About Us
R&D/Leverage USA is proud to announce an alliance between Aoki and R&D/Leverage to the Injection Stretch Blow Molding marketplace.

This alliance makes R&D/Leverage the North American design and tool builder for Aoki Laboratory America. “We are excited to bring this alliance to our customer base looking for Injection Stretch Blow machine and tooling sourced from the USA” states Mike Stiles, CEO R&D/Leverage. Stiles continued with, “The alliance will bring improved service for tooling, complete molds, components and/or repairs all from one domestic source along with the fastest Injection Stretch Blow Molding machine platform while providing tooling that is 100% made in the USA.” R&D/Leverage also has an Aoki lab test machine on site at their headquarters in Lee’s Summit Missouri.

“We at Aoki feel positive that this newly developed alliance will raise the bar and set the “New Standard” in the blow molding industry by providing a vast wealth of knowledge, experiences, capabilities and the technical know-how for our customers to be highly competitive.” states Eiji Nishizawa, President Aoki.

R&D/Leverage has posted a video of both machine and mold in action which can be seen on their YouTube page at Youtube.com/RDleverage.
Request an online quote for mold repair of Injection Stretch Blow Molds (ISBM), Injection Blow Molds (IBM), Preform Tooling, Blow Molds, and Injection Molds (IM). We repair all types of tooling, regardless of the manufacturer. Save the hassle and expense of sending a mold to us for a repair quote. Instead, simply create an account with us and in a form, describe the damage and upload pictures showing the damage. This service is for customers of the contiguous United States.

Request quote now
The Liberty IBM System is a paradigm shift in IBM tool design. R&D/Leverage has cured the main frustrations that cost converters time, money, cause quality problems, and pose a safety risk.

The Liberty IBM System can be started up in a fraction of the time required for a traditional mold, after initial tool set up. It is the best production quality of any mold on the market. We have been awarded multiple patents for our Liberty IBM System. This sets us apart from all other traditional IBM mold makers. The Liberty IBM System - only available at R&D/Leverage.
R&D/Leverage has developed the ability to mold one piece necks with an internal thread and drain-back pour spout. One piece molding eliminates the necessity for post mold assembly operations. Using the injection stretch blow mold (ISBM) process, the range of the internal thread can be from approximately 20 to 77 mm with internal threads, and a 24 mm minimum with an integral pour spout.

Can you visualize your product in a bottle with our one piece spout?

NEWSROOM

PRESS RELEASES
Adler Industrial Solutions Acquires R&D/Leverage

LEE’S SUMMIT, MO, Sept. 7, 2022 -- Adler Industrial Solutions, Inc. ("Adler”) announced today it has acquired R&D/Leverage, Co. ("R&D"). This transaction marks the third acquisition by Adler in the past year and gives the company expanded scale, a broader capability set, and European manufacturing facilities that serve a global customer base.

Headquartered in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, R&D is a leading manufacturer and supplier of mold types for the food and beverage, personal care, and healthcare markets. Founded in 1975 by Ivan and Ardith Drienik, the company was a pioneer in developing complex tooling solutions for the injection molding and blow molding industries. Today, R&D has over 250 employees split between its 180,000-square-foot and 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facilities in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, and Nottinghamshire, England, respectively.

“The acquisition of R&D is a milestone addition for Adler. The capabilities and skillsets of the R&D team are second to none and will only further raise the core competencies of the Adler group,” said Philipp Gruner, CEO of Adler. “Adding adjacent markets such as blow molds, injection stretch blow molds, preform molds and higher complexity injection system molds to our capabilities allows Adler to offer more services to our existing and future customers while expanding our geographic reach within the United States and internationally.”

As a part of Adler, R&D will benefit from additional resources and investment. Ardith Drienik said the acquisition is the ideal pathway forward for the company that she and her husband, Ivan, founded and dedicated their lives to building.

“When I met the Adler founders, I knew I had found the right buyer. I wanted someone that shared my husband’s love of manufacturing and engineering, and someone who appreciates the value and contributions of the employees. I feel Ivan would agree with this decision that the Adler team’s track record, energy, and vision will make them the ideal stewards of this amazing company,” said Mrs. Drienik.

For more information, contact press@adlertooling.com.

