanced control systems for impeccable data and recipe management. Several Multinational brands have noticed this and have chosen KOCH Medplus as their preferred partner.

KOCH Pac-Systeme is known to offer a wide array of packaging solutions; do enumerate us regarding your range & benefits of different blister machine systems that can deliver for both small and mediumsize batches.

Mr. Diehl: Small, medium or large batch quantities, single products or sets, small Dental drill or large inhalers: KOCH packaging technology medplus is customized to suit the product and its specifications. The key criterion for all KOCH blister machines is its flexibility, achieved based on a modular design concept. These include film and card feeders, robot handling systems, as well as inspection and marking systems for traceability in compliance with UDI (Unique Device Identification) or tracking and tracing requirements. We integrate the elements needed to provide the customer with a highly efficient packaging process.

Mr. Arora: KOCH offers various automation platforms as suited to the customer needs; from manual placement (Semi-automatic) to Multi-axis robotic placement (Fully Automatic) packaging solutions. For small batch quantities a KDT Medplus is an ideal solution and a fully automatic option on a KBS-KF is a perfect choice for high volume requirement. All our machines come with a feature of quick format part change over, these are tool-less change over which would mean minimum changeover time.

KOCH Pac-Systeme claims to ensure appropriate packaging of tablets, dental products, contact lenses and diagnostic products; how does the company ensure the absolute sterility, hygiene, breakproof and adequate protection of the packaging?

Mr. Diehl: KOCH manufactures machines under strict quality norms and structured processes which ensure the final product quality is excellent. The material of construction used for contact parts is suitable for Medical industry. The design of machines has been to avoid dust and germ accumulation. The machine forming & sealing process ensures seal integrity.

Mr. Arora: Blister pack machines manufactured by KOCH are made strictly as per the cGMP practices. Only approved material of construction for product contact parts is used. Further, care is taken while designing of the machine to avoid dust/germ accumulation surfaces. Incremental heating while forming and unique forming technologies ensure uniform thinning of the forming material, thus ensuring adequate protection of the product. Optimal use of Temperature, time & pressure ensures excellent seal integrity.

What are the future strategies of KOCH Pac-Systeme?

Mr. Diehl: Resources required for after sales service is already collaborated with Uhlmann India. Localizing format parts for the region is our next goal.

Mr. Arora: The Group is developing long-term strategies for Indian operations for the benefit of Indian customers. Indian entity is in the process of localizing Format parts in the region which will benefit the customer in terms of delivery time & cost. The after sales service is an important aspect of every capital investment, to address this; in India Uhlmann India service engineers are well equipped and trained to operate KOCH machines.

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