Injection molder ATP Engineered Rubber and Plastics Group has purchased a minority equity stake in design firm HS Design Inc., and the companies are now pooling their talents to offer customers product creation and manufacturing.
The partnership will allow ATP to tap into HS Design's industrial design capabilities and get in on the ground floor of new consumer products, Mike Torti, ATP Group vice president and chief marketing officer, said in a June 1 telephone interview.
At the same time, HS Design has access to greater engineering and manufacturing knowledge to create better products starting from the first line drawing.
Customers, meanwhile, should be able to bring new parts to market faster and more cheaply than they could by working with separate companies, Torti said.
``[HS Design] can continue working on their independent products and we can continue independently, but the real thrust will be in working together, when we can go in to customers working together from the start,'' he said.
Wayne, Pa.-based ATP has worked extensively with HS Design of Gladstone, N.J., in the past, he said.
The minority stake makes the injection molder the industrial design company's exclusive manufacturer.
An HS designer will be housed within an ATP facility to contribute his experience on a daily basis, while learning more about the manufacturing operations.
Uniting the capabilities of the two companies makes sense, Torti said. ATP has engineering and manufacturing experience but little influence on the original design of a product. Sometimes the company has seen a request to make a part that is based on a design that cannot be manufactured - requiring both the customer and ATP to spend time re-engineering the package.
HS Design, meanwhile, can learn more about the resins available for products as well as the best ways to use two-shot molding, insert molding or other processes to create a concept that can be manufactured at a lower overall cost.
The partnership is focusing on customers in the pharmaceutical packaging, consumer products and medical-device markets for now, Torti said.