11 minute read
Putting a new gloss on sales Albéa
PUTTING A NEW GLOSS
ON SALES
Albéa is a global leader in the packaging of cosmetics and fragrances, as well as oral and personal care products. Philip Yorke talked to Paul Sefcik, the company’s cluster manager for tubes eastern Europe, about its innovative cosmetics packaging and plans for further expansion.
The Albéa group has grown to become one of the world’s most successful and innovative packaging companies with a clear focus on the cosmetics and skincare industries. Its product portfolio is one of the most extensive in its field, ranging from plastic and laminate tubes to mascaras, lipsticks and lip glosses. The company also produces compacts, plastic closures, shells and spray caps, as well as jars, lids, cosmetic accessories and promotional items. Today the company employs 9500 people and operates 33 manu-
facturing facilities worldwide, of which 13 are based in Europe. In 2011 the group recorded sales of $1 billion.
Product innovation and creativity driving sales
The Albéa group’s vision is described by François Luscan, its president and CEO, as: “to be the best global packaging company in the eyes of our people, our customers and our shareholders.” To maintain its ‘topdrawer’ position, Albéa offers a truly global dimension to its operations, as well as innovation, operational excellence and highly creative design teams. The company also lists its core values as integrity, accountability, trust, transparency and teamwork.
Evidence of the success of this philosophy can be seen in the countless examples of the global brands that form its customer base. Recently Albéa launched its unique, ‘SpinArt™’ rotating lip-gloss products, which consists of three rotating lip-gloss applicators that deliver a perfectly homogenous formula onto lips with maximum shine in just one step. In addition, their bold, eye-catching design gives them a distinctive, shelf-appeal advantage.
Another recent Albéa exclusive is its new, watershine lipstick produced for Maybelline New York. Working in close collaboration with Albéa, Maybelline New York has created a new lipstick with an exceptional design for its ‘Illustrious’ top-of-the-range lipsticks.
With a special copolyester (PCTG) pink cap and silver-plated ABS plastic base, this newest lipstick features a unique design that combines elegance, shine and subtle lines that create an appearance that is both modern and exciting. The launch of this latest addition to Maybelline’s Colour Sensational
• Outstanding barrier: 1mm EVAL™ = 10m LDPE • Keeps aroma in and contamination out • Maintains formula integrity • Extends shelf life and reduces waste • Recyclable and recoverable
Discover more at www.eval.eu
EVAL™ EVOH adds valuable barrier function to cosmetic packaging
Kuraray Co., Ltd. is the world leader in EVOH (ethylene vinyl-alcohol copolymer) production and development. 1mm of EVAL™ has the same gas barrier properties as a 10 meter-thick wall of LDPE. With such performance, an EVAL™ layer thickness of only a few microns offers a superior barrier against oxygen, fragrance and contamination. Furthermore, EVAL™’s chemical resistance reduces scalping and permeation of valuable ingredients.
Prolonged formula and packaging integrity
The barrier properties provided by EVAL™ work in both directions. Gas barrier properties keep oxygen out, avoiding the tainting or degradation of sensitive components in the product formula. The effective shelf life can usually be extended, avoiding waste and generating savings in distribution. At the same time, the chemical and aroma barrier properties keep ever increasingly volatile and valuable ingredients inside the package where they belong. EVAL™ resins are recyclable, and can help a product reduce its environmental impact at all stages of the product life cycle.
Attractive high performance
Highly functional as an inside barrier layer, EVAL™ is also easy-toprint, and when used as an outside layer on the package provides transparent high gloss and anti-static properties. EVAL™ helps extend product shelf life, and assure that cosmetic products reach the customer with their quality and properties intact.
For more information: www.eval.eu
Mitsui Chemicals
As one of the globally leading suppliers of extrudable tie resins marketed under the trade name ADMERTM, Mitsui Chemicals enjoys a long business relationship to the ALBEA Group and its predecessor companies. Since many years, ADMERTM tie resin is the preferred adhesive resin, among others used in the production of coextruded multilayer tubes for the cosmetic and food industry. Such tubes are often equipped with aroma and oxygen barrier layers (mostly EVOH or polyamide). In these barrier tubes, ADMERTM tie resins are acting as functional adhesive layers, bonding conventional polyolefins to the barrier layers. The European headquarters of the group, Mitsui Chemicals Europe GmbH, is located in the city of Dusseldorf, home of one of the biggest Japanese communities in Europe. Next to the European markets, it is successfully serving the markets in the Middle East region and Africa (EMEA markets). The product portfolio consists of, among others, various functional polymers, elastomers, functional films, PP compounds, information and electronics materials and fine chemicals. Visit the local website to get a complete image of the product portfolio: http:// eu.mitsuichem.com. Mitsui Chemicals would like to thank ALBEA for the trustworthy cooperation over the past years and is looking forward to its successful continuation in future.
range was launched in Europe and the USA through the group’s extensive, worldwide industrial platform.
