The company says that as part of its aims to become a one stop plastic packaging supplier it is dividing its business up into three main areas - the mainstay Personal Care Division, Healthcare - which will serve both pharma and prescription products, together with a Closures division.

The Personal Care Division now reflects the size and importance of the market by serving three individual and dedicated segments for the industry.

The segments will consist of Dispensing Systems, Make Up and Home & Personal care, all of which will be headed up by Robert Brands, who was recently appointed divisional managing director, and who will report to Graham Chipchase, company group director.

Brands said that the new organisational structure will allow the company to benefit from greater internal efficiencies "through sharing of company resources, technologies and best practices".

The result: packaging solutions that build brands and deliver enhanced bottom lines in the process."

During October Rexam has introduced a series of new products within its Personal Care Division, which it says reflect this new expertise, while placing a specific emphasis on prestige products.

This is underlined by the launch of the Prodigo, a dispensing technology that is based on the company's CleanPoint technology, together with the neutral Nea lotion pumps.

The Prodigo is based on airless pump technology, with the new product's exit tip lying at the heart of the new design; while the Nea pump stresses design flexibility, with a range of colours and transparent effects.

The flurry of recent launches also includes a transparent lipstick casing, together with the XD11 fragrance pump - said to have a super low profile that works well with prestige products.

Rexam's attack on the beauty packaging market also aims to counter the challenge of spiraling costs, mainly associated with the continuing increase of crude oil, which currently exceeds $90 a barrel.

As petroleum is a major constituent in plastics packaging, a number of leading packaging companies have already warned that their businesses are likely to be impacted by costs.

Indeed, in February of this year Rexam announced that higher input costs would in turn bump up the price of products made with plastic and aluminium, a problem that may be further exacerbated by a weaker US dollar.