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Written by Leah Genuario, Contributing Editor
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Topline Products employed a back injecting
filling lechnology for AI may's intense i-color
smoky-i kit eye shadow.
Signed, Sealed and
Spurred on by dynamic market conditions and a slew of benefits, contract manufacturing
and turnkey services are more popular than ever.
n its report, "Beauty and Personal Care in the
U.S.," market researcher Euromonitor Internation al attributes forecasted growth to an increase in
consumer spending as the econon1y recovers, as well as
manufacturers launching "new value- added features."
Whether due to changing tastes, an increased stronghold
of social media influences or some other cultural norm permeating the American mindset, U.S. customers are increasingly fascinated by new products. An emphasis on "new"
products is one of the main impetuses for growth in contract
and turnkey manufacturing services, say experts.
I
March 2013
"Consumer loyalty is being increasingly shared with
consumer discovery, as th ere is a willingness to try new
brands o r products if there is a perceived attraction or
benefit. Brands are continuously strategizing to create n ew product offerin gs [that provide] both unique
user experience and added benefits, which likely require complex bulk, fill and assembly requirements,"
says John Pyrzenski, sales director fo r HCT Packaging.
"Today's consumer is differen t and expects " n evv"
constantly," agrees Sandra Hutson, sales and marketing
director for Topline Products. "Product life cycles and
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Beauty Packaging • 135
Contract Manufacturing/Turnkey Services
the refresh rate required is much
shorter-a vicious circle w ith
more competition in the beauty
wo rld and new brands entering
all the time, taking up marke t
share. Brands mus t be in a p osition to offer the products that are
in demand and respond quickly
to change."
Offering a constant stream of
"new" places finan cial, time and
process management burdens on
today's beauty brands. In addition
to this phenomenon, explosive
growth in the skin care market
h as blurred lines between cosm etics and pharmaceutical, often
requiring additio nal regulatory Fragrance filling at Fareva's Cosmopar factory in France.
expertise and testing that brands
ment, and allow them to focus on the big picture while
may or may not have the capability to complete. For these reasons, as well as the sh eer we do all the sourcing and manufacturing," says Betti
number of benefits that con tract manufacturing brings, Ann Catino, directo r of product development for World
contract m an ufacture rs are currently experiencing in- Wide Packaging.
creased populari ty.
Partnering with a contract manufacturer can also offer
cost savings and tried-and-true solutions. Many contract
Benefits
manufacturers are equipped to offer stock formulas and/
Small, mid-sized and large global brands are enjoying the or packages that, although suitable for any sized brand, may
benefits of contract manu facturing, but oftentimes for be especially appealing to small brands for economic readifferent reasons.
sons. "Small brands don't typically have the infrastructure
For small brands, partnering with a contract man u- to execute their products, and tend to rely heavily on the
facturer enables capabilities an d potential they wouldn't support of contract manufacturers, w ho can offer up stock
have otherwise. "Companies like Topline Products are a solutions that can then be customized to th eir needs," says
great one-stop shopping solution for smaller brands that Jack Rodriguez, president ofJMR Development.
do not have their own factories, engineering or formula- . The beauty industry has seen a ramp-up of small starttion development teams. Manufacturing runs are typi- up companies entering the marketplace, says John Schocally shorter and contract manufacturers offer flexibility field, vice president of sales and marketing for Screenon shade ranges and product m ixes," says Hutson.
tech/Spraytech. His company, wh ose chief specialty is
"Small brands tend to run a lean organization and re- glass decoration and spraying, has en tered into the consources are limited to dedicate to new product develop- tract manufacturing space by matter of circumstance.
ment and supply chain management, and some may not
"Our smaller customers just didn't have the contacts
have any manufacturing capabilities," explains Pyrzenski. or resources to manage it all. T hey'd come to us for conA lean staff is why small brands benefit from partner- cepts they had for decoration.Then they'd ask for recomship with a trusted contract manufacturer. "We partner mendations. We used to recommend, but n ow we realize
with our customers and aid in their business develop- we can provide it for them. This helps us because we can
136 • Beauty Packaging
beautypackaging.com
March 2013
Contract Manufacturing/Turnkey Services
better manage the flow of our business," says Schofield. ceutical approach was just beginning to take shape. The
Although the company doesn't offer full turnkey solu- in tegration of these categories has added considerable
tions, when requested, it will purchase components and growth and diversity in the color cosmetics market."
ship the package to the filler, in addition to decorating.