About Adler Industrial Solutions, Inc.

Adler Industrial Solutions, Inc. launched in 2021. Through acquiring companies with niche talents and expertise, Adler offers a comprehensive network of mold makers geographically distributed to provide stronger support, shorter lead times and higher quality to its customers. For more information, please visit www.adlertooling.com.

About R&D/Leverage, Inc.

Founded in 1975 by Ivan and Ardith Drienik, R&D is a leading manufacturer and supplier of molds for the food and beverage, personal care, and healthcare markets. R&D is headquartered in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, and has additional manufacturing and services facilities in Nottinghamshire, England. For more information, please visit www.rdleverage.com.

R&D/Leverage helps produce a Fabulosa bottle!

March 8, 2021 - Although this product did not appear technically difficult to produce with regards to processing, more times than not, round containers can provide you with technical problems when it comes to producing acceptable products. They are more susceptible to poor material distribution and lensing compared to oval bottles.

So from the very start R&D/Leverage’s challenge was to provide a complete product solution that would best nullify these common problems and assisted with this project from product design, tool manufacture and tooling approval onsite.

"The level of professionalism, service and reliability provided by R&D/Leverage played a major part in helping us to bring this project in not only on time, but ahead of schedule, with the tool producing acceptable parts from the very first trial."

"R&D/Leverage Europe were contacted by Robinson Packaging for the supply of a full ISBM solution to produce a 500ml PET round bottle for the "My Fabulosa" range. Robinson have grown their UK PET bottle business significantly in the last three years, so we were privileged to be contacted to assist with this new business," stated Shaun Powney, Account Manager R&D/Leverage Europe. "Throughout this project both companies were hit with many obstacles, mostly related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which provided us with its challenges. As I am sure most companies around the globe have encountered this past year, but with our facilities being on the doorstep, communication/support was key from both ensuring this project ran smoothly and quick to the market," stated Shaun.

A statement from Fabulosa, “Robinson has proved itself a highly adept packaging partner. It has helped to design a bottle that couples stand-out shelf appeal with optimum performance on our production line and through the supply chain.” Fabulosa continued, “The Robinson team has provided a streamlined packaging product that has run successfully from the first supply, eliminating the complexities and complications that come from sourcing different bottles from different suppliers. In fact, we have not needed to adjust our production lines in any way. Having dependable, stable supply as well as dedicated capacity is critical in ensuring we achieve our growth aspirations. Robinson’s philosophy of supporting brands with dedicated production cells is a perfect fit for this ambition.”

In a statement from Steve Bell New Business Development Manager at Robinson, “We greatly value the support and technical knowledge that R&D/Leverage bring to any new project. Their geographical location to our UK factories allows us to work more closely with them at each stage of the development, their door is always open. The timing plan for the My Fabulosa project was particularly tight, due to our customers rapidly growing demand and market conditions fuelled by the Global Pandemic. The level of professionalism, service and reliability provided by R&D/Leverage played a major part in helping us to bring this project in not only on time, but ahead of schedule, with the tool producing acceptable parts from the very first trial.”

November 20, 2020

When R&D/Leverage Europe was contacted by PET PAK d.o.o. Slovenia for a solution to provide bespoke preforms and tooling for a large range of bottles with a 28mm neck finish for Cylindrical, Dome, Bullet and Pharma bottles it was a technical challenge to say the least. Not only was the inquiry technically demanding for such a varied bottle range, the request was also for various weights and product sizes which included 3 different neck finishes.

R&D/Leverage Europe focused on a versatile preform design and tooling package to provide the best possible solution.

With flexibility to utilize minimal change part tooling whilst providing optimized quality and cycle times. The main challenge was to design a preform with flexibility for weight change whilst maintaining optimum stretch ratios for high quality bottles. The stretch ratios are extremely important to achieve the best possible material thickness variation. PET PAK made it very clear that the quality should not be compromised and also cycle time was very important in order to make the package cost effective.

The neck finish and related preform tooling components were also designed in such a way that the 3 neck finishes could be used from one preform design with minimal tool change parts. Testing was carried out at R&D/Leverage Product Solutions Laboratory in the UK. The results were immediately very positive and achieved the high technical demand and stringent specification set out by PET PAK.

