Mibelle for beauty Mibelle AG Cosmetics

MIBELLE FOR BEAUTY

Mibelle AG Cosmetics is one of the most innovative Swiss own-brand manufacturers in the cosmetics sector. Felicity Landon finds out why apples and grapes are two secrets of its success.

Mibelle AG Cosmetics this year celebrates half a century in the business – or, as the company describes it, 50 years of know-how in development and production innovation. Its major product segments are Face, Body and Bath Care, Dental, Sun, Men, Hair Care, and Baby and Kids Care, and its major customers include global top-drawer brands and a host of own-label clients.

It sounds a straightforward story – but there are plenty of magical subplots here, including two involving apples and grapes. Mibelle describes its Zoé Effect PhytoCellTec line as an outstanding example of its innovative strength; high-tech facial care with a new plant stem cell extract.

Mibelle Biochemistry, the company’s innovation wing, had fantastic success with its award-winning plant stem cell extract PhytoCellTec Malus Domestica developed from the Swiss apple variety Uttwiler Spätlauber, subsequently making the global headlines when it was revealed that Michelle Obama uses a product formulated with this active ingredient. The apple itself is unpopular because of its sour taste – but its ability to remain free from wrinkles for up to four months after harvesting is an undoubted virtue. Its stem cells are said to protect skin-cell regeneration and delay the onset of wrinkles, and Mibelle was able to replicate the apple cell and its active ingredient.

Now Mibelle has launched another stem cell innovation, PhytoCellTec Solar Vitis. This is based on the highly UV-resistant grape variety Gamay Teinturier Fréaux, which has been shown to improve vitality and boost the resistance of skin stem cells.

“With our highly innovative biochemistry department, we develop our own active ingredients not only for our own beauty products but also for worldwide famous brands,” says CEO Luigi Pedrocchi. “The latest developments are the PhytoCellTec actives such as Malus Domestica, Alp Rose and Solar Vitis; they are based on plant stem cells, which increase the vitality of skin stem cells and protect the cell longevity.”

Innovation is one of the principal driving forces for Mibelle’s business, he adds: “We will continue to keep up with the best in the

world and continue with passion to work on technologies and product concept for tomorrow, for our national and international, existing and new customers.”

Expanding production

Based in Buchs, Mibelle has three production facilities. Two are in Switzerland where, as well as manufacturing its beauty products, Mibelle is the country’s biggest detergent and edible fats producer and a major producer of homecare and household products. The third beauty products facility is in the UK, where the company expanded its capacity last year (2010) by gaining the major share of Hallam Beauty UK, now renamed Mibelle Ltd Bradford. “Together we can increase our potential for innovation and use the combination of research, development and marketing know-how to serve the individual and varied needs of our international clientele even better than before,” says Mr Pedrocchi.

Further expansions of production capacity are being discussed, he adds – and these will go ahead as required, based on major customers’ requests.

Mibelle is a private label manufacturer for the beauty and personal care trade, as well as for major brand owners, he stresses. “Thanks to our experienced team of marketing specialists, formulation developers and packaging professionals, we are not only a manufacturer but also offer tailor-made full-service solutions to our customers.”

For its home care and household products, naturally Switzerland is a major market. The company is a subsidiary of the Swiss retailer Migros, for which it manufactures highly successful own-label cosmetic and personal care products. In terms of finished product exports, it focuses on central Europe, including Germany, France, Austria, Italy, the Benelux countries and the UK, and on North America. For its active ingredients, Mibelle has customers all over the world.

“As Mibelle is one of the seven business segments of M-Industry, we can take advantage of the group’s worldwide network,” says Mr Pedrocchi. “We have an M-Industry platform in North America in order to be as close as possible to our customers. M-Industry exports Swiss-quality products to

more than 50 countries, and numbers famous major international corporate groups among its customers.”

Quality is the watchword; 20 years ago Mibelle was the first cosmetics company anywhere in Europe to be certified under the ISO standard. “Numerous audits by well-known customers and independent institutes regularly confirm the outstanding functionality and currency of our quality management. Quality is just as much a firmly established element of the company’s philosophy as safety, hygiene and environmental protection, as well as reliability and service.”

Constant innovation

Importantly, Mibelle keeps things in-house, from original idea to market-ready product. Every year up to five patent applications are registered and around 500 new products are launched on to the market. Professional trend analyses and marketing concepts based on these are coordinated with the research department, and new are articles developed and produced in the shortest possible time to market.

“The products created from this match the level of innovation of expensive branded products and more and more often are actually surpassing them,” says Mr Pedrocchi. “And for many customers, the resulting added value generates a decisive competitive advantage.”

About 15 per cent of the company’s employees are working in research and development; the biochemistry department conceives and develops innovative, high-quality active ingredients based on well-grounded scientific knowledge.

“Effective cosmetic ingredients are created on the basis of natural compounds. In-house, innovative cosmetic developments are protected by patents and are found in active ingredients and formulations of our own products and, again, in global branded articles. The application of the very latest formulation techniques generates sustainably effective products.”

Mibelle has a professional packaging development section which creates brandings suited to the individual customer’s market and its product assortment. Jürg Burkhalter, director of sales and marketing, says a big change has been the dramatic improvement in the quality of own-label beauty products in recent years; the benchmark today is to be at least the same quality as the A-brands, if not better. However, having the right packaging is essential when competing against the A-brands.”

The emphasis on natural ingredients is also likely to gain in importance, putting Mibelle in a strong position. “We will focus on existing and new customers in order to achieve sustainable growth,” says Mr Pedrocchi. “We are constantly expanding our business, based on values of quality and reliability.” n