Brand owners can beneftt from the knowledge that
Although large brands come from a completely dif- contract manufacturers bring to the table. For instance,
ferent place, they also frequently partner with contract Fareva USA is FDA certifted with a strong understanding
manufacturers for a va riety of other reasons . Rodriguez of quality control. " There are different tests when somesays that for large companies, "partnering with full service thing becomes Rx. We understand what's involved with
companies and contract manufacturers allows for their FDA/ OTC product [because we also work with pharinternal development teams to focus on the execution of maceutical clients] . We can segue that knowledge into
core in- line products while the contract manufacturers the cosmetic market; ' says Jeff Funk, head of beauty sales
can assist them with specialty programs like holiday or North America for Fareva USA.
promotional programs."
Catino ofWorld Wide Packaging points to a contract
Similarly, "Large brands utilizing turnkey contract manufacturer's connections as another benefit. "Sourcmanufacturing services afford them the opportunity to ing options are also key. WWP has the ability to provide
diversify their portfolio or launch a promotional item so urcing opportunities fi:om areas they may not be familwithout significant capital equipment and process invest- iar with," she says.
ment. Turnkey services also alleviate the threat of bottleIn addition to know-how, all brands beneftt from
necking core product production, offering the ability to the flexibility offered by a contract manufacturer. "For
launch multiple products in tandem;' says Pyrzenski.
Co Valence, our clients tell us that we offer flexibility as
There are also benefits that touch a range of brand they grow," says Melinda Wochner, COO, vice president
owners, no matter what the size of produ ction. For ex- of sales and marketing for CoValence. For established
ample, Py rzenski notes that "Ten years ago, skin care was brands, "we offer flexibility for the large brands as well
not nearly the industry focus it is today, and the cosme- as give them an environment to create and test pilot and
Hair Care Brand Benefits from Contract Manufacturing Services
Packaging design and sourcing specialist New Vi sion Packaging has completed
the latest full-service offering for OBC, owner of hair care expert. Lee Stafford.
The new range featu res four products sold exclusively at Boots stores across
the UK: Argon Oil, Poker Straight, Mini Poker Straight and My Big Fat Healthy
Hair gift sets.
Lee Stafford's partnership with the contract manufacturer has evolved
throughout the relationsh ip. Having worked for Lee Stafford since 2006, New
Vision Packaging has adapted its approach to packaging in recent years, offering
more services w ithin t he packaging process to enable centralization into one
team. Lee Stafford takes full advant age of the services provided by New Vision
Packaging, utilizing its structural design, graphic design, packaging sourcing, transit, product testing and final distribution services.
" Having one company look after the majority of the process was hugely
beneficial to OBC," says Stephen Shortland, managing director of New Vision
Packaging. "Managing the project was easier as they had one primary contact
for information."
March 2013
New Vision Packaging has partnered with brand
Lee Stafford on various projects since 2006.
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Beauty Packaging • 137
Contract Manufacturing/Turnkey Services
An assortment of components from World Wide Packaging.
launch batches, without crippling marketing and distribution efforts."
Defining Contract Manufactu ring
The term "contract manufacturing" can cause a lot of
confusion for even seasoned industry veterans. it's because the definition varies fi·om company to company.
While some contract manufacturing companies can offer
services that span fi·om initial product conceptualization
all the way through distribution, others focus their expertise on a smaller range of services provided to their
customers. Some may work with a number of different
beauty segments; others specialize.
H CT, for example, "can provide everything the customer requires of H C T," says P yrzenski . It can include
anything from brand developn1ent through product
manufacturing, packaging, brush es and applicators, filling and distribution." One company that successfully utilized HCT's services is Kevyn Aucoin Cosmetics, which
called on the company for full-service manufacturing
and sourcing of product.
World Wide Packaging performs brand development
and marketing, packaging design and development, filling
and secondary packaging services.
Similarly, Topline services begin with package development and design, and also include package fulfillment,
138 • Beauty Packaging
product conception, development and filling
of color formulations. Although some of its
cli ents fill their own products, Topline can
provide assembly and contract filling in its
Mexico- based facility as desired.
