Visualize your distribution channels as a puzzle. How does the puzzle look to you? Is there one lonely piece? Are there ten pieces not fitting together – website, on-line beauty store, brick & mortar, boutique, spa, etc.? We, CoValence, understand that you have a very difficult job – finding the best distribution pieces that fit your business plan. You can count on us to provide outstanding customer service and ingenious product ideas, in order for you to focus on expanding and successfully interlocking your perfect distribution puzzle.

Melinda Wochner
COO / VP of Marketing

Less than two years ago CoValence implemented a new ERP system that converted a discrete manufacturing database into a system designed specifically for the process manufacturer.  A discrete ERP system is designed to assemble “parts” to create a unit of 1 each.  However, we essentially sell formulas, which are a mixed relationship of ingredients that are brought together with a process.  We then fill our formulations into multiple types of finished goods.   Because the old system wasn’t able to fluidly work with our formulas and bill of materials, many side databases in applications such as Word and Excel had to be maintained in order for us to function in our day to day operations.  While the implementation of the new software was painful and at times appeared to be creating more work than it was saving, we can now “discretely” define the improvements to our company’s operating procedures.

The structure of our old system was inflexible and unforgiving, while the new system gives CoValence more control to comfortably define our manufacturing processes accurately.  We have perfected our weights to gallons, so now when a filling batch is created, we know exactly how much bulk product is needed for that Sales Order to be made.  It saves on time calculating each item that needs to be filled which is also more accurate than our employees doing it on a calculator and making a mistake.  Also, the new system shows exactly what ingredients or parts we are running low or critical on, whereas the old system didn’t show us this information at all. 

For the Marketing Department, immediate benefits were not straightforwardly seen, as the out-of-the-box software was tailored to the manufacturing side.  One of our most intensive projects when we initially went live was the INCI Customization created specifically for CoValence.  Historically, when a product was approved for production, the Marketing Department had to create INCI listings manually, which took about 30-40 minutes to create and at 5-20 listings a week, this was an average of 30 hours collectively for this department.  The INCI reports are a favorite of the Account Executives, because it saves so much time.  Prior to this they had to manually create our INCI listings using an Excel Spreadsheet to look up the ingredient and the corresponding INCI name and other information.  Now when a formula is approved, they can just run a report.

Our Shipping Department’s daily processes have also seen improvement with another adaptation created just for them, the Back Order Customization.  Our Shipping Clerks just run a report and the day’s backorders are printed which are then handed back to the Manufacturing Department.  Prior to this they had to look at the day’s shipping records manually, and reprint each order one by one.  Maintaining orders is a bit more intensive but from an inventory standpoint it is much clearer what is shipping, so mistakes are down to a minimum.

CoValence as a company is ingrained with a work culture that promotes it’s employees to always strive to improve our processes and overcome any limitations presented by our day to day operations – the ERP implementation and continued exploration of the potentials within our new software is an example of this dedication to delivering the best products and services possible.

One of the main objectives CoValence had in establishing our own Regulatory Department in 2007 was to help our clients succeed in exporting to countries around the world. The biggest obstacle for many of our clients has been adapting their products to meet the EU requirements, which has established many of the industry standards in cosmetic regulations.

Over the past few years many of our clients have endured a number of changes so their products can be sold in the EU. Naturally we were curious to see what changes were in store when they announced the Recast of the Cosmetic Legislation last November. The official statement as to the goal of the recast states:

“This regulation aims at simplifying procedures and streamlining terminology, thereby reducing administrative burden and ambiguities. Moreover, it strengthens certain elements of the regulatory framework for cosmetics, such as in-market control, with a view to ensuring a high level of protection of human health. It simplifies the rules and procedures for the marketing and safety of cosmetics.”

What does this mean to you, our clients? In most cases the changes will be unnoticeable from your product standpoint. Here are some of the key changes you should be aware of in the recast of the legislation:

Strengthening In-Market Control: It creates a single notification system that will replace various national procedures – this will simplify your registrations. It also adds market surveillance provisions between authorities which will help in overall product safety and responsibility.

Common Criteria for Product Claims: Only the real effect of a product can be mentioned on a label – it should be noted this is a work in process.

Strict Treatment of CMR Substances:  Basically a stronger enforcement of prohibited substances for cosmetics.

