Purdue Pharma Gets Down to the Item
The pharmaceutical company is the first in the world to integrate RFID tagging of individual bottles of pills into a packaging line. Learn how Purdue did it.
By Mark Roberti
Feb. 1, 2005—On Nov. 29, 2004, a small team of packaging, IT and security experts at Purdue Pharma made history. At a production facility in Wilson, N.C., the group went live with the world’s first system for tagging large numbers of unique items with EPC tags. Just as the Wright brothers’ first flight at nearby Kitty Hawk ushered in the era of manned flight, the Purdue tagging project marks the dawn of a new era of smart products.
Founded in 1892, Purdue Pharma, a privately held pharmaceutical company based in Stamford, Conn., is best known for making over-the-counter medicines such as Betadine antiseptics and Senokot laxatives. The company also makes prescription drugs, including Schedule II narcotics MS Contin and OxyContin. It was the need to track these painkillers that led to the company’s interest in RFID.
In November 2003, Wal-Mart announced that it would require its suppliers of Schedule II narcotics to tag individual bottles with RFID tags, beginning in 2004. The suppliers were invited to Wal-Mart’s Bentonville, Ark., headquarters to be briefed on what was expected of them. Purdue sent a small team of executives, including David Richiger, executive director of package design and development, and Chuck Nardi, executive director of supply chain and corporate systems.
Senior executives at Purdue felt RFID was the wave of the future and would eventually deliver benefits throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain by reducing counterfeiting and improving patient safety. They made the bold decision not just to comply with the Wal-Mart mandate but to integrate RFID into Purdue’s OxyContin production line. By doing this, they could capture data as the product moved from its packaging area to “the vault”—a super-secure storage area—and then to the shipping area.
Feb. 1, 2005—On Nov. 29, 2004, a small team of packaging, IT and security experts at Purdue Pharma made history. At a production facility in Wilson, N.C., the group went live with the world’s first system for tagging large numbers of unique items with EPC tags. Just as the Wright brothers’ first flight at nearby Kitty Hawk ushered in the era of manned flight, the Purdue tagging project marks the dawn of a new era of smart products.
Founded in 1892, Purdue Pharma, a privately held pharmaceutical company based in Stamford, Conn., is best known for making over-the-counter medicines such as Betadine antiseptics and Senokot laxatives. The company also makes prescription drugs, including Schedule II narcotics MS Contin and OxyContin. It was the need to track these painkillers that led to the company’s interest in RFID.
In November 2003, Wal-Mart announced that it would require its suppliers of Schedule II narcotics to tag individual bottles with RFID tags, beginning in 2004. The suppliers were invited to Wal-Mart’s Bentonville, Ark., headquarters to be briefed on what was expected of them. Purdue sent a small team of executives, including David Richiger, executive director of package design and development, and Chuck Nardi, executive director of supply chain and corporate systems.
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Senior executives at Purdue felt RFID was the wave of the future and would eventually deliver benefits throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain by reducing counterfeiting and improving patient safety. They made the bold decision not just to comply with the Wal-Mart mandate but to integrate RFID into Purdue’s OxyContin production line. By doing this, they could capture data as the product moved from its packaging area to “the vault”—a super-secure storage area—and then to the shipping area.
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