R&D invests in European lab for mold trials and pilot production

The new facility, which is equipped with a Nissei ASB 70DPH single-stage injection stretch blow molding machine, provides the company with its first capability in Europe to run in-house mold trials, sampling and pilot production runs.

“With the ability to provide first-to-market samples, we can now qualify almost any product, including extreme shapes and extreme specifications in-house,” said Alan Tolley, managing director of the United Kingdom R&D/Leverage operation.

Over the last two years, the R&D/Leverage facility in the United Kingdom, which exports around 80 percent of its tooling to customers in mainland Europe, has doubled in size. Tolley said that sales last year grew by 22 percent and that the company is hopeful, even in today's tough market, of seeing growth this year as well. This will largely be due to expansion into new markets in western and central Europe.

The investment in the facility is considerable for the company.

“It's a lot of money for us as it is not a profit center. But without it we could not become the stronger and more rounded company we want to be,” he said.

The Nissei ASB 70DPH is the most commonly-used single-stage injection stretch blow molding machine in the European market, giving R&D/Leverage the opportunity to provide sampling services to the largest number of customers. Tolley said that the company also will be able to offer customers improved training support.

R&D/Leverage's main competitors in single-stage tooling manufacturing are the prime machine makers themselves — Nissei ASB and Aoki dominate the market. Tolley says the company's key competitive edge over the Japanese OEMs is being able to deliver high-specification tooling on shorter lead times.

“We offer half the delivery times of our competitors,” he claimed.

While the high-volume beverage sector is focused on two stage PET production techniques, single-stage injection stretch blow molding is widely used in the household and cosmetics sectors. It is especially suitable to production of non-round bottles and container designs without visible neck rings.

Tolley said the new facility rounds out the range of services and expertise the company is able to offer its customers, moving R&D/Leverage's European operations in the direction that its U.S. parent has pioneered through its Leverage industrial design unit. This has extended the company's involvement beyond tool design and manufacturing and into full service consumer packaging design.

Located at its U.S. headquarters in Lee's Summit, Mo., Leverage's services include: upfront research, retail audits and trend and color studies; concept development, digital prototyping and graphic design; validation and implementation.

“At the moment this is U.S.-based but we are pushing it over here [in Europe],” said Tolley. “Part of our plan is to move away from the image of being a toolmaker. Yes, we are one. But we are also a solution provider.” The company was formerly known as R&D Tool & Engineering.

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