An armony between design and beauty

The end of line isn’t a marginal part of production and cannot be performed without a precise logistics.

In smaller companies, the premium or niche perfumes  are still manually worked, through simple but very careful processes. The outputs from the packaging machinery are stored in boxes manually, and control boxes are individually made by a charged person before they are stacked on pallets, tapes and sent to storage as finished products.

Working large amounts, the industrial lines provide end of line with automatic cartooning, labeling, palletizing and taping managed by special softwares. The production made in small batches on the same line but in different packages is now the rule especially for contractors.

The format change is the crux of this area and should be quick and simple, so it doesn’t require specialized staff. Boxing can be loaded from the bottom, suitable for handing delicate products, or horizontal loading, perfect packaging when selling the product to be included in the box is pretty hard (boxes or cans). The assembled set of products  is pushed in the chest, placed in the car so that they show opening on one side.

The case packer must have three conditions: easy, reliable and flexible.

The taping can be done with a tape or a gummed paper tape. It can be manual or semi-fixed, requiring manual set up bat allow the filling and sealing of the box without the assistance of an operator. The automatic variable format recognition system height and width boxes is based on pneumatic and electromechanical systems.

With 17 plants in Europe and America, Gerresheimer Group stands as one of the leading international suppliers of high quality packaging solutions, plastic and glass, particularly those addressing the cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

When it comes to customize a glass as a packaging material for specific brands and products, Gerresheimer is certainly one of the most sought-after partner in the perfume and cosmetic industry.

I present the case of Gerresheimer as I consider this group a very interesting reality in packaging design for cosmetics. In fact, Gerresheimer not only offers a wide range of shapes, but also various colours, printing on ceramics, screen printing with organic materials and so on in an almost unlimited range of products constantly updated to satisfy every need to match the pack to fashion trends. Unilever, Procter&Gamble, Avon, Yves Saint Laurent and Elizabeth Arden are some of Gerrresheimer’s major customers.

Gerresheimer, therefore, continues to offer the beauty market not only functional packs but also provides important aesthetic trends for the world of luxury perfumes and cosmetics.

Recently, for example, the multinational Ulric Des Varens  presented its fragrance, Lily Silver, with a Gerresheimer pack: a striking composition that combines two circular shapes in a magic way made of different materials, glass and pexiglass. With this bottle, which follows the glass bottle Varens Duo, always produced by Gerresheimer, the group has created a product with a very young personality and a delightfully feminine atmosphere.

Sometimes, even the ethnic influences from all over the world help Gerresheimer in its creation: often only gently suggested, these factors could produce  effects of particular fascination, especially in modern design. With two new bottles made of Yves Rocher, Gerresheimer has captured the sensuality of oriental fragrances in a thin glass, rounded shapes, strong colours. Opulent yet strictly restrained creations are the basis for spray perfume environments: Jardin D’Egypt and Secrtes d’Hammann.

Finally, two signed Gerresheimer achievements have become a classic for their modernity: the bottle Bazar by Christian Lacroix structured on the contrast between the simplistic of its geometric forms and rich decorations of the Orient and the “lighthouse” for Bleu Marin by Pierre Cardin.

The market for beauty is a rich and fertile soil in which the possibilities of expression are virtually limitless. In the cosmetics industry, brand owners and manufacturers work  in an integrated way with companies specialized in packaging , which translate their demands into the product range luxury or mass-market, with a prevalent function of architectural design and costs balance.

There are few areas which, like that of cosmetics and perfumes, they lend themselves so well to shape formal experimentation, creativity and style to new design trends, through a judicious use of packaging, so that some of the pack born as real “creation” in this context become global icons of modern times. Materials, shapes and colours come into play working alongside the aspects related to differentiate and characterize the product contained and, ultimately, to catalyze the interests of consumers and induce them to purchase. But aesthetics alone is not enough, must be linked to quality of Italian industry .

But what is the critical succes factor for packaging in cosmetics?

A study conducted by Databank shows that the pack is one of the keys to the success of a cosmetic product and for the perfumery channel. Databank considered separately cosmetics, perfumery  and hair products and personal hygiene, giving a score from 1 to 10 for each critical factor. So, in the case of cosmetic products,  the innovation and differentiation are the main reasons for success, in addition to formulation, achieved through heavy investment in research and development. The commitment of product differentiation has focused also on the packaging, more and more care in terms of aesthetic and functional. It has affected companies operating in mass market. The same product innovation and development of specific treatments tend to differentiate the forms of presentation (single-dose, capsule, gel…), easier to use (formulas a day, produced multiple functions…), and improve safety increases.

As is clear from the assessments collected by Databank , for perfumery the pack is a critical success factor to the effectiveness of the formulation and quality. In fact, the scent is characterized by its subjective use value, its abilty to conduct a functional benefit to the consumers’ personalities: it’s a self-gratifying consumption, which permits its image externally.  But it’s not just the fragrance that should gratify the consumers, but also the packaging: the survey showed that the packaging is considered the most critical success factor(rating 9), while price is a much less decisive factor(rating 8).

The innovation of the pack and the evolution of consumption.

It is clear that the producers of cosmetics, perfumes and toiletry point not olny to differentiate themselves, but also to develope an increasingly broad range of products, and respond quicly to the new demands of consumers with products and innovative packaging.

How to change the relationship between the cosmetic industry and its supply chain?

As noted by Dieter Bakic, of  the homonymous company, in a recent article published in the German press over the past 30 years, there has been a change in the cosmetics industry and the packaging, which was rich in implications. Once, identifying a single company was normal for a brand of cosmetics. That company often distributed only that brand. Today, however, brand owners and manufacturers are often different entities. This transformation has triggered the emergence of new procedures  for reconciling the proposals and the needs of both. In the current market, brand owners call their supply chain to provide them equally innovative packaging solutions. In a climate of enormous global competitiveness, brand owners have sought the competitive, which would allow them to respond to market changes. So, many brand owners have found outsurcing of many operations, such as design, development, production and logistics. This practice allows them to focus on what they do best in the cosmetics industry: to discover consumers’ needs within their specific target groups.

According Bakic about packaging, if we consider that the package currently accounts for the 25-40% on the costs of the product and its supply may also represent the 60% of these costs, the implementation of an integrated management of packaging clearly represents the difference in terms of cost saving. This integration is in cosmetics industry: the effectiveness of recipes and the development of systems for innovative applications get married with the packaging technolgy.

As directed by the brand owner, the supplier develops packaging solutions that embody the soul of the brand  and the virtues of the product.