PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2021

MOULD MAKING PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 06/21 www.petpla.net 19 trials, colour trial and in-house train- ing. This allows a sampling program for a customer’s product that includes inspection of samples from its injec- tion stretch blow moulding lab. “We are now approached for guid- ance on how to design the prod- uct, what machine to put it on, what platform, what cavitation, and so on,” says Steve. The PSL is a key part of that development; it demonstrates that R&D/Leverage has world-class, market leading capability. “These brand owners have all visited our facility and seen our equip- ment, capacity and expertise,” he continues. “They see our moulding machines, which give us a lot of flex- ibility: we have different machines for different cavitations, outputs, sizes and finishes. We can demonstrate single cavity development tools and small and large production tool quali- fication.” Testing, analysis and quality assurance It’s not just physical output. The PSL is a laboratory, which implies testing and analysis – indeed, it is an important element of the offer. “For the Brand Owners, they want to do a lot of colour trials, develop- ments to get tight corner radii, weight specifications, top load specifications and so on – we can do all of that, right here, on site,” he says. But R&D/ Leverage is not a company to rest on its laurels. It has been expanding the PSL capacity, as well its physical size. “As brand owners have come and visited, we identified areas that we needed to improve and build on, in order to support them even better. So, we expanded and upgraded our QA (quality assurance) facility to the point where it is really, now, the state of the art; it is the best you will see in our industry, anywhere.” In order to position itself as the world leader in its field, R&D/Lever- age purchased some quite bespoke QA equipment for measuring plastic bottles, which provides highly accurate dimensional reports and is – cru- cially – non-contact, which en-ables it to deliver results very quickly. The latest iteration of the equipment was designed with input from R&D, after it worked with the manufacturing com- pany to ensure that it met its particular needs. It raises the industry bar higher. Investing in equivalent machinery R&D/Leverage also identified the equipment that the brand owners themselves were using to undertake testing back at their own premises, once the samples had been supplied. The clients would be carrying out drop tests, putting them in temperature chambers, performing torque tests on the caps, and so on. The company bought the same sort of equipment as its customers use, enabling it to pre- sent itself as a one-stop shop and to contract the testing to R&D, as well. “The equipment within our QA facility allows R&D’s customers to val- idate bottles during the development process, to identify any changes that may be required at an early stage, and thus to speed up approval. Some of our equipment provides capability previously unknown to some of our customers and has set the standards for future QA procedures and require- ments,” Steve says. What R&D/Leverage has put in place is a one stop shop. It can develop the tool and the product, to a position where the client is happy with both the aesthetics of it – and it goes further. Cutting development time The company can complete all the dimensional checks, top load, burst tests, volume checks, torques testing, wall thicknesses - in short, the whole range of tests. Alan Tolley, Managing Director of R&D/Leverage Europe R&D/Leverage’s Product Solutions Lab (PSL) in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England, has grown hugely since it was first established, 15 years ago.