Story

July 1983

Founder Muhammad Akhtar leaves his position as Director of R&D at an industry leading hair care brand, and starts a small lab that focuses strictly on novel and innovative formulations.

"I left my executive role to focus on my true passion - formulating on the workbench and researching new applications (RNA)."

August 1989

RNA moves into a 13,000 square foot warehouse in order to cater to customer demands. RNA takes its first steps into manufacturing, using manual machines for filling, capping, and labelling.

January 1990

RNA continues to expand to meet customer growth and relocate to a Blue Island Illinois warehouse, once used to make American heavy machinery.

June 1995

RNA upgrades to semi-automated manufacturing of bottles and jars, and offers new formulation categories of general market hair care and skincare.

November 1997

RNA acquires half of its current facility taking up 130,000 square foot of space in order to compound more batches and offer hot filling capabilities.

January 2001

RNA acquires the entire facility it currently operates in, consisting of 300,000 square feet that holds all aspects of it's business.

April 2004

RNA offers ultra high-end skincare formulations and begins tube filling operations.

Tube filling options allow customers to bring to market extremely high quality shelf stable formulas, in a portable and user friendly container.

June 2006

RNA offers vertical and horizontal form fill and seal manufacturing, meaning sachets, pouches, and flexible packaged goods.

Sachets and pouches opens a new door for consumers to test less expensive options of a product, with the hope of becoming brand adopters and advocates.

June 2010

RNA begins offering FDA approved formulations for topical skincare, body care, and therapeutic pain products, opening a new door into functional topicals.

"FDA topical formulations required a new set of processes and procedures, but opened up a new category for our brand partners to grow their portfolio of products. Hair brands could not offer anti-dandruff, and hair regrowth solutions."

May 2012

RNA moves into providing full and split turnkey services, allowing partner brands to focus more on their primary functions of marketing, sales, and listening to the voice of the customer.

"Turnkey is something we've always wanted to do, but implementing it made us realize we had to overhaul our supply chain but now we are better for it and can better serve our customers with smaller lead times, higher quality components, and lower cost of goods."

February 2017

RNA earns a perfect Intertek GMP audit score, and is recognized for its continuous improvement efforts.

"Getting ISO 9001 and ISO 22716 certified help cement our dedication to quality and continuous improvement."

November 2017

RNA begins working with hemp derived CBD, making it one of the first professional formulators to experiment with this novel ingredient.

"It's rare in our industry to find a new plant based oil that go beyond the marketing hype and actually helps people - we jumped on the opportunity to be a leader in this new category."

Dan, Co-founder of Relume

March 2020

RNA is deemed an essential business, and converts more than 10 filling lines to produce sanitizers and disinfectants, critical PPE items. It continues its operation in the midst of a global pandemic, supplying frontline and healthcare workers.

"We had to do our part to help those around us. We've been formulating sanitizers for over a decade, so we responded quickly with safety in mind. Our workforce stepped up, took the precautions, wore the masks and face shields, and together we helped produce PPE when it was needed most."

Dan, Co-founder of Relume

May 2020

RNA purchases additional 150,000 square foot warehouse facility to help optimize it's turnkey operations.

"Our new Alsip warehouse helps us run a more efficient turnkey business by using this large space to receive new inventory, stage packaging for production, and also have ample space to perform incoming quality control."

Dan, Co-founder of Relume

This is a 30 year history of how we went from a tiny lab to a full service brand partner.