Revolutionizing Personalized Skincare:
Is there a potential for Additive Manufacturing in Skin care Production?

A couple of days ago, I bumped into a very interesting article regarding a new approach in the skincare industry. By digging up a little bit more, it became clear that the skincare industry is undergoing a transformative shift toward personalization, driven by the desire for tailored solutions that meet individual needs. At the forefront of this evolution are advanced robotic systems capable of synthesizing or producing skincare products in batch sizes of one. A kind of system, as highlighted in the recent PackWorld article, demonstrates remarkable efficiency and precision in filling, mixing, and capping personalized skincare product containers.

However, as consumer demands grow more complex, so too does the need for innovation in every aspect of the production process. From my standpoint, one promising avenue lies in additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing. By enabling the creation of customized container caps embedded with unique prescription data, AM can redefine the personalization process. Imagine caps that not only seal the product but also serve as a data conduit, instructing robotic systems on the exact formulation required for each individual.

This article was written to demonstrate how the integration of additive manufacturing in a single step can elevate personalized skincare production, offering new possibilities for efficiency, customization, and seamless integration with robotic and AI-based technologies.

The Current Process: An Overview

Personalized skincare is no longer a niche but a growing market segment. Robotic systems are instrumental in addressing the demand for customized solutions. According to SmartSKN, these systems handle orders individually with impressive precision, seamlessly mixing and filling skincare products before securing them with standard caps. This approach minimizes waste, optimizes resources, and ensures the exact specifications for each customer. A brilliant idea and implementation I could add!

Despite the success of this system, opportunities for further refinement exist. The reliance on standard caps and separate packaging labels for prescription details leaves room for errors, inefficiencies, and longer production lines. This is where additive manufacturing enters the scene.

The Opportunity for Additive Manufacturing

The core of Additive manufacturing technologies offers the unique ability to create highly complex customized parts on demand, making it ideal for personalized production. In the context of this skincare application, AM could produce container caps tailored to each order.

These caps could include embedded data in various forms, such as:

• QR codes or barcodes for optical scanning.
• NFC or RFID tags for digital data transmission.
• Engraved or embossed text for manual readability.

By integrating prescription data directly into the cap, manufacturers could eliminate the need for separate labeling or packaging. In this new concept, the robotic systems would simply scan the cap to retrieve the customer’s formula, ensuring an accurate and streamlined production process.

Benefits of Integrating Additive Manufacturing

Anyone would argue that AM in this particular process would be worthless, misuse the technology, introduce unnecessary costs, overcomplicate, or even have minimum impact on the process. But, in reality, the long- and short-term benefits are able to offer unparalleled differentiation and greatly improve customer satisfaction in addition to the company’s business goals. To verify that, the benefits are separated into two major categories based on the most added value to the respective category.

For the Company

1. Design Flexibility: AM allows for rapid production and iteration, enabling seamless adjustments to cap designs. The company eliminates the need for changing tooling, providers, molds, logistics, and processes every time a new requirement or change is forced from regulation authorities, packaging providers, or even per customers’ requests.
2. Cost Efficiency: Producing caps on demand reduces the need for large inventories of standard parts. Enables the company to maintain only an inventory of bottles that (for the time being) require significantly more time to be produced according to the Health and Safety protocols. Additionally, removing the need for caps’ inventory and considering the design flexibility, unlocks another milestone in the production. Allows the company to purchase bottles from the cheaper producer without considering threading, physical characteristics of the bottle’s mouth, or even the homogeneity of bottles within the same order. So, the procurement team can pick the best price and quality.
3. Enhanced Automation: Robotic systems can seamlessly integrate the AM-produced caps, eliminating production errors. Creating an error-free fully customizable production line anywhere with minimum supervision.

For Consumers

1. Personalized Experience: Custom caps enhance the user experience, reinforcing the brand’s commitment to personalization. In long-term plans, the customer will be able to ask for different sizes or shapes or content of their packaging caps based on the product to facilitate the identification of their product.
2. Accuracy and Transparency: Embedded prescription data ensures the final product matches the customer’s unique requirements. Can be fully tracked throughout the journey of the product, from the purchase order of the bottle, the date of the included skincare products up to the date for recycling.
3. Sustainability: On-demand production minimizes material waste and reduces environmental impact. The use of customized caps can generate endless sustainable solutions for the customer. As an example, using these customized AM caps, the customer will be able to get to a machine and refill the bottle with the same skincare product, avoiding waiting in lines or having to go for additional prescriptions. By counting the number of refills, it would be easier for the physician and the patient to acquire their prescriptions based on the physician’s number of issued refills, or even assign new bottles when the number of refills is required to proceed with recycling. Then, a whole ecosystem can be built around the customer’s satisfaction.

Technical Considerations

To successfully implement AM for cap production, a manufacturer or skincare company must address several key factors:

• Material Selection: Caps must be made from biocompatible materials like PP, PE, or PET that meet regulatory standards for skincare products and possess the required physical requirements.
• Code Readability: Embedded data must be easily scannable by existing robotic systems without requiring major upgrades. That means smart product coding must ensure optical and electronic readability.
• Scalability: While AM is excellent for small batches, the need for appropriate technical personnel can ensure scalability for higher volumes.

These considerations highlight the importance of collaboration between the technical, R&D, and business departments of the company in implementing such an AM solution effectively.

Case Study Example

Imagine a consumer ordering a customized skincare product through an online platform or a mobile device. Upon finalizing the order, the system generates a prescription that includes detailed information about the formulation and its history, patient, etc. Using additive manufacturing, a personalized cap is printed with this prescription embedded as a QR code.

In the production facility, robotic systems scan the cap to access the formulation details. The robots then mix the precise ingredients, fill the container, and secure the customized cap. The customer receives his personalized skincare product. Then, after using it head over to the local production store and insert the cap in the system. The robotic systems repeat their process and refill the bottle (or a new one) with the exact prescribed skincare product. This process not only ensures accuracy but also creates a seamless and efficient production flow. At the same time, customer satisfaction has skyrocketed.

Future Implications

This potential of additive manufacturing in personalized production extends beyond skin care. Similar approaches could revolutionize industries like pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and even food production, where customization is becoming a key differentiator. Additionally, Additive Manufacturing can contribute to sustainability by reducing material waste and supporting local on-demand production.

Conclusion

This combination of robotics and additive manufacturing represents a powerful synergy for the personalized skincare industry. By integrating custom caps embedded with prescription data, manufacturers can enhance precision, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. As the demand for personalization continues to grow, adopting innovative technologies like AM will be essential for staying ahead in this competitive market. Additive manufacturing isn’t just a tool for creating products; it’s a gateway to unlocking new possibilities in manufacturing transformation. It’s time for the industry to embrace this innovation and take personalization to the next level.

With over nine years of experience in additive manufacturing and a proven track record in consulting for diverse industries, I can guide businesses in unlocking the full potential of this transformative technology. Whether you’re exploring AM for personalized production, optimizing your manufacturing processes, or integrating it into existing systems, I offer the expertise to help you navigate challenges and achieve sustainable success.

Book a free consultation meeting and let’s work together to harness the capabilities of additive manufacturing and elevate your business to the next level.