“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.” – Friedrich Nietzsche “In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.” – Viktor E. Frankl In the midst of a second year of suffering all around the world, these Holy Days are set apart to refresh, renew and send our thanks to customers and clients. May you and yours be blessed during these Holy Days and in the year to come.  This year was a time to mourn for family and friends as the pandemic and illness continue to exact a heavy price. Montesi ..read more

“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering” –Friedrich Nietzsche In the midst of a second year of suffering all around the world, these Holy Days are set apart to refresh, renew and send our thanks to customers and clients. May you and yours be blessed during these Holy Days and in the year to come.   This year was a time to mourn for family and friends as the pandemic and illness continue to exact a heavy price. Montesino suffered the loss of our colleague: Yanhuai Peng — may she rest in peace. Let us remember ..read more

It is with great sadness that Montesino notes the passing of Yanhuai Peng, Senior Consultant and Advisor to Montesino Associates, after a heroic struggle with non-smoker lung cancer.  Yanhuai’s expertise is digital technology. She received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineer (Print) from the Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication in China, and a Master of Science in Computer Science from RWTH Aachen University in Germany.  Her professional work began at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG in China, included her work at Montesino and Jointec LLC, and she was the CPO at Beijing I ..read more

All of us at Montesino pause to remember a colleague, friend, and industry icon, John Bitner, who died on May 14, 2020. John Bitner playing golf. Born on June 4, 1944, in Tonawanda, NY, John studied Fine Arts at Rochester Institute of Technology. His accomplished 50+ year career blended art, design and engineering in packaging, and spanned multiple market segments and disciplines. Recognized internationally for his work with the Consumer Products Safety Commission for over twenty-five years to protect the lives of our children while improving the quality of life for seniors, John was in the fo ..read more

On Thursday (June 6, 2019), Peter Schmitt gave a talk entitled “Cannabis Packaging: Balancing Branding & Requirements.” In the talk, Montesino detailed the existing and compliance regulatory situation in Canada, detailing the packaging and labeling regulations for cannabis. The talk also went into depth on how those regulations impact branding of cannabis products in Canada. The talk ended with the announcement of the Cannabis Packaging Summit, to be held February 11th and 12th, at the MDM West event in Anaheim, CA. Information about the Cannabis Packaging Summit can be found at https://ca ..read more

On Wednesday (June 12, 2019), Peter Schmitt gave a talk entitled “Packaging: The Last Mile in Medical Cannabis.” In the talk, Montesino detailed the existing regulatory situation, exploring both the implications of Federal Law (Schedule 1) and the various State Laws that authorize the use of medical cannabis in a given state in spite of the federal situation. The talk also went into depth on key medical cannabis packaging issues: Safety (Child Resistant Packaging), Efficacy, Compliance, and Harmonization. The talk included with a call for harmonization of packaging regulations: between the ..read more

On May 28th in Guadalajara and May 30th in Mexico City, Montesino’s Peter Schmitt gave a keynote presentation on high barrier packaging optimization at Novaprint’s 6th Seminar on Packaging Innovation. Joining other industry speakers, including Constantia, HPT Pharma, Körber Medapak and the event sponsor, Novaprint, in addressing flexible packaging challenges in Mexico and the Central American region on the future. The talk focused on exploring Quality by Design concepts, “Critical Quality Attributes” and “Critical Process Parameters” to answer the question surrounding packaging problems and ..read more

On the show floor at FCE 2019 The FCE show began at 11:00 on Tuesday, with a large selection of exhibitors and attendees. The hall is divided into a pharmaceutical and a cosmetic section; many of the exhibitors’ locations are based on spaces they’ve used year after year for more than a decade. Here are some first impressions… Flexible Packaging News Novaprint – Constantia Novaprint-Constantia booth at FCE 2019 Novaprint presented its anti-counterfeiting technology in lidding products, in partnership with Constantia Flexibles, the global leader in aluminum laminates and structure ..read more

Sindusfarma Awards Night- Prelude to FCE 2019 Brazil’s pharmaceutical and cosmetic market come together annually at the FCE Show. The trade show lasts for three days, traditionally Tuesday through Thursday, but Monday night for the past 23 years is a special night – where Sindusfarma announces the annual Quality Awards. Sindusfarma has no easy equivalent outside of Brazil, click here for more information on the organization. Starting 23 years ago, it organized a competition among suppliers to the pharmaceutical industry focusing on quality. The competition is, frankly, quite i ..read more

The recent announcement of the cessation of manufacturing BOPA and OPA films at AdvanSix’s Pottsville, PA plant brought to mind Dylan’s 60s classic about change. Dylan released that song in 1964; in 1961, Allied Chemical began extruding nylon (polyamide) and other materials in Pottsville, PA. Those times were best captured by the famous quotation from Mr. Maguire to Benjamin Braddock in the Graduate, “One Word, Plastics!”. And in Pottsville, the mandate was to take specialty plastic resins and make high-performance films out of them. Roughly 58 years later the times indeed have chang ..read more