PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2014

BOTTLE MAKING 41 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 11/14 www.petpla.net From mould manufacture - tooling to service provider by Waldemar Schmitke R&D Leverage are much more than a mould builder, within their own specialist sector who are involved in the develop- ment of structural brand names. The American company, with a workforce of 322 in total, can look back on a 38-year development history. Their main plant is in Missouri, USA. For the past 17 years there has been a European branch in England, and then, 8 years ago, R&D Leverage UK moved into a new facility in Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire. workforce to build up and integrate quality, engineering and service man- agement into the day-to-day life of the company. He went on: “We have developed from a toolmaker to a ser- vice provider for whom our customer service and advisory activities repre- sent our highest priority. At the same time, what we understand by “cus- tomer service and advisory activities” is not only holding discussions but also actively assisting the customer with the design and development of the plastic containers, with prototyping and sample manufacture right through to small batches for a market test run. We have installed four single stage machines (3-off Nissei 70 DPH and 1-off Aoki 250 LL 755) specifically for this purpose. This total service solu- tion has been very well received by our customers, so much so that we have decided to extend this division and accommodate it in a new build- ing, together with the full complement of laboratory and test equipment. The building has already been completed and the move has started.” In terms of their mould making activities, they specialise in the sectors of consumer packaging for foodstuffs, beverages, household, bodycare and health, single stage tooling, IBM tooling, custom injec- tion tooling, laser CD works Silicone tooling and moulding. The Leverage Division specialises in consumer packaging and offers service in relation to upfront research, ethno- graphic research, concept develop- ment validation (prototyping und sampling) as well as being home to R&D UK. R&D / Leverage UK Here in Nottinghamshire I meet the Managing Director of R&D/Lever- age UK, Alan L. Tolley and his man- agement team. The branch here in the UK is 95% geared to single stage tooling and employs a workforce of 82 on premises covering an area of 4.645,15m 2 with a turnover of approx. £6.5m over the past year. “We are able to report encouraging growth over the past few years,” Alan L. Tolley tells us, and he attributes this to consistent efforts on the part of the Polishing the blow moulding moulds in the block by hand