RGE – NEWS AND UPDATES

Public - the Chair of Champions 

Did you spot our Public contract chair at the Wimbledon finals? Seen here in green, the Public is the perfect chair for conferences, meeting rooms, school halls, or even centre court!

Our Public chairs have been seen on centre court for a number of years, used by the likes of Serena and Venus Williams, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Emma Raducanu, and most recently Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.

The Public stacking chair is a practical and smart stacking chair. It feaures a polypropylene seat with moulded waterfall front. They are easy to maintain, clean and store. Its stacking ability makes it the ideal storage solution for use in conference & meeting rooms, schools & universities, reception areas, and training rooms. The Public chair has been tested to BS EN 15373: Level 2, certifying that they are structurally suitable for heavy duty domestic and contract use.

This chair is supplied with a black seat and back, with either a silver or chrome frame, but we are able to supply the chair in other colours too, as seen with the green version of the chair used at Wimbledon. We also offer a Public Armchair variant with two arm rests, and an optional Writing Tablet - a high quality, plastic writing tablet fitted with a chrome frame, specifically designed to fit and complement our Public chair.

Find out more about our contract chairs here.

As RGE Group continues to explore, improve and advance in-line with our industry that is developing at an ever-increasing speed, we are excited to share with you that we are in the process of undergoing a company rebrand.

We hope you agree that our new brand identity reflects our commitment to continually look towards and invest in the future, however complex the requirements may be. We also hope you will find that our new look better-aligns our brand with our values and ambitions, and to better communicate our offerings to you.

We have always combined tenacious mindsets and efficient skillsets through our specialists and professionals across all our divisions, allowing the Group to elevate current thinking. As such, we felt our branding needed to be far more representative of the abilities of RGE Group as a whole, but also highlight the extraordinary advancements we have made in individual divisions. These include developments and offerings allowing for a responsible, sustainable future.

Ultimately, our new branding represents the trust we have gained through our group-wide competence, experience and dependability. Trusted to deliver on time, every time, today and tomorrow.

You will see our new strapline, Shaping Tomorrow, Today, as part of this rebranding initiative, along with new logos that represent the group and separate divisions within it: Plastic Injection Moulding, Plastic Re-generation, Furniture and Seating, and Returnable Transit Packaging. The reorganisation of the group into these divisions will allow us to shine a light on the different services we offer, especially when considering our commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability, using less raw material and larger proportions of re-purposed plastics. Our logo will be updated over our wider brand over the next couple weeks, followed by a new website launch in the coming months.

Thank you for your continued support as we move forward with our rebranding initiative.

Did you know that we can make our MultiNest Crates, Universal Display Pallets and Pallet Collars out of recycled plastic? Using reground polypropylene, RGE are able to supply our material handling products made from 100% recycled plastic. Available in black, our recycled products maintain good strength and longevity. At the end of their lives, our recycled material handling products are able to be recycled again, a circular and completely sustainable process.

Find out more about our material handing products:

- MultiNest Crates
Our MultiNest crates are nestable and stackable, with collapsible bale arms. They have a load weight of 15kg, and 150kg when stacked 10 high. Ventilation and drainage holes make the MultiNest crate suitable for a variety of storage and transport uses, and the crates feature easy label removal texture. MultiNest crates are robust and built to last, designed to suit multiple purposes.

- Universal Display Pallets
Working hand in hand with our MultiNest crates, the Universal Display Pallet (or UDP) is a solid deck half euro sized pallet, used for the storage or transportation of goods. The UDP is capable of stacking two loads of MultiNest crates side by side, up to 10 high, and is available with or without wheels. The UDP has a static load of 1000kg, and a dynamic load of 500kg.

- Pallet Collars
Our Euro, Extended and UK sized pallet collars are used to transform wooden pallets into folding box pallets in seconds. The pallet collar is tough, long lasting, and cost effective when compared to disposable packaging. Unlike one trip packaging, the pallet collar can be used on an ongoing basis, reducing the carbon footprint and costs associated with shipping and transport.

More on our material handing range here.

Take a look at how we use an automated robotic arm in our Whittlesey factory:

Firstly, the automated robotic arm moves finished mouldings out of the injection moulding machine and onto a large cooling rack, as the mouldings are extremely hot when they leave the machine, and require jigging to prevent distortion and control shrinkage.

The arm then picks up cooler mouldings from the rack, and moves them over to a jig to the side for additional details and final touches to be added to the moulding.

Finally, the robotic arm moves the cooled mouldings back onto a conveyor belt to pass through to the working area to be packaged up and checked by hand.

Using automated robotics helps to ensure maximum efficiency within the factory, and allows our injection moulding machines to run at full capacity.

Last week, we received three deliveries of old and worn crates at the end of their lives, from our customer Fletcher European Containers. The plastic crates were brought to our Regrind Centre at our site in Whittlesey to be sorted and broken down using our range of plastic regrinding machinery. At RGE, we offer a buy back service for any old plastic products or extra stock, to be recycled at our Regrind Centre into material which can be reused in the production of new products or goods parts at our injection moulding facilities. This allows us to use more sustainable alternatives to virgin plastics and ensuring that old plastic does not end up in landfill. We regularly use the recycled polypropylene material from the Regrind Centre to produce our MultiNest Crates, Plastic Pallet Collars, and Universal Display Pallets, providing a recycled alternative to the standard virgin PP.

