Beauty manufacturing is a key component of the industry’s—and indeed individual brands’ and products’—ecological footprint. To minimize or even eliminate these impacts requires complex calculations across many factors.
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Beauty manufacturing is a key component of the industry’s—and indeed individual brands’ and products’—ecological footprint. To minimize or even eliminate these impacts requires complex calculations across many factors.
“Harnessing the organization's full potential is essential to implementing sustainable practices site-wide,” says Katie Gillespie, Accupac’s chief human resources officer. “This is achieved by encouraging behavior-based changes, offering education and fostering a culture of sustainability. Every process and project must prioritize continuous improvement and sustainability, ensuring these principles are ingrained in our organization's core values and actions.”
Here, we offer a peek into how several organizations are tackling sustainability across key issues.
1. The Impact of Water Usage
“The environmental impact of the beauty industry extends beyond the products we use on our faces,” says Laura Frazier, Ph.D., TaikiUSA’s chief scientist. "Water is a crucial resource in many manufacturing steps, from processing raw materials to cleaning and cooling machinery. Inefficient water management can lead to water scarcity and pollution.”
Beauty manufacturers are increasingly scrutinizing the use of water in facilities, processes, product design and shipping.offsuperphoto at Adobe Stock
“To effectively manage our resources at Accupac, we conducted an energy audit and created baseline data across multiple metrics,” says Gillespie. “This gave us a 360-degree view of where we could make the biggest impact and helped guide our 2030 goal setting. For Accupac, water management is particularly significant due to its substantial usage in our end products, as highlighted in our sustainability report, so we took great care to ensure we manage our water usage efficiently and responsibly.”
In addition to facility-level practices, beauty manufacturers have focused on water-less product formats.
Frazier explains, “TaikiUSA offers a full line of Water-Activated Powder products that are made in the [United States] with natural ingredients. Waterless formulation opens the door to a whole new world of eco-beauty. Less water leads to more sustainable packaging–and fewer ingredients lead to more efficacious products. Brands can explore our existing base formulas or develop a custom solution with the same innovation at the core. Our collection includes facial cleansers, shampoo, conditioner, mud masks, shower bombs and hydro jelly masks.”
2. Packaging Dimensions
“Plastic bottles, tubes, and containers create a vast amount of packaging waste in the industry,” says Laura Frazier, Ph.D., TaikiUSA’s chief scientist. “Improper disposal of this non-biodegradable waste can pollute the environment and strain landfills.”gumpapa at Adobe Stock
As a result, says Frazier, “The beauty industry is experiencing a notable shift toward sustainable and ethical practices. This includes using recycled materials in packaging, opting for refillable containers, and using solid forms of products that eliminate the need for plastic bottles.”
Notably, solid formats have multiple benefits: eliminating the need for excess packaging and, as mentioned earlier, water usage/transportation.
Frazier adds that packaging considerations need to be front-and-center from the beginning of any project: “Keeping the end goal of improving sustainability front and center, products are developed with the packaging requirements in mind. For example, whenever possible, products are designed not to require single-use packaging, as multipacks result in less consumer waste.”
3. Ingredient Considerations
“Transportation of raw materials and finished products can significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions,” says Frazier.
Responsible ingredient sourcing is increasingly an area of focus for beauty manufacturers.K.Decor at Adobe Stock
The chief scientist adds, “Many companies also prioritize using organic, fair-trade and responsibly sourced ingredients, and are looking for ways to reduce their environmental footprint throughout production. Consumers concerned about the environment and the safety of the products they use are increasingly drawn to brands that prioritize these practices.”
As a result, says Frazier, “When sourcing materials, [TaikiUSA] goes beyond just considering quality and cost. We look for materials that are ethically produced and have a lower environmental footprint in their manufacturing, such as ingredients from fermentation or upcycled processes. We also consider their end-life, opting for compostable or biodegradable materials to reduce consumer waste.”
4. Manufacturing Efficiency
“We also identify ways to improve manufacturing efficiency in our factories,” says Frazier, as typified in the company’s focus on water usage.
Other manufacturers have found additional ways to tackle manufacturing that reduces waste while also boosting efficiency and quality. For instance, Federal Package, which recently launched its full-service FP Labs contract manufacturing platform (more on that in a moment), offers manufacturing capabilities, R&D formulation, compounding and blending, filling operations, container labeling, pack-out, and product testing services for emerging and established brands.