R&D/Leverage has an extensive testing facility in the UK (Product Solutions Laboratory) including 9 single stage machines with fully equipped state of the art bottle QA capability. This Laboratory is dedicated to the development of all PET, PP and other resins for single stage bottle solutions in terms of colour validation, weight reduction, high specifications, preform design flexibility, optimized cycle times and full tooling validation. Tool manufacturing is located within the same campus to provide flexible tooling developments and modifications to support the best quality and efficient service for convertor and Brand owner requirements.

PET PAK is a customer-first manufacturer of top-quality plastic packaging. We enable our clients to achieve continuous success by providing them with accelerated production times, closely following the pulse of the market and fully understanding their business opportunities. Mitja Nadoh. Project Manager at PETPAK stated “When we were deciding about the tooling partner for this demanding and important project it was clear that we needed to select someone who is fast acting, understandable and cooperative, the only logical choice was therefore to work with R&D/Leverage, who closely cooperated with us and delivered the exact solution we were hoping to get. “ He continues, “Because of our ambition to work only with the best partners in order to provide top-quality products to our customers we are now able to expand with a newly build modern 10.000 m2 production plant, which will allow us to improve our already high production standards and services.”
R&D/Leverage USA and Aoki Laboratory America join in an alliance for success!

June 8, 2020 - R&D/Leverage USA is proud to announce an alliance between Aoki and R&D/Leverage to the Injection Stretch Blow Molding marketplace.

This alliance makes R&D/Leverage the North American design and tool builder for Aoki Laboratory America. “We are excited to bring this alliance to our customer base looking for Injection Stretch Blow machine and tooling sourced from the USA” states Mike Stiles, CEO R&D/Leverage. Stiles continued with, “The alliance will bring improved service for tooling, complete molds, components and/or repairs all from one domestic source along with the fastest Injection Stretch Blow Molding machine platform while providing tooling that is 100% made in the USA.” R&D/Leverage also has an Aoki lab test machine on site at their headquarters in Lee’s Summit Missouri.

“We at Aoki feel positive that this newly developed alliance will raise the bar and set the “New Standard” in the blow molding industry by providing a vast wealth of knowledge, experiences, capabilities and the technical know-how for our customers to be highly competitive.” states Eiji Nishizawa, President Aoki.

Eiji Nishizawa continued, “With the introduction of the new Aoki AL series machines combined with the quality, creativity and craftsmanship of R&D/Leverage tooling - we can jointly bring the ultimate solutions to your molding needs that will far exceed your expectations.” Mr. Eiji Nishizawa continued with, “Going forward it will be as simple as contacting either R&D/Leverage or Aoki sales offices to discuss the product, timelines and production requirements then let our alliance work together to determine the best possible options to bring your project from the initial conception to your production facility in a timely manner along with the quality, reliability and value that will give you that competitive edge over the competition.”

Both companies are excited to bring this offering to both customer bases here in the US and look forward to working together on many projects and relationships to come. Both companies truly feel, this is An Alliance For Success for the Injection Stretch Blow molding industry. R&D/Leverage has posted a video of both machine and mold in action which can be seen on their YouTube page at https://youtu.be/SUFEi5zB89Q.
If you have any further questions please email info@rdleverage.com.
IN THE NEWS
Surfing the pandemic wave

R&D/Leverage survived the Covid-19 pandemic and even prospered, with a record surge in sales of its injection stretch blow moulding tooling and no Covid-related shutdown of its factory or offices. It had the foresight to buy an adjacent factory unit when it came available, in 2020, in order to be prepared for the future. Equipment was being moved in on the very day that Ruari McCallion, PETplanet Insider Editor-at-Large, visited the facility near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and renewed his acquaintance with MD Alan Tolley and the company staff.

Read story.
Tackling The Skilled Labor Shortage, Right Here At Home

Lee's Summit Tribune March 19, 2022

R&D/Leverage attended the Career Expo Day, February 9th at State-Tech in Linn Missouri. The Career Expo provides employers like R&D/Leverage the opportunity to visit with students about full time employment and internships available at various organizations with nearly 300 employers exhibiting.

Read story.
Innovations Report - Pharma & Medical Device

An especially clever tablet and capsule container in the plastic category was shown by R&D/Leverage.

