R&D, Integrated Solutions in Plastics/Leverage, Integrated Industrial Design: "With Us, Ideas Take Shape"
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 20, 2008 — Effective immediately, R&D Tool & Engineering – now known as R&D, Integrated Solutions in Plastics – will offer the in-house, consumer design expertise of Leverage(R), for an unsurpassed level of integrated, plastic packaging solutions, even as the firm continues to offer world-class customer service and world-class tooling, molding and manufacturing capabilities.
Anticipating growing demand for one-stop, cutting-edge mold manufacturing and product design, R&D has created interlinked, distinct, separate environments on the same Lee's Summit, Missouri campus. Structured to effectively partner, in tandem, with converters and brand owners, R&D offers the resources to develop real-world, readily manufactured, packaging solutions that enhance return-on-investment and accelerate time-to-market.
"Our new configuration demonstrates our understanding of evolving marketplace needs," said Rex Luchtel, CEO of R&D and Vice President – Operations. "At long last, there is one resource that works with companies in such areas as food and beverage, home and personal care, healthcare and more, to develop plastic shapes that excite consumers, create on-shelf drama, and enhance the brand identity that today is so critical to attracting and retaining loyal customers."
According to Luchtel, "What we offer is a left brain – right brain solution – the final piece of the puzzle for brand owners searching for quality plastic packaging solutions that build brand equity and move the sales needle. And that's why we now say, 'With us, ideas take shape.'"
Adds Corwyn Strout, Creative Director, Leverage, "Our industrial design component is in a separate encampment – and we have a markedly different approach than our counterparts in tooling design and manufacturing. Admittedly, it's an unconventional arrangement that, some might say, is radically different. It is. And it allows us to efficiently bare the soul of our customer's brand and create commercially viable, manufacturable packaging that gets a better product to market faster than ever possible.
"It's an approach," Strout said, "that – in pushing the envelope – puts money in our customers' pockets, and results in designs that resonate with consumers at the point of sale."
THE R&D DIFFERENCE
Time- and cost-efficient, the innovative new integrated approach enables all elements of the R&D facility to become involved earlier in the process. This sequencing and dynamic tension help "create designs that are both truer to the brand essence, and enhance production," said Dean Rohr, Vice President – Manufacturing. "In this case, our different way of working is demonstrably better. And for custom-oriented markets – such as food packaging – it's an approach that is just a natural."
It is a direction designed to appeal in the U.S., and around the world. According to Alan Tolley, R&D Managing Director, based in the United Kingdom, the approach will resonate with customers here, as well as throughout Europe and the Pacific Rim. "Now, we have the capability to take our services to a new level, which will truly delight our clients, some of the most demanding consumer product makers in the world," Tolley said. "We are much more than superior tool makers, molders and manufacturers – we have the complete industrial design piece too, all available within one company."
Key to the process is the separate environment approach, where the Leverage design component is, literally, housed in a separate "atmosphere" that reminds first-time visitors of bleeding-edge West Coast design studios. But according to David Wescoat, Vice President – Engineering, the difference goes deeper than the blue wall colors, avant garde furniture and Wii consoles. "This is the end-result of years of planning," Wescoat said. "We realized that, to do this right and best serve our customers, we had to have separate and very different environments, tethered in a way that permits two very different types of professionals to work together for a common purpose – a superior package that supports the brand."
A painstakingly designed process, starting with a brand brief, helps inspire the team to create a package form that communicates the embodiment of the brand. "This is what we call the Visual Voice," said Robert Schiavone, R&D Global Marketing Director. "We cut right to the brand essence, and – with our superior tooling and molding capability – push the machines' possibilities to the limit. It's an organizational structure," he said, "that allows the designers and the tooling, molding and manufacturing teams to challenge each other – for the good of the customer and the brand." He adds regarding the new company branding, "We are not just a Tooling company – but a Full-Service Packaging Solutions Company; rebranding is just part of diversifying our companies' capabilities to adapt and thrive in an evolving industry by bringing solutions to both Brand Owners and Converters – while the rest of the industry lets itself become commoditized."
Photo:
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THE SERVICES OF R&D
R&D, Integrated Solutions in Plastics, is recognized as of the world's leading suppliers of tooling for the food, beverage, home, personal care and healthcare industries. With offices in the Kansas City, Missouri metro area and in the United Kingdom, R&D is a full-service plastic product solutions company. From idea, to tooling, to manufacturing, the company's packaging solutions support the branded product. Services include full mold manufacturing for PET tooling, IBM tooling, injection molds and a full range of support functions that include sampling analysis, mold maintenance, contract molding and processing assistance.
Leverage, Integrated Industrial Design, is R&D's full-service consumer packaging design component, located in a separate facility within the R&D campus. Meticulously created processes enhance brand equity as they accelerate time-to-market with real-world design solutions. Services include industrial design, consumer validation, consumer insight, retail audits, graphic branding and package prototyping.
(Editor's note: for a phone or in-person interviews, contact Martin Kleinman, Communications Strategies, LLC, 718.398.4009, Email or Robert Schiavone, R&D, 816/525-0353.) http://www.rdleverage.com – NEW WEBSITE
Contact:
Martin Kleinman
Communications Strategies
718/398-4009
Email
Robert Schiavone
R&D/Leverage
816/525-0353
Email
http://www.rdleverage.com – NEW WEBSITE
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