Epson America, Inc. has introduced a strategic funding in Clean Magnificence, a Knoxville-based tech platform specializing in on-demand, customizable CPGs. The collaboration brings collectively Epson’s robotics and coloration know-how with Clean Magnificence’s agile manufacturing programs to develop automated kiosks for customized magnificence merchandise in retail and e-commerce settings.
In response to Rick Brookshire, Director of Robotics at Epson America, the partnership “brings a form of consumer-based manufacturing to the retail area,” with preliminary purposes targeted on personalised nail polish. Clean Magnificence’s co-founder and CEO, Charles Brandon, mentioned the mixing of Epson’s robotics and Shade Imaginative and prescient software permits the corporate “to robotically confirm the colour match for every product,” enhancing high quality management and scalability.
On this CosmeticsDesign Q&A, Brookshire and Brandon mentioned how automation, precision coloration know-how, and retail-tainment are shaping a brand new mannequin for magnificence manufacturing and buyer expertise.
CDU: What makes the wonder and private care area a sexy new frontier for Epson Robots, and the way does this funding in Clean Magnificence align together with your broader technique?
Rick Brookshire (RB): We (Epson Robots) have been serving to firms all through the world with their manufacturing for over 4 many years. To call just a few, most of this work has been carried out within the Automotive, Electronics, Medical, and client merchandise.
However the world of Robotics is increasing, and so is the usage of Epson Robots. Now we have discovered quite a few potential alternatives for our robots that carry a form of consumer-based manufacturing to the retail area.
The sweetness and private care area is a big market with large room for progress for automating each in factories and within the retail area. Clean Magnificence’s Shade Matching Know-how, mixed with Epson’s robotic automation, is the right match for custom-made single amount private care merchandise that customers need.
We plan to increase to many extra merchandise within the private care area with Clean Magnificence and are enthusiastic about all the brand new potentialities this may carry. By way of our broader technique for Epson, Clean Magnificence and Epson share a standard core know-how, which is coloration.
Epson makes excellent printers that print photo-quality prints with vibrant colours that final for a few years. Working along with Clean Magnificence will even assist enhance coloration output and coloration matching applied sciences transferring ahead, which can in the end be utilized in purposes that we haven’t even considered but.
CDU: Are you able to share how Epson’s robotics and Shade Management Know-how are enabling scalable, exact customization in magnificence merchandise in actual time?
RB: The actual magic is within the Shade Management Know-how from Clean Magnificence. Having the ability to match colours utilizing a restricted coloration supply palette permits a small workspace for use to dispense the colours in a kiosk-sized workcell, versus having to construct some large customized machine.
Having the pliability of the robots permits all the fabric dealing with duties to be dealt with shortly and exactly in that very same small area. Now that the core applied sciences and workcell ideas have been constructed and confirmed, the subsequent step is to rework these applied sciences to deal with future merchandise (apart from fingernail polish) in a really well timed vogue.
CDU: With the success of the in-store kiosk pilots, how do you see Epson’s function evolving as extra magnificence manufacturers look to combine retail-tainment and on-demand manufacturing into their buyer experiences?
RB: Retail-tainment is de facto the important thing phrase right here. In the present day’s buyers are on the lookout for extra than simply merchandise today – they need an immersive, partaking expertise. Giving prospects the chance to see customized merchandise being made proper in entrance of their eyes helps to satisfy that full expertise, together with the output of an ideal product that prospects will use again and again.
We absolutely anticipate this development to proceed as we construct extra interactive kiosks with Epson Robots for the retail group.
CDU: How does this partnership with Epson speed up Clean Magnificence’s mission to make custom-made, on-demand magnificence merchandise extra accessible in each retail and e-commerce channels?
Charles Brandon (CB): By working straight with Epson, Clean Magnificence can quickly speed up our mission to ship custom-made magnificence merchandise each on-line and in-store. Clean Magnificence makes use of Epson’s Robotics Know-how to create the orders for our prospects in-store and robotically on-line, and we’re about to combine their Shade Imaginative and prescient software into our system.
This enables us to robotically confirm the Shade Match for every product we create and assure an improved buyer expertise.
By automating what was as soon as guide, we’re in a position to considerably scale back manufacturing prices and cross these financial savings on to our prospects. This partnership helps us to make customized magnificence, making high-quality, personalised merchandise obtainable to everybody, whether or not they’re procuring on-line or visiting a retailer.
CDU: What challenges did you encounter in creating the in-store kiosk for customized nail polish, and the way did Epson’s automation know-how assist overcome these hurdles?
CB: Most startups preserve their know-how underneath wraps for years earlier than launching. We did the other.
Clean Magnificence selected to pilot our customized nail polish kiosks on the largest stage doable – Walmart. This method compelled us to gather real-time suggestions and quickly iterate on the shopper expertise.
One of many largest challenges was guaranteeing we might adapt and enhance our kiosks with out pricey {hardware} replacements or disruptive retailer visits.
Epson’s Robotic Arm gave us the pliability we wanted, and their platform allowed us to push software program and system updates remotely, saving us each money and time.
CDU: Wanting forward, how do you envision this robotic manufacturing platform increasing into different classes like foundations, lip glosses, and even skincare merchandise?
CB: At Clean Magnificence, we frequently joke that we’re “not your common magnificence firm.” Our workplaces are full of engineers, information scientists, and chemists.
With our partnership with Epson, we are able to leverage their Robotics + Shade Applied sciences to launch new product classes quicker than most firms might even dream of.
The problem, throughout all classes, stays the identical: how can we ship a custom-made product for our prospects with the perfect components doable?
Fortunately, the pliability of Epson’s Know-how permits us to pilot new ideas and accumulate consumer suggestions shortly. It might take different manufacturers years to pilot a brand new product, however with the Clean Magnificence Shelling out System + Shade Science AI, we are able to combine and dispense nearly each liquid beauty possible.
Nail polish is just the start.
