PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2021

MOULD MAKING PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 06/21 www.petpla.net 18 R&D/Leverage Europe Product Solutions Lab A firm for all seasons by Ruari McCallion R&D/Leverage’s Product Solutions Lab has overcome Covid-19 restrictions, lockdowns and travel constraints to maintain crucial services to converters and brand owners alike through- out the pandemic. R&D/Leverage’s Product Solutions Lab (PSL) in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England, has grown hugely since it was first established, 15 years ago. It has proved to be very popular with convert- ers and brand owners alike and seen demand for its services rise so much that its floor space has pretty much trebled. It now occupies three adjacent units on the industrial estate to the north of Nottingham, in England’s East Mid- lands region. PETplanet Insider visited the PSL when it was officially extended into its second unit, in 2016; Covid-19 travel restrictions ruled that out this time, so we spoke online. “We have massively expanded, and we now have nine moulding machines in there,” said Alan Tolley, Managing Director of R&D/Lever- age Europe. The machines – eight Nissei ASB models, complemented by an Aoki 250LL-75S – are the same standard and often the same range as converters and brand owners themselves use for pro- duction. The company’s speciality is single step preform and stretch blow moulding, which does away with preform transportation, elimi- nating even the slight risk of scuff- ing in transit and ensuring a high quality, glasslike finish to bottles. The company’s focus is particularly on brands whose packaging needs are for very high quality, high stand- ard of finish packaging. Building capability “We identified a major hole in the market,” says Steve Gough, Techni- cal manager, R&D/Leverage Europe. “We started to build a relationship with Brand Owners. We could show them what our capabilities are and posi- tion ourselves as the go-to people for them, for testing and development.” It has been a successful strategy. Over the past six years, close relation- ships with leading brands have been built, to the point where they come to R&D to develop a project under consideration, in the first place. The PSL offers single cavity pilot tooling for product development, material R&D/Leverage’s Product Solutions Lab comprises eight Nissei ASB models and an Aoki 250LL-75S.