Mr Sefcik said, “As a truly global player, we provide a wide range of dedicated customer services and prefer to be seen as a global company, but with a domestic and local focus. Furthermore, we do not just serve the big cosmetic and fragrance brands but also smaller companies and those who would like to take advantage of our creativity and production expertise to launch new products. We can offer our customers a standard range of products as well as customised products that benefit from our latest technologies. These include our advanced printing technologies, which offer photo-like special effects and metallic, mirror finishes.
“In addition, we provide applications that offer advanced technology processes for the design and manufacture of ‘flip-top’ closures. These are created for items such as toothpaste, which involve special peel and seal, ‘virgin’ flip-top membranes. We cover the whole range of possibilities when it comes to packaging for our market sector and provide design, prototype and testing services as well as a full range of packaging consultancy services. In addition, our financial strength means that we can continue to invest in new technology and offer special design and added-value services for our customers.”
A clear strategy for growth
A continuous programme of investment in new technology and manufacturing capabilities, in association with innovative design teams and dedicated customer services, has provided a firm foundation for growth. Whilst continuing to grow organically, the group is also open to acquisitions providing that they offer operational synergies and complement their existing product ranges.
In keeping with this strategy, Albéa recently announced its acquisition of Eyelematic, one of America’s leading manufacturers of metal parts, as well as well as for plastic injection, decoration, anodising and assembly. Eyelematic is based in Conneticut, USA, and its three manufacturing plants already serve the world’s largest brands on the American
Penn Color
Founded in 1964, Penn Color has been manufacturing color and additive masterbatches for nearly 50 years. Headquartered in the United States, Penn Color operates 4 plastics masterbatch plants globally (7 dispersion facilities in total) with more than 40,000MT of masterbatch capacity, including a brand new state of the art masterbatch plant and product development laboratory in Venray, The Netherlands.
Penn Color serves a wide variety of plastics markets including packaging, building products, synthetic fiber, films, cast & extruded sheet, and a multitude of molded products. We are known in the industry for our ability to produce very highly loaded masterbatches while achieving full pigment development with outstanding lot to lot consistency. We have substantial experience in all polymers including difficult to color polymers such as acrylic, ABS, PVC, and our PENNACLE® line for PET. In addition to conventional color matching equipment, we also operate an array of small scale applications equipment in our product development labs. Internally we injection mold closures, extrude cosmetic tubes, blow bottles, spin fiber, and extrude sheet so our customers can better visualize what their color will look like in its actual end use.
We understand that every customer’s expectations and requirements are different. Our products and services are tailored to fit those distinct needs, so let Penn Color design an innovative solution for you.
market, with a diverse portfolio of products for the cosmetic, skincare and perfumes sector. This important acquisition adds to the group’s broad range of capabilities, with the integration of metal forming, which in turn provides an even greater choice of packaging solutions for Albéa’s existing customers.
As part of its strategy for growth, Albéa is committed to creating innovative products with the lowest possible environmental impacts. All Albéa products continue to benefit from the ‘Eco-design’ 3R philosophy: (reduce, recycle, replace) developed in association with its own research department and university partnerships. This has enabled it to offer its customer’s design and packaging based upon renewable and recyclable materials.
Mr Sefcik added, “We take our commitment to the environment seriously throughout our manufacturing processes to ensure an efficient integration of eco-design in all our activities. In terms of the future we are also looking at extending our capabilities in key European markets, such as France, Germany, the UK, Poland and particularly in Russia where there is a strong developing market for the big cosmetic brands. In addition, we are increasing our presence in the growing Asian markets.
I am pleased to say that despite the economic downturn in Europe, the cosmetics, personal and oral care markets seem to be weathering the storm better than most.” n