We recycle our customers products, as well as our own worn or damaged material handling products used in our factories. The RGE Regrind Centre is capable of processing PP, ABS, PA, TPE, and PBT + PET, and will be expanding to grind other plastics as they become available. We are proud to be able to offer this service and give a new and sustainable lease of life to old plastics. Click here for more.

Whether you work from home or spend all your time in the office, the right office chair can become your most used piece of furniture.

With an organic rather than technical style, the Temple is elegant, timeless and unique in character, suiting home use as well as in the workplace. The ergonomic shaping of the Temple offers comfort and support when spending long periods of time at your desk. A unique central column design encourages good posture and supports the back whilst acting as a standout element of the sleek and modern look.

The Temple features our bestselling Delanco chair base with five wheels and a matte finish – designed using our years of experience in creating strong, reliable and stylish bases. The chair is upholstered with high quality, durable mesh, and features a moulded cold-cure slab foam seat. Adjustable 2D or 4D PU arm pads, lumbar, seat, and gas lift allow the chair to be personalised to suit each user for maximum comfort. The Temple is also available without arms to allow you to slide the chair under any desk and position yourself closer to your work.

Sit comfortably with the knowledge that the Temple is made from approximately 90% recycled plastic. Made using injection moulding, there is little-to-no waste in the entire production process. With sustainability at the core of its design, the Temple can be refurbished as needed and eventually recycled at the end of its life.

Enquire here to find out more about the Temple, available early 2023.

Last week, the sales team exhibited a range of RGE furniture at the NEC in Birmingham for the January Furniture Show. The show was a great opportunity to meet an array of customers who showed lots of interest in all the products we exhibited. Our newest task chair, the Temple (due to launch early 2023), and our popular Datum chair were a big hit. We enjoyed chatting with both existing and new customers, had some great feedback on our products, and look forward to following up on some new projects. To top it all off, Ryan scored a picture with Man United legend Denis Irwin. Overall, a very successful show!

A new year, and a renewed commitment to more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. Over the past few years, we have made a more conscious effort to put reducing our environmental impact at the forefront of our operations, and this year is no different. During 2023 we look forward to seeing the expansion of our solar energy installation at our Whittlesey site, an increase in the capabilities of our in-house recycling facility, and the launch of our impressive new Temple chair – our first recyclable chair made from 90% recycled plastic.

Solar Panels

RGE has made significant capital investment in the expansion of our solar energy installation at our Whittlesey site. The project builds upon the existing 250kwh system, installed in 2018, and when completed will mean that the installed solar panels will be just under a 1MWh system. This means that on a sunny, summer’s day the operation at Whittlesey can be powered almost entirely by the sun. Our factory at Whittlesey also makes use of our Thingtrax IT system, which allows us to schedule which machines will run each day in order to use the least amount of energy whilst providing the highest and most efficient levels of production. We look forward to sharing updates from the installation of our new solar panels early this year.

The Regrind Centre

Ever since RGE began moulding in the 1970s, recycling has been at the heart of our operation. Regrinding the cold runner, or sprue, on many jobs was typical when utilising a machine-side sprue grinder, and often this regrind material was dosed back into the melt to be completely circular. On top of internal recycling of raw material, RGE also has a number of large regrind machines, giving our operations capability of recycling more 20 tonnes of raw material per day.

Following the launch of our in-house recycling facility in 2021, the Regrind Centre, RGE are now beginning to offer a buy back service, processing any extra stock or old products to be recycled back into material which can be reused in the production of new product or goods parts. The centre is capable of processing PP, ABS, PA, TPE, and PBT + PET, and will be expanding to grind other plastics as they become available.

Recently, RGE has been making recycled polymer grades of our own to use in new products. This operation is run under the company banner of Regen Plastics and has experienced significant investment over the last 3 years. The grades now available are Recycled PP, Recycled Glass Filled PP and Recycled Glass Filled Nylon. All of these grades are made using outside material inputs.
 
RGE is extremely proud of being part of the circular economy of recycling and production of new products designed to used recycled material in their creation.

Recycled Products and the Temple

The recycled material produced at our Regrind Centre is then reused to create our range of recycled products. Our multiuse MultiNest crates, for example, can be made from recycled polypropylene, and are available to buy in recycled black. MultiNest crates, Pallet Collars and Universal Display Pallets make up our current range of material handling products produced from recycled plastics. This provides a more environmentally conscious alternative to using virgin plastic equivalents, at a cheaper price. Our recycled products are long lasting and still retain a comparable durability and strength of our virgin polypropylene products. While robust and designed for a long and useful life, our products made from recycled material can still be recycled again. 

This year, we are also excited to launch our first recyclable chair made from recycled materials – the Temple. Made from approximately 90% recycled plastic using injection moulding, there is little-to-no waste throughout the entire production process. With sustainability at the core of its design, the Temple can be refurbished as needed and eventually recycled at the end of its life.
Find out more or enquire here.

Please contact us if you have a product idea that we can manufacture using a sustainable recycled material in our sun-powered, local factory enquiry@rgegroup.com

Happy Chinese New Year to all those who celebrated!

In 2001 RGE opened our toolmaking facility in China. RGE has had a presence in China since 1998, but decided to open a dedicated injection mould tool production site, based in Shenzhen. The site has the capability for bi-injection, gas assisted, high cavitation and hardened tools up to 15 tonnes. The facility is capable of producing 250 mould tools each year, using local expertise alongside UK based project managers.

Get in touch to chat about you next project here.