Nanomaterials:  They are introducing strict measures for products with Nanomaterials that will include a compulsory notification, assessment and labeling of any product that has Nanomaterials present. This controversial issue is sure to be debated during the coming years.

These are just the main points, obviously there is much more to the text. If you have any questions on this or any other regulatory issue please bring it to our attention.

February 18, 2010 

Interested in Selling Your Cosmetics Products in Canada?

Join the U.S. Commercial Service in Canada’s Cosmetics Virtual Exhibition for U.S. cosmetics companies from January 19 to February 18, 2010!  This event is a unique opportunity for U.S. companies to gain market exposure in Canada, promote your products to Canadian distributors, and learn about how to get your products to market in Canada and Quebec.

How to Sell Your Products in Canada On-line Seminar (February 18)

• Canadian Cosmetics Regulations You Need to Know About
• Canadian Border Services Agency Services for U.S. Cosmetics Exporters
• Selling and Distributing Your Products in Quebec

Virtual Exhibition (January 19- February 18)

• Feature your products on our website – We will advertise your company to all Canadian cosmetics and skin care agents/distributors
• Receive a customized reports with sales leads generated

Registration deadline:  January 15, 2010

Participation Fee:  $475

Click here to register.

Register today and expand your sales to Canada!

This last year, our industry divided like never before between the natural, organic movement  and science-driven technologies with buzz words like, mitochondria, telomeres and stem cells.  As 2009 comes to an end, we bring you the top 10 hottest ingredients or trends of 2009.

10. Zemea® (Propanediol) made headlines from cosmetic industry magazines to beauty magazines this year as a corn-derived alternative to Propylene Glycol. Then it went on to receive the much coveted ECOCERT seal.

9. Resveratrol has been around for years as a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, but in 2009 got new buzz as an activator of sirtuins, increasing cell life.

8. Japanese Honeysuckle as a broad spectrum preservative. C’mon, how many preservatives sound this pretty?

7. With HQ’s future still hanging in the balance, Nonapeptide-1 came on the scene as the first peptide that lightens skin and prevents further hyperpigmentation. We welcome all brigheners!

6. Superfruits. Why do we have to pick one? They have been around for a few years now but are not losing steam. Acai and blueberry and cranberry, Oh my! Camu camu and goji and mangosteen, Galore!

5. Perflurocarbons found their way into mainstream skin care from their medical beginnings as liquid blood (yes, that’s right, liquid blood) to combat wrinkles and offer an alternative to Botox.

4. With the 2009 Nobel Prize of Physiology being awarded for telomere research, Renovage™ (Teprenone) has to make the list for stabilizing telomere shortening and increasing cell life by 1/3.

3. Eyelash Lengthening became one of the hottest topics after the prescription Latisse® hit the market.  Myristoyl Pentapeptide-17 was developed as a non-prescription alternative, promising 25% increase in lash length and volume within two weeks.

2. Organic. This was the year that launched 1000 organic brands! We have yet to get a clear and legal definition what that means…….

1.  Apple Stem Cells, by far, made the most headlines in 2009, and we understand why! Cutting edge technology isolated and cultured a rare apple’s stem cells that stimulate our own skin’s stem cells combating aging and wrinkles. Very, very futuristic.

Cheria is one of the most talented Cosmeceutical product developers in the industry – which is why she is in charge of CoValence’s Product Development Team and Training. Her new credentials combined with her years of experience developing some of the best products on the market solidify what we  have known about Cheria since she started with CoValence – she strives to be the best!

CoValence is proud to announce that one of Cheria’s cosmetic science essays is being entered into the SPC (Soap, Perfumery & Cosmetics) magazine and website essay contest. Be sure to check back for a link to the article in a future blog post.

The Holidays are upon us, which means many trips to the malls as well as hours on the computer trying to find the perfect gift for someone close to you. It is also the season of caring and giving to ones that are less fortunate than our selves. Or is it? Is the season of caring a couple months out of the year or never ending? For many of us at CoValence, ‘caring’ does not stop in December, and we hope the same is true for you. A few of our Caring Ambassadors are listed on the We Care page.

There are countless ways to show that you care for others. How do you show it? Do you donate money? Time? Food? A combination? No matter how you show that you care, it is extremely important to our world that you show it.

