It’s late Friday afternoon and the RND folks taking Charlie’s training are as engaged as when the day started or perhaps even more.  The participants admit there was lots of new information to absorb but judging from the back and forth interaction, there’s no doubt that the sharing of expertise is going both ways. It’s about a premier automation company going the extra mile to learn about medical packaging in service to its customers. Learning that provides boots on the ground practical application, with solid scientific theory behind it. And in that regard, Charlie Rivera is an expert and UPA was thrilled to partner with him on what we hope will be the first of many such educational endeavors.

“It’s what UPA and UPA Teach is committed to as a unique strategic networking association,” say Ismael Santiago, chairman of UPA, who was there to welcome the group at the start of the program. “We see many more opportunities like this happening with individual packaging companies and also externally with many individuals from different companies participating on different subjects in different sectors. Shared and collaborative learning is what we’re all about.”

RND Automation & Engineering, a premier custom machine builder located in Sarasota Florida, has over 20 years of experience in the design of automated machinery. RND engineers, designs, manufactures and retrofits custom automation & material handing machinery for industries as diverse as hydraulic valves, medical devices, consumer goods, and contact lenses. Their projects range from fully automatic high-speed robotic work cells with vision and robotics to operator assisted semi-automatic workstations.

Charlie Rivera, corporate packaging operations manager at Con Med, is one of the leading authorities on Medical Device Packaging.  He is a Certified Packaging Professional who has been featured in the MDDI magazine. He is also a regular contributor to the Medical Packaging Innovation blog. With more than 20 years in the Medical Device Industry, his expertise extends to Packaging system development, integrity testing and test methods validation as well as turnkey integrated packaging line design and process validation.

The topics covered that day included:

• Regulatory Aspect
• Materials and Sterilization Methods
• Packaging Standards/Test Methods
• Packaging Equipment Design Process
• Process Validation

No doubt about it, the attendees seemed genuinely pleased with what they had learned. “We may be experts on the automation side but our customers are the experts in their processes,” said Claire Felix-Davies, Sales & Business Development Manager.

“The more that we can learn about their industry, the better our automated design and service will be.”

Rivera concurs. “Each industry is different and when an automation design company like RND makes the commitment to learn the unique processes, standards and practices of their customer in a complex and specialized sector like the medical device industry, everyone wins.”

From left, Charlie Rivera, Chad Malone, Claire Felix-Davies, and Scott Veix