R&R Packaging Dances to its Customers’ Beat

R&R Packaging Inc. got its name from the “rest and relaxation” vice president and cofounder Mert Rambadt was supposed to get upon retiring to Bella Vista. It’s also a play off the surname of Rambadt and his son John Rambadt, the company’s president and other cofounder.

But these days it’s probably more fitting to associate the Gravette company’s initials with “rockin'” and “rollin’.” A packaging distribution and electronics refurbishing firm, R&R started making noise in 1998 when it tripled its business in only its second year of operation. Today the company grosses more than $10 million annually and boasts more than 150 clients — about 40 percent of them in the retail and poultry industries.

John Rambadt, 33, said R&R’s 50 percent annual revenue increases are a product of its fast and fearless customer service. He now hopes to carry that momentum into a third division, supply chain fulfillment, that R&R is launching this spring.

“We’re a fast-paced, problem-solving facility,” Rambadt said. “We have dedicated ourselves to fixing what we call unresolvable opportunities. We’re not afraid to tackle something that looks bigger than us. The size of some challenges make other people back away, but we bite right into the middle of it.”

John Rambadt said his gung-ho personality is probably a product of his “military living.” He left the United States Army in 1995 as a motor-pool sergeant. Maj. Mert Rambadt, 66, retired in 1976 from the U.S. Army Reserve.

Even the R&R logo reflects the military influence. The letters are army green, and the golden oak leaf cluster is the collar pin symbol for a major’s rank.

John Rambadt stressed that although the firm is business cautious, it never retreats when it comes to customer service.

“Business grows around sales, and sales is customer service,” John Rambadt said. “From concept to customer, that’s what we’re all about.”

R&R’s specialty is what the cofounders call “just in time” (JIT) deliveries. When a manufacturer says it can’t get a product to a retail supplier or store quickly, R&R can dispatch one of its six tractors and 10 trailers to get the job done.

There is little danger of product damage, John Rambadt said, because R&R ships directly to distribution centers and typically is only carrying the product in question. The company is also a drop location for Wal-Mart trucking and does joint marketing efforts for vendors.

John Rambadt said R&R frequently does two-day turnarounds for vendors that store products at its facilities, a process that otherwise may have required eight to 10 weeks of lead time.

R&R’s packaging division is a distributor of manufactured corrugated boxes that are commonly used for retail store displays such as PDQ trays, sidekicks and pallet displays. Its flexible packaging has a variety of shipping applications, and R&R’s polybags are commonly used to ship poultry products.

The heavy duty boxes used to fill orders in the warehouses and distribution centers of Wal-Mart come from R&R. Poultry powers Simmons Foods Inc. and George’s Inc. are customers along with paintball products manufacturer Brass Eagle Inc. and interior decorating supplier Gallery Graphics.

Chad Smith, sales manager for women’s handbag and backpack supplier Pacific Connections of Ontario, Calif., is a vendor to Wal-Mart and works from Bentonville’s Beau Terre office park.

“From a service standpoint, R&R is top notch,” Smith said. “The level of customer service they offer is unique. If you have a need, they take care of you immediately.”

R&R’s electronic refurbishment division repairs equipment used in retail stores such as check and check card readers and display TV sets. Wal-Mart’s Store Technology Asset Recovery (STAR) complex is a major customer.

R&R, which started in the Rambadts’ basement, employs 75 people at its 145,000-SF facility on 1st Avenue NW (Arkansas Highway 59) in Gravette. The company just completed the addition of 110,000-SF in March, about half of which will soon be used for fulfillment.

Roy Puckett, one of three R&R sales representatives, will head up the fulfillment division.

“We understand what vendors are going through when a retail buyer gives them an opportunity, like saying we need so much of a product in a week,” Puckett said. “We can help make that happen. And with our fulfillment division, we’re just taking it the next step.

“We can take a supplier’s PDQs, sidekicks or what ever and build their displays for them. We want to take the headache away from the vendors who don’t have their own large packaging divisions.”