Product

The WW HipStem™ package design eliminated the occurrence of embedded packaging material in the Porous coated surface of Primary Metal Hip Stems and standardized DePuy manufacturing sites to a common package design while reducing costs, improving distribution hazard survivability, reducing packaging components, eliminating PVC material and enhancing the customer experience.

The package concept deployed the materials of Polyurethane, a coextruded Nylon pouch with sealant layer, and a PETG to coated Tyvek® thermoformed tray using a vacuum sealing process and full platen tray sealing to produce a hybrid vacuum pouch inside a tray packaging design that protected the package from the product rough surfaces and survived multiple simulated distribution cycles. The use of Polyurethane as a surface protector against the hip stem rough surface was the key material selection that allowed for the elimination of the PVC material in the package design.

Standardizing the packaging systems to one design saved an estimated $121K in the first year of production use.