A quote from an American cultural anthropologist, Margaret Mead (12.16.01 – 11.15.78), puts the act of caring into perspective – “Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed that’s all who ever had.”

Care and Change the World!

Melinda

One of the main focuses of the manufacturing department is to find the most effective processes to comply with FDA Regulations and current Good Manufacturing Practices.  We need to know what we’re doing right and wrong and, based on that information, implement Standard Operating Procedures to increase our compliance levels. This is a constant focus as every 2 – 3 years an FDA inspector arrives unannounced and delivers a Form 482 Notice of Inspection.

It is during these inspections that the culmination of these efforts are highlighted.  The first part of an inspection is usually a tour of the building from Receiving through Shipping while describing our cGMP’s throughout the tour.  It’s quite grueling to walk the entire floor describing each aspect from Receiving & QC, Ingredient Storage & Retrieval, Manufacturing & QC, Filling & QC and finally Shipping.  Once this is completed the FDA inspector has an idea of the areas he will wanted to focus on for his inspection.  We will go over a few Batch Cards from our OTC products manufactured in the past year, and over a wide variety of Standard Operating Procedures.  Documentation, Documentation, Documentation! It’s interesting that we can start with a batch card and be expected to show anything from a Certificate of Analysis, or other receiving documentation on an ingredient, to testing results for the finished product and training records for the mixer who produced the product.

These inspections not only help teach us how to improve our cGMP’s for our OTC manufacturing, which naturally spill over to the cosmetic manufacturing processes by necessity, they also ensure that an outside auditing source sets a high standard for our manufacturing facility that cannot be compromised.

To Our Client Owners, Founders, Managers and Dedicated Staff:

CoValence Laboratories (aka: CoValence) weathered our 2008-2009 fiscal year reasonably well despite the economic challenges that accelerated across the world economies. As in the past, we attribute this to our client brands continued leadership in their markets, and the results-focused products we continue to conceptualize, manufacture and deliver to them. Consumers can pull back from spending on skin care for many reasons, but they hold onto products that work for them which continue to be indicative of our clients’ positive sales.

Like every company in this last year, we are carefully watching our expenditures, credit extensions, cash flow and risk management decisions in all areas. We want to assure you that we will continue to be a financially sound company at present and into the future. This is one piece that does not need to be of concern to you—as you manage your own companies.

Even though we continue to increase our batch sizes, we have considerable manufacturing growth capacity. We are also dynamically building our product development capability — New platforms include hair and body, as well as our standard development of OTC formulas such as acne and sun care. In addition to our product development, we are most excited about the building of our ingredient Intellectual Property. All of these modalities reflect decades of development and offer a competitive advantage for our clients.

Our Global Regulations Department is a vital addition to the many ways we support our clients. The ability to be globally compliant is a necessity for any brand that is directed towards growth. Global regulations, organic/green trends and mass market competition are all issues we are keenly aware of as well as their direct impact on our clients. Therefore, decisions during the product development stage are decided based on the knowledge we have in regards to industry and global imperatives.

We understand the complexity of building a successful brand which is why CoValence is committed to remain a strong company and to implement the capabilities our clients need to grow without limits. The entire CoValence staff personally and professionally stands behind, promotes and protects the commitment to supporting our clients’ success.

Linda Walker
CEO / President / Owner *

* CoValence employees are owner partners with Linda Walker through an ESOP.

RECENT IMPLEMENTATIONS

We have always strived to improve in all areas of service and manufacturing processes for our clients. After last year’s economic downturn, we put all service and logistical analysis on the fast track. The following information will give you a snapshot into how our improvements directly benefit our clients’ businesses.

BATCH ANALYSIS: Our new batching strategy has helped our clients reduce their product cost, in addition to reducing lead times from 6 – 8 weeks to 2 – 4 weeks.

CERTIFICATIONS: We are on pace to receive our NOP and ECOCERT certifications by Q3-2010.

REGULATIONS: We have improved and streamlined our global regulation processes in order to put our clients on a faster track in the EU, as well as countries of their choosing. We continue to attend PCPC, FDA and national legislation meetings as well as on-line webinars to stay abreast to all of the on-going regulatory changes.

EQUIPMENT: In order to keep up with our clients’ proactive marketing and sales initiatives, we utilize the following equipment throughout our manufacturing and filling processes: Groen mixing vessels, Microfluidics homogenizers, Kalix carton and REB and Norden filling machines.