Manufacturing efficiency can reduce waste and reduce lead times.nordroden at Adobe Stock
Each unit is photographed by the system as it moves along the line. In this way, overfilled or inconsistent containers are flagged and removed from the production line.
Furthermore, labeling machines feature vision systems to check container labels for correct application orientation and location.
Vision systems are also used to verify printed lot codes on each carton of lip balm before packaging and shipping, per FP Labs. Lot code scans ensure that the right product is complete and headed to the right location, according to the company.
“We can have our maintenance technicians make programs in 1-2 minutes for applications that would have been too tedious in the past,” says Noah Leuer, FP Labs’ manufacturing engineer manager. Leuer adds that collecting data on the performance of each machine “provides our teams, from our shift supervisors to our quality assurance team, with precise data to see where we are running smoothly and where we need to make adjustments.”
Leuer adds that, by collecting data on the performance of each machine, “This provides our teams, from our shift supervisors to our quality assurance team, with precise data to see where we are running smoothly and where we need to make adjustments.”
Mixer & Pack has approached manufacturing efficiency by adopting virtual mixed reality in its facilities in collaboration with consultancy and IT services company EQM.Mixer & Pack
Elsewhere, Mixer & Pack has approached manufacturing efficiency by adopting virtual mixed reality in its facilities in collaboration with consultancy and IT services company EQM. The platform leverages Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Dynamic 365 programs to boost efficiency of maintenance activities.
The mixed reality capabilities will feature Microsoft’s HoloLens hardware “to maximize the development of digitalization and communication with external agents that Mixer&Pack works with,” per an official announcement.
“We implement this tool because we believe that we can be more effective and efficient,” says Lorenzo García, operations director of Mixer & Pack. “[This] innovation can provide us with a technological proposal that helps us to become one of the sector leaders in Europe in this aspect.”
5. People Matter
In addition to benefitting producers and clients, automation can potentially diminish stress for workers in beauty production sites.littlewolf1989 at Adobe Stock
The people factor has been front-and-center in Federal Package’s recent manufacturing upgrades. Jerry Bilse, the company’s senior vice president of operations, explains, “For us as a contract manufacturer, automation saves stress and repetition on our staff. We use technology and automation to alleviate unneeded stress and activities that lead to repetitive use injuries and lost time. Our talent is indispensable, we could not produce the products we do without the talent and creativity of our staff. We look for tasks that are highly repetitive or prone to overuse injury in our staff as areas where automation could be fit in.”
Enhanced automation has no trade-off. Manufacturing upgrades allow manufacturers to gauge efficiency and productivity. It also ensures high product quality with minimal waste and shorter lead times.
Blise concludes, “The systems we put in place have helped make our best even better.”
6. Communication is Key
No matter what companies build into their sustainability activities, communicating those activities is critical.
"By communicating openly and transparently, we aim to best serve our customers, stakeholders and communities," says Accupac's Gillespie. "This transparency allows us to collaborate and work together with our customers and partners on mutual sustainability commitments, resulting in a greater positive impact on people, the planet, and our performance. We do this through publication of our yearly sustainability report, regular updates to our website and ongoing communication with our customers and partners."
Turnkey Expansion
Federal Package’s full-service FP Labs contract manufacturing platform is designed to allow brands to innovate in an environment of heightened scrutiny and transparency demands in beauty/personal care.
Federal Package’s full-service FP Labs contract manufacturing platform is designed to allow brands to innovate in an environment of heightened scrutiny and transparency demands in beauty/personal care.FP Labs
The expansion allows FP Labs to perform “fully validated OTC product testing in-house,” powered by two new HPLC systems and a GC/MS to test for contaminants.
The company notes, “In light of federal and state legislation, we are also gearing up to test allergens in-house.”
These capabilities come in addition to Federal Package's propel and repel containers for lip balms, sunscreen sticks, anti-chafe products, deodorants and other personal care products.
“This evolution is a visible symbol of the change that has been taking place over the last few years,” says FP Labs’ Niebes. “The company comprises two distinct offerings, contract manufacturing services that make up most of our sales, and packaging for personal care products. FP Labs is a key milestone in our transformation toward sustainable growth.”
Niebes adds, “Our new identity will utilize components of the current FP logo to join the two product offerings of our business together. This reflects the existing brand equity, retaining positive associations with the company’s heritage, and at the same time will better enable us to communicate with our customers in a more powerful, clearer and consistent way."
