E-Weekly
Aug 21st, 2008                                Print this article

Moldmaking: R&D Tooling changes more than name

By Modern Plastics Editorial Staff

What’s in a name? According to Rex Luchtel, CEO of R&D Tool & Engineering, a manufacturer of molds for injection and injection blowmolded packaging plus PET preforms, the firm’s name change to R&D, Integrated Solutions in Plastics is the result of recognition by the company that its customers want one-stop mold manufacturing and product design from their suppliers. “Our new configuration demonstrates our understanding of evolving marketplace needs….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,” said Luchtel. A look at the company’s new website, www.rdleverage.com, helps illustrate the change in philosophy: under a services offered link at the site, the firm cites ethnographic research, trend catalysts, and color studies before getting to the meat-and-potatoes of tool design and cutting steel.

The company, headquartered just outside Kansas City, MO, with a second site in England, physically separated its industrial design department from its moldmaking shop. According to Robert Schiavone, R&D global marketing director, “It’s an organizational structure that allows the designers and the tooling, molding, and manufacturing teams to challenge each other for the good of the customer and the brand.”

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