MES Powers New Era in Cosmetics Operation

Posted: February 17, 2020

The cosmetics industry has experienced substantial growth in recent years as consumers’ preferences and lifestyles evolve. Numerous factors, from more disposable income to new generations entering the workforce, are driving the increase in cosmetic sales. Researchers expect the global cosmetics products market to reach a value of 805.61 billion US dollars by 2023. To sustain this growth, manufacturers must focus on creating new business models to engage their consumers and maintain brand loyalty. Additionally, cosmetic producers must account for consumers’ increased interest in process and ingredient transparency.

Fortunately, advances in digital operations are changing the way manufacturers approach demand and supply. With the correct insights, producers can create effective strategies to be competitive while making the most of their equipment and resources. Here is an in-depth look at what consumers are asking for and the specific ways cosmetic producers are enabling smarter manufacturing operations to excel and meet the demands.

Creating More Eco-Friendly Products

More consumers are demanding sustainable products and packaging. According to a survey done by Accenture, shoppers are starting to become more environmentally friendly and want the industry to follow. The desire for eco-friendly products drives increased requirements for ethical sourcing and location of origin traceability for raw material ingredients to processing of intermediate or semi-finished goods to distribution networks, including point-of-sale or point-of-consumption. Data-driven insights from model-driven manufacturing execution systems help accelerate these implementations, getting products to consumers faster, while providing prevalent information of responsible ingredients on product packaging.

Addressing Consumers’ Changes in Tastes and Preferences

Consumers’ preferences are changing across the board. For example, interest in skin care products (specifically high-grade ones) has dramatically increased, with 39% making up the entire global market of cosmetic sales. To meet these demands, manufacturers must optimize their equipment on hand. Agile reformulation using electronic recipe management enables producers to ensure consistency in product quality as well as increase efficiency and speed through automation of equipment setup processes and recipe execution. Utilizing data like this allows manufacturers to respond to consumers’ evolving tastes and create the desired products quicker, without sacrificing quality.

Supercharging Brand Image and Loyalty

In today’s digital era, consumers prefer brands that are transparent in their operations and reward them by providing these companies with loyalty. Therefore, cosmetic manufacturers must be forthcoming in their ingredients, processes, and procedures. Success in building a brand image around sustainable values like these requires a proactive mindset where regulatory compliance (i.e., adequately labeled products for consumers and pertinent information to the FDA) is viewed as an opportunity and not a burden. This, in turn, drives requirements to capture detailed data on water usage, carbon footprint, and waste (including emissions and effluents). Data-driven insights through manufacturing operations excellence make collecting this information quicker. Subsequently providing it to consumers helps display transparency and increases brand loyalty.

Customizing and Personalizing More Beauty Goods

Creating customized products is a growing trend in the cosmetic and beauty industry that cannot be ignored as consumers of varying socioeconomic backgrounds are demanding items like personalized skincare routines or hair masks. The increase of customization and personalization for luxury, high-end beauty brands drive requirements for order-level visibility in the supply chain from production and directly through to customer fulfillment. Digital operations excellence helps producers better understand who is purchasing what to keep inventory stocked, as well as create specific opportunities for online ordering and quick shipping to further promote a customized experience.

Without the right data, digital transformation for the cosmetic industry is just a dream. Regardless of the business strategy, digital excellence can only be achieved through data-driven insight - which is the basis for smart manufacturing operations. Utilizing intelligent manufacturing operations enables manufacturers to create the business models needed to engage their consumers, address their preferences, meet their demands, and retain brand loyalty.

To better understand how Manufacturing execution systems (MES) build agile, responsive, transparent production systems to maximize stakeholder value, visit AVEVA’s Manufacturing Execution Management page.