Read story.
R&D/Leverage Innovation at Pack Expo

Keren Sookne, Director of Editorial Content at Healthcare Packaging, anchors a report by Pat Reynolds, VP Editor Emeritus, about a new package design innovation from Pack Expo Las Vegas.

New from R&D/Leverage is a bottle design, DispensEZ, that has a more tapered, ramp-shaped neck that allows for easier pill dispensing.

View Video

LITERATURE

Download literature in English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, and Russian.

Products
Injection Molds
Premium Preform Mold Solutions
Thermal Gated Preform Hot Runner System
Valve Gated Preform Hot Runner System
Single-Stage Solutions (ISBM)
Genesis ISBM Hot Runner System
Quick Change Lower Blow System
Aurora System
Expandable Blow Core Seal
Internal Thread and Drain-Back Pour Spout
Injection Blow Molds - The Liberty IBM System
Blow Molds
Quick Turn Cell
Services
Services Overview
Ultra-Precision Value Stream
Repair and Refurbishment

Packaging Solutions
Mold Manufacturing & Packaging Solutions
3D Part Scanning

EVENTS

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Exhibitor
Plastics Conference
May 6-10, 2024
Orlando, FL

CAREERS

Find your career with R&D/Leverage.

QUALITY POLICY

R&D/Leverage Quality Policy

R&D/Leverage is committed to:

  • Achieving our internal and external customers’ requirements and expectations
  • Continual improvement of our business processes and products
  • Providing mutual growth
R&D/Leverage has implemented a Quality Management System. Our Lee’s Summit and UK facilities are ISO 9001:2015 certified by BSI.

View Lee's Summit facility ISO Certificate of Registration - Quality Management System.

View UK facility ISO Certificate of Registration - Quality Management System.

MARKETS

The food and beverage sector is a major focus for R&D/Leverage. Packaging plays an important role in product differentiation in these competitive markets. We support brand owners and their supply chains with tailored solutions which balance aesthetics, functionality, and cost.

Different containers require different production processes. Depending on design and volume requirements, one and two stage processing may be the solution for your product. To compliment your container needs, we can also provide custom injection closures.

Package design continues to play a large part in the marketing of home and personal care products providing brand recognition and product quality. This creates brand loyalty and repeat purchase behavior.

As world leaders in tooling solutions for home and personal care containers, R&D/Leverage is well placed to support development of containers and closures with the widest range of design possibilities available.

Specializing in close tolerance tooling, R&D/Leverage is vertically integrated to provide full service design and manufacturing for medical devices and components. We provide our customers with development, prototyping and production tooling that meet the toughest production requirements.

We are superbly suited to build tooling from the smallest requirements to those which require the most stringent of tolerances and production speeds. Our mold design department is highly experienced in requirements for medical and critical care applications and is well equipped to build molds designed for low to high volume production needs.

Food and Beverage
Home and Personal Care
Healthcare

OUR PEOPLE

HISTORY

Great legacies grow into long lasting icons…

R&D Tool and Engineering was founded in 1975 by Ivan and Ardith Drienik serving the tool and die markets. In 1978, they purchased property in Lee’s Summit, Missouri and built a 9,900 square foot building which has grown into a campus with 170,000 square feet of floor space.

In the mid 1980’s, R&D was heavily involved in the plastics industry; designing and building custom injection tools, ISBM, SBM, and extrusion blow molds. In 1995, Ivan and Ardith purchased DK Mould in Sutton In Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The new UK division of R&D quickly became proficient in injection stretch blow tooling where they have doubled in size to 32,000 square feet with a sales team fluent in at least eight European languages.

Since the mid 90’s, the US facility has offered prototype services, IBM, preform molds, and on-site product development for custom injection, ISBM, SBM, IBM, and extrusion blow molds.
Logo

The new millennium added medical injection molds, CD/DVD/Blu Ray molds and aerospace components to the US team, and an expanded Product Solutions Laboratory for the UK facility. Leverage is our creative design studio added to facilitate consumer research, and create brand building manufacturable product and package designs.

Although Ivan passed away in 2007, Ardith and the rest of the R&D/Leverage team continue his legacy by never forgetting the foundation the business was built upon as R&D Tool & Engineering.

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