Topline has worked with a number of
brands, including Revlon, Ulta and Almay.
The work the company did for Almay's intense i-color smoky-i kit eye shadow, for example, used a back injecting filling technology and garnered awards. "At Topline, we like
to be proactive and propose ideas fo r products
that we believe will work well for a brand
rather than just executing a brief. This provides marketing teams with 'out-of-the-box'
options that they may not necessarily have
thought of," say,s Hutson.
Recently opened in the U.S., Fareva USA is
a subsidiary ofFrance-based Fareva Global. Its brand ideal
is "to accelerate value creation through effective partnership," says Laurent Mialhe, CEO ofFareva USA. Although
in growth mode with plans to expand services and capabilities, the company currently offers expertise in lip bahn
manufacturing and bag-on-valve aerosol technology.
"We are growing in the U.S. We have a large global
company now coming to us, which is enabling us to expand and bring on nine machines," adds Fareva's Funk.
Much like the contract manu£1cturer label, the term
"turnkey" cannot be defined any one way. "The term
turnkey seems to take on different forms, depending
on the company," t-<ecognizes Wochner. For example,
"We work with boutique, professional and international
brands w ho require all that we offer, yet they take care of
their design and distribution."
Among its services, CoValence offers more than 3,000
formulas, including the original Pumpkin Peel, Spin Trap,
Liquid Crystal, Peptide-99 and IconicA formulas. ln addition to its formulas, CoValence offers research and development, custom and private label manufacturing and
filling, product testing, international regulatory assistance
and packaging options.
Aside from contract manufacturers, there are also development companies that guide the entire product development and packaging process to produce a "turnkey"
beautypackaging.com
March 2013
Contract Manufacturing/Turnkey Services
product. JMR Development is one
such company."AtJMR, I focused on
assembling a core team with skill sets
ranging fi·om design, to engineering,
to product development, to packaging and then finally, logistics. We are
in essence a management team that
will lay out the program initiative
and then assemble and manage all
required vendors to execute the job
on behalf of our clients. We would
not be classified as a contract manufacturer. We have multiple strategic
partnerships with contract manufacturers who do not want to delve too
deeply into turnkey development,"
explains Rodriguez.
Great Expectations
Considering all of the known ad vantages of contract manufacturing, experts say that sometimes clients come
with expectations that are unrealistic.
While contract manufacturing can
increase time to market and enhance
efficiencies in the product development process, there are still reasonable limits and challenges.
"Smaller brand owners, or n1.ore
specifically, start-ups, tend to have the
most unrealistic expectations when it
comes to product execution," says
Rodriguez. As examples, he cites
makeup artists and other start-ups,
who are more focused on the brand
and formula development. "At the
onset, the makeup artists will have a
very clear vision and comprehensive
understanding of the products and
formulas that they use on their clients. However, upon starting a new
brand or beauty company, it's rare
that they have had the time or opportunity to get involved in the enMarch 2013
tire development process, which also
includes packaging, compatibility
testing, regulatory global compliance,
fill and assembly, and delivery logistics. It's a daunting task, and it's our
job to ensure that the client fully understands all the challenges, timelines
and cost implications," he adds.
The most notable expectations
revolve around lead times and the
decision-making procedures of the
brand. "With the pressures to increase
speed-to-market, some brands expect
unrealistic lead times or do not realize the impact that mid-development
changes to the brief, or late decisionmaking, can have on the delivery
date and budget," explains Hutson.
"To avoid these issues, Topline plac'es
an emphasis on working with custamers and agreeing to expectations
from the outset of a project to devel'PP a clear, critical path schedule and
the parameters in which changes can
be made with minimal impact to the
final prices," she adds.
"Decision making is key in getting a
product to market in a timely fashion;'
adds Catino. "It's best to have a small
team on the client side 'manage' the
contract manufacturer. This makes the
process more efficient and consistent."
As a relationship with a contract
manufacturer should be viewed as
a trusted partnership, it's important
that brands choose wisely. Wochner
offers the following piece of advice:
"I would suggest that since contract
manufacturing services are different for each manufacturer, the brand
owners must specifically lay out what
they need from a manufacturer, and
go with the manufacturer that best
fulfills those needs." t..
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