Pouches have a high potential to scale the business of pharmacies, hospitals and blister centers as they offer advanced services to patients and customers. The investment for hardware and set-up might frighten business owners to invest in this new technology, as they are not sure about the return on invest although they highly appreciate the enhanced adherence and convenience of medication offered in individual pouches.

The proliferation of the Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) has created tailwinds for so called “metered services” or “pay-per-use business models”. Pay-per-use models are common for software licensing and allow to adapt your business depending on need and not on forecasts, reducing the risk or overprovisioning or missing capacity. In a classic pay-per-use model, the user of a piece of industrial equipment does not purchase and own the product. Instead, customers pay a fee that depends on usage and is measured according to clearly specified consumption, output, or other indicators. This approach shifts the operating risk to the manufacturer. An example is that of a printing press manufacturer charging for use of his press by the printed page.

An analysis of this pricing model done by the management consulting agency Oliver Wyman resumes that pay-per-use models could be useful in bringing innovative machinery to the market. This is because they lower the entry hurdle for customers and essentially represent a “gain-sharing” agreement between equipment makers and users.

For pouch packaging, this would mean: the pouch packaging machine would not be purchased but it would be offered for free by the machine manufacturer. The pouch packaging center, pharmacy or hospital would use the technology and would pay a certain fee for each produced pouch.

This idea means that there would not be any big investment in the beginning, the production could start immediately and patients could profit from the advantages of individual pouches. The hardware incl. setup, trainings, service and licenses would be paid by the pouch fee for every produced pouch.

The benefits of this scenario are obvious: low investment risk, you would pay only for performance and have a high-cost efficiency. With this model, business owners could earn money with the first pouch they sell.