Shorewood Packaging, a business of International Paper, has announced that its Hendersonville facility, located in East Flat Rock, NC, has completed the first phase of a multi-million dollar investment plan to support the growth of its pharmaceutical packaging business.  This facility is part of the Shorewood Packaging Healthcare Solutions group which has a network of focused Pharmaceutical Plants, producing over-the-counter (OTC) and ethical (Rx) packaging for the healthcare market.

Phase One includes the creation of a segregated Pharmaceutical packaging production environment OTC and Rx packaging components, as well as a major "face lift" and enhancements to the plant's quality assurance lab and production areas.

To further ensure the highest quality products for the pharmaceutical market, the plant's 170 employees participated in additional training and updates on the US Food and Drug Administration's current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) guidelines and procedures.  cGMP guidelines and ISO standards are key components of Shorewood's quality management system, which ensures consistency of products and processes.

"For all the changes the Pharmaceutical industry has seen over the past decade, one thing always remains constant - process, accountability and adherence to regulations," said Keith Kiedinger, Shorewood Packaging's vice president of pharmaceutical and healthcare products.  "The updates and enhancements that we're making to the Hendersonville facility will allow us to continue to meet the regulatory expectations of our healthcare customers.  The installation of the new equipment will provide our employees a manufacturing platform to deliver on our customer's quality, budget and delivery expectations will into the future."

The next phase in the investment project will include the installation of a new eight-color Heidelberg printing press, slated for early fall.  This high-speed press is fully automated and is designed to provide greater flexibility and productivity.  Its printing and coating quality matches that of flexo printing.

In the meantime, Shorewood's Hendersonville operation has been successfully audited by a number of major healthcare companies.  It is actively engaged in producing millions of packaging units for the launch of a new FDA-approved weight loss product.
 
 
Shorewood Packaging (www.shorewoodpackaging.com) is a leading value-added provider of high quality printing, packaging and retail display products.  Shorewood serves a diverse range of consumer products markets through multiple manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and Asia.  Shorewood Packaging is a business of International Paper 

Headquartered in the United States, International Paper

(www.internationalpaper.com) is the world's largest paper and forest products company.  Businesses include paper, packaging and forest products.  As one of the largest private forest landowners in the world, the company manages its forests under the principles of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) program, a system that ensures the continual planting, growing and harvesting of trees while protecting wildlife, plants, soil, air and water quality.
 
Media Contact: Linda Lombri, 212-508-5662