Beacon Converters' CardioFocus® Heart Light ® Cardiac Ablation System Balloon Catheter Die Cut Tray Awarded FPA’s 2013 Gold Award for Environmental and Sustainability Achievement and Technical Innovation

February 28, 2013

Beacon Converters, Inc. a sterilization-packaging manufacturer for the medical device and pharmaceutical industry was honored with two awards from the Flexible Packaging Association. The first was the FPA's Gold Award for Environmental and Sustainability Achievement and the second was a Gold award for Technical Innovation. Both were awarded for the Beacon Converters/ CardioFocus® Heart Light ® Cardiac Ablation System Balloon Catheter Die Cut Tray during the Flexible Packaging Association annual meeting and awards ceremony held in Naples, Florida on February 26, 2013.

CardioFocus®, a medical device company that produces the Heart Light® Cardiac Ablation system, seemed an unlikely candidate to achieve packaging footprint reduction. The system components included a heavy, bulky handle, a large fluid reservoir and bending-sensitive fiber optics and tubing. Their highly complex and fragile device requires stability in all directions. A heavy gauge thermoformed tray would be a traditional solution, due to the physical characteristics of the components.

Innovative packaging design collaboration resulted in component-specific fastening features, working from top to bottom, offering 360 degrees of protection. Custom developed features secure, stabilize and protect delicate elements of the medical device through a rigorous distribution environment with only one packaging element.

The CardioFocus® Heart Light ® Cardiac Ablation System Balloon Catheter Die Cut Tray is cut from one 0.035” sheet of 100% recyclable HDPE, offering excellent stiffness using 32% less packaging material and 50% less weight than its thermoform tray.

The triangular geometry of the tray sidewalls are formed during the loading process, using tabs along the tray's length to maintain its shape. These sidewalls transform a flexible sheet of HDPE into a functionally rigid tray.

Throughout distribution and warehousing the flatness of the die cut tray has space saving advantages; 100 die cut cards stack down to less than 4 inch height. Space efficiencies translate to fewer corrugated boxes reduced trucking, less fuel consumption to transport and overall lower warehouse requirements.

The unique design minimizes the packaging footprint and after use the tray can be knocked down into its original flat format and compactly segregated into the recycle waste stream.

About Beacon

Beacon Converters, Inc. is a sterilization-packaging manufacturer for the medical device and pharmaceutical industry. Founded in 1947, Beacon is third generation family-owned, FDA registered, women owned and small business certified. Their extensive line of packaging products for terminally sterilized medical devices include: peelable and non-peelable pouches, header bags, die-cut lids, rollstock, plastic custom die-cut insert cards, and paper bags. Learn more about product solutions at www.beaconconverters.com.

About the Flexible Packaging Association

The Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) is one of the leading trade associations for converters of flexible packaging and suppliers to the industry. The FPA's Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards honor packaging and converting distinction in the flexible packaging industry. For more information, visit their website.

About CardioFocus

CardioFocus, Inc. is a medical device manufacturer dedicated to advancing ablation treatment for cardiac disorders such as atrial fibrillation (AF). Its novel HeartLight® Endoscopic Ablation System for catheter ablation incorporates an endoscope to provide physicians with the capacity to see within the heart, and for the first time, visually direct the application of laser energy to achieve durable pulmonary vein isolation.

The HeartLight Endoscopic Ablation System is commercially available at leading institutions throughout Europe and in Australia. The device is investigational in the U.S., and currently the focus of a pivotal trial initiated in 2012. CardioFocus is headquartered in Marlborough, MA, USA. For more information on the company and its technology, please visit www.CardioFocus.com.