European Pharmaceutical Manufacturer spoke to Pieter Vercruysse, director of customer success at Tjoapack about the future of oral solid dose packaging.
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How is Tjoapack seeing the oral solid dosage (OSD) market evolve, and what trends are currently driving packaging innovation for tablets and capsules?
Oral solid dosage (OSD) remains the backbone of pharmaceutical manufacturing globally, but the market dynamics around it are becoming more complex. While tablets and capsules continue to offer clear advantages in terms of stability, patient familiarity and scalability, the expectations placed on packaging partners have shifted significantly in recent years.
Innovation in OSD packaging today is less about reinventing formats and more about understanding how packaging fits into an increasingly interconnected, time-sensitive supply chain. Pharmaceutical companies are facing longer planning horizons, heightened regulatory scrutiny and growing pressure to accelerate time to market. As a result, packaging is no longer viewed as a final, isolated step, but as a strategic lever that can either constrain or enable supply chain performance.
We see strong demand for a partner who can integrate packaging assembly seamlessly with manufacturing and distribution. By aligning more closely with customers and their broader supply chain networks, we help reduce handover points, shorten overall fulfilment cycles and improve predictability, as these factors are becoming critical differentiators in the OSD space.
With the rise of personalised and small-batch medicines, how is Tjoapack adapting its oral solid dosage packaging capabilities to support more flexible, patient-specific production runs?
The growth of personalised therapies and niche indications has fundamentally changed expectations around batch size and flexibility, even within traditional OSD products. Many of the companies we work with, particularly in specialty pharma and biotech, are launching products that may serve smaller patient populations, target specific geographies or evolve rapidly post-launch.
Tjoapack has long operated in this environment, which means flexibility is not a recent adaptation but our core capability. Our operational model is built around structured, repeatable processes that can be configured for different volumes, pack formats and regulatory requirements without introducing unnecessary complexity.
Equally important is the mindset behind this flexibility. Our customers want reassurance that their products receive appropriate focus and care, regardless of batch size. By combining operational adaptability with close customer collaboration, we ensure that smaller or patient-specific runs are executed with the same rigour, visibility and quality assurance as large-scale commercial products.
Can you share how Tjoapack’s investment in automation or digitalisation has improved packaging efficiency or quality assurance for OSD products?
Automation is central to delivering consistency and quality in OSD packaging, particularly in processes that involve high repetition. Wherever feasible, we aim to reduce reliance on manual intervention to minimise variability and human error. That said, we take a pragmatic view that automation is most effective when applied thoughtfully rather than indiscriminately.
Beyond physical automation on the shop floor, digitalisation has been equally transformative. Tjoapack has invested in bespoke digital platforms that support structured workflows across organisational boundaries, including collaboration with customers and material suppliers. These systems replace fragmented, email-driven communication with automated processes and enhanced data visibility.
For customers, this translates into greater transparency, clearer accountability and confidence that their projects are being actively managed. From a quality assurance perspective, digital traceability and standardised workflows strengthen compliance while enabling more proactive issue identification and resolution.
How do you balance the need for high throughput in solid dose packaging with the growing demand for customised, small-batch production?
Balancing throughput and customisation is often framed as a trade-off, but in practice, it comes down to how operations are designed. High throughput does not have to mean rigidity. By standardising core processes and automating repetitive steps, efficiency can be achieved while retaining flexibility at key decision points.
At Tjoapack, this balance is reinforced by our focus-driven strategy. Rather than attempting to offer every possible service at scale, we concentrate on doing a defined set of activities exceptionally well. This focus allows us to invest in the right technologies, skills and systems to support both efficient large-scale runs and smaller, customised batches within the same operational framework.
What role does Tjoapack’s global supply chain network play in ensuring agility and reliability for OSD manufacturing partners, particularly in a post-pandemic landscape?
The pandemic fundamentally changed how pharmaceutical companies think about supply chain risk. Long, globalised networks with limited visibility proved vulnerable, prompting many organisations to reassess how and where critical activities are performed.
Tjoapack’s role within this landscape is to act as a highly integrated packaging partner rather than a standalone service provider. By embedding ourselves into customers’ supply chain planning and execution processes, we help create smoother transitions between manufacturing, packaging and distribution.
Our global footprint further supports this agility, enabling customers to serve multiple markets while maintaining consistent quality and compliance standards. In a post-pandemic environment, this combination of integration, geographic reach and operational reliability has become a key source of resilience for OSD supply chains.
Sustainability is becoming central to OSD manufacturing. How is Tjoapack innovating in areas like blister packaging recyclability, reduced material use or eco-friendly logistics?
Sustainability is increasingly influencing decision-making across the pharmaceutical value chain, including in OSD packaging. However, progress must be balanced with patient safety, regulatory compliance and product integrity, particularly for blisters and other primary packaging formats.
While advanced solutions such as fully recyclable blisters are still emerging and not yet widely adopted for commercial products, Tjoapack works closely with customers and suppliers to explore viable options where possible. There are more immediate sustainability gains to be made through improved planning, reduced waste, minimised rework and more efficient logistics.
By optimising packaging operations and integrating them more effectively into supply chains, we can help customers reduce their environmental footprint today, while remaining prepared to adopt new materials and technologies as they mature.
How is Tjoapack managing the regulatory and serialisation complexities of global OSD distribution, particularly as more markets strengthen their traceability rules?
Regulatory complexity is now a defining feature of global OSD distribution. Serialisation, aggregation and traceability requirements vary across regions and continue to evolve, placing increasing demands on packaging operations.
Tjoapack has invested in robust systems and processes that support compliance across multiple markets, ensuring serialised products can be packed, tracked and released efficiently without disrupting supply continuity. While “smart packaging” solutions, such as dose-tracking technologies, remain confined mainly to clinical or niche applications, serialisation is now firmly embedded in commercial operations. Our approach is to build a flexible infrastructure that can adapt as regulations change, providing customers with confidence that their products can move seamlessly across borders while meeting local requirements.
Can you discuss recent collaborations or technology investments that have strengthened your capabilities in the OSD segment?
Rather than focusing on individual technology announcements, Tjoapack’s recent investments have centred on strengthening collaboration and integration. Digital platforms, automated workflows and enhanced data visibility have all contributed to a more connected operating model, both internally and with external partners.
These investments directly support our brand positioning as a contract packaging partner that is easy to do business with and deeply integrated into customers’ supply chains. By improving how information flows between teams, suppliers and clients, we enhance execution quality while reinforcing long-term relationships in the OSD segment.
What do you see as the biggest opportunity for growth or disruption in the OSD market over the next five years, and how is Tjoapack preparing to lead in that space?
One of the most significant opportunities in the OSD market lies in the renewed emphasis on focus and expertise. As pharmaceutical companies reassess outsourcing strategies, there is growing recognition that specialist partners can offer greater value than broad, one-stop-shop providers, particularly for complex, regulated activities like packaging.
Tjoapack is positioning itself to lead in this environment by continuing to invest in its core strengths: packaging excellence, automation, digital integration and customer collaboration. Combined with a global footprint and decades of experience, these capabilities enable us to support customers through evolving market, regulatory and supply chain challenges.
Our ultimate ambition is to help shape a more agile, resilient and patient-centric OSD packaging ecosystem, one in which packaging is recognised as a strategic enabler of pharmaceutical innovation and access.