Package and Product Integrity Blog

DDL will be participating as an exhibitor at this year’s MD&M West Expo & Conference, which is just 2 weeks away! MD&M West starts on February 13th, with the Expo opening the following day on the 14th at the Anaheim Convention Center. If you are attending the show, please make sure to stop by booth #1923 to speak with our engineers.

DDL Packaging Engineers, Scott Levy and Robert Hoody will be manning the booth along with our Product & Materials Engineer, Al Gale. If you have technical questions about any current or upcoming testing projects that you are working on, they will be available to answer those throughout all 3 days of the expo.

To learn more about how DDL can help you with your medical device package validation or product and materials testing, visit our website or contact us to see how we can help.

We look forward to seeing you at this year’s MD&M West Expo!

About MD&M West
Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) West is the most comprehensive resource for every aspect of medical device development. It gathers medtech professionals and leading medical OEM suppliers together to provide you with immediate hands-on access to the tools you need to accelerate your new device to market, all in one convenient location.

Register for MD&M West >>

DDL, Inc. will be exhibiting at the 2011 MD&M Minneapolis Expo & Conference next month in the Twin Cities. The show kicks off with the conference on November 1st at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

MD&M Minneapolis’ Expo hall maximizes your time by gathering the world’s best and most qualified suppliers under one roof. They know your industry, understand your objectives, and are ready to help you bring that new device to market and accelerate your project’s completion

DDL’s Lead Packaging Engineer Scott Levy is a co-chair of the Medical Device Packaging Update at the conference on Thursday, November 3rd. We invite you to join Scott, along with co-chair Kevin Zacharias of Oliver-Tolas Healthcare Packaging for an update on happenings in the medical device packaging industry.

DDL will be exhibiting at booth #830 during the expo, where you will have an opportunity to talk to Scott Levy about any current and upcoming package testing projects.

We look forward to seeing you at this year’s show. If you have any questions regarding your package testing needs, please contact us, we are happy to help answer your questions.

MD&M Florida is this week and we wanted to invite those of you that are still considering coming to MD&M Florida, to use DDL’s promo code when you register for the event.

MD&M Florida is part of the nation’s premier conference series for research and development, design, engineering, manufacturing, and regulatory affairs professionals within the medical manufacturing industry. In addition to the conference there is an exhibition hall of suppliers that support the medical device industry.

DDL will be exhibiting at booth #432, so please stop by and ask us about the latest updates to testing standards or any questions that you have with any upcoming projects. We look forward to seeing those of you that will be attending MD&M Florida this week.

When working with a third-party testing laboratory it is extremely important to establish a positive working relationship with the laboratory from the start of a project,  through completion of the project. Whether you require testing of packaging, products or materials; knowing how the testing lab would like to work with you upfront makes all the difference in the world.

Here are 12 things your test lab wants to tell you that should help your testing go as smoothly as possible.

1. Be sure to know your test standard.

2. Organize your samples and always document what you send.

3. Provide test set ups so if the lab has to do any exploratory work, it can destroy specimens without consequence.

4. Don’t assume that the lab knows your product as well as you do.  Be sure to tell the lab anything special that it needs to know.

5. Having one point of contact at our lab and your company makes communications easier.

6. Beware of scope creep.

7. Read and understand your quote for testing services.  It’s never fun for either party to realize that something has been left out and might jeopardize a customer’s project.

8. If you have multiple tests but not enough specimens for each test, make sure to address the order of testing (ex: non-destructive testing first, then destructive testing; easy tests to more robust tests).

9. If your product fails a test, we can only comment on the testing that we did.

10. Special requests are no problem, but be sure to communicate them up front.

11. Know what you want the testing to accomplish, if you are not specific, you may not get what you want.

12. If you prepare your own specimens, make sure they are to the standard.

Most testing laboratories have guidelines that they would like customers to follow, however, they aren’t always addressed up front. Taking into consideration these 12 steps will help all parties involved in testing projects, to support open communications and help to maintain a great business relationship.

DDL, our medical testing services division recently came to a cooperative agreement with Pennsylvania-based CITECH, whereby DDL will be taking on testing that was formerly conducted by CITECH.

CITECH (Center for Information on Technology for Health) is an independent testing organization which has served the medical device industry since 1989.  When CITECH President, Robert Mosenkis, decided to retire and close the business, he and DDL arranged for DDL to carry on with much of CITECH’s slate of medical device product testing.

Many of CITECH’s services already complemented our existing product and materials testing. By taking on some of CITECH’s business such as electrosurgical testing, DDL continues to expand its Product and Materials Division as well as assist CITECH’s clients with their testing.

“I wanted to be sure my clients were well taken care of.  In the past, I have referred companies to DDL when CITECH was unable to meet their testing needs,” Mosenkis said.

We have been in the medical device testing business for almost 20 years and have been expanding our Product and Materials Division’s capabilities over the last five years in order to better serve the medical industry.

Bob will stay on, working part-time with us at DDL to offer his expertise and to help our transition into CITECH’s line of business.