DEVELOPMENT: Our Account Executives continue to be trained through our internal Development Boot Camp program, learning about ingredients and how to combine ingredients that effectively fulfill the product requests of our clients.

INGREDIENT and CONCEPT TRENDS

One of our most unique qualities is our attention to ingredients – past, current, trends and I.P.

SUSTAINABILITY: We continue to expand our organic, natural and green ingredient offerings. In 1996, we were the first skin care manufacturer to introduce the natural and green concept of Chirality – a decade before sustainability became a standard.

COSMECEUTICAL and PROFESSIONAL: Our Account Executives, Regulatory, R&D and QC Departments work around the clock to make sure that all of the products we develop fit within the client’s philosophy as well as national and international regulations. Through our News-Wire, Facebook and Twitter blogs we are diligently teaching the importance of ingredients as well as how one can decipher between professional and pro-mimic products. These processes are not easy, but we are experts at hitting the desired target.

NATURAL BRIGHTENING and ANTI-AGE PRODUCTS: We consider ourselves the ‘Brightening’ Experts due to our vast history working with natural brighteners, such as Kojic Acid in 1991. We were the first to create a unique lightening/anti-age complex that included Kojic Acid blended with Hydroquinone, along with other brighteners and AHAs.

PLANT STEM CELLS: The interest of Plant Stem Cells will continue to increase, complimenting the rise of peptides the last few years. Notably, our Plant Stem Cells-6 ™ Series, launching Q1-2010, will rival anything that is currently on the market.

CLOSE TO OUR HEARTS: ‘Heart’ ingredients are the purified core that carries the key component of a botanical. We have developed products around heart ingredients for years and we strongly feel that consumers will start demanding products with heart ingredients as they become savvy to the botanical and nutrient benefits.

CoVALENCE I.P.: In order for a skin care brand to be successful in the future, their attention must be focused on the ingredients. Meaning — How do the ingredients look to a consumer? Do the products contain unique ingredients that demand a higher price? How does a brand create a niche concept if their lab solely uses single ingredients that their competitors use? — As a lab that focuses on our clients’ needs, we have concluded that it is our obligation to create unique concept blends as well as our own ingredients that are utilized in our clients’ products. We have a number of ingredient projects in the works and it would be our pleasure to discuss these projects on an individual basis with our clients.

SKIN CARE MANUFACTURING PERSPECTIVE

Over the past 3 – 4 years, there has been a rapid convergence of several factors that have substantially implicated the raw ingredient industry and therefore the very nature of the skin care industry itself. Manufacturers and brands have, in turn, been affected.

These factors have imposed change and some fragmentation amidst the ingredient industry leading to more competition, mergers and buy-outs. As a consequence, CoValence has had no choice but to absorb and manage this evolution of the vendors’ decisions and practices. While some changes have proven beneficial, others have presented complex navigational issues that markedly impacted aspects of our manufacturing, as well as the skin care industry as a whole. The following information briefly illustrates these key factors.

INGREDIENT VENDORS and MASS MARKET vs. PRO BRANDS
Up until a few years ago, ingredient vendors promoted novel therapeutic ingredients, such as peptides, primarily to professional brands. Since mass market brands were not capitalizing on professional ingredients, ingredient pricing and minimums were favorable to the smaller-scale professional manufacturer. But over the last few years, mass market brands (ex: Olay ®) have shifted to mimicking professional brands, and thus have put a greater demand on professional ingredient supplies. While one would think this evolvement would lower ingredient pricing, the result has been the opposite – many ingredients have reached a premium, with pricing and minimums skewed to favor the consumption of mass manufacturers. As we have built good supplier relationships, we are still able to help our clients be competitive in the professional arena. However, ingredient costs and minimums will continue to have pressure from factors separate from the economy, including the following discussion points.

INGREDIENT VENDORS vs. GREEN MOVEMENT and NATURAL/ORGANIC MANUFACTURING
The demand for natural and organic ingredients has escalated exponentially over the past few years, as have the certification groups vying to have their stamp on natural/organic products— NOP, ECOCERT and numerous others. This has put an immense strain on availability – natural and organic ingredients have a finite supply and are reliant on consistent sustainability. Additionally, mass market brands are going the green route, adding stress to the supply. As a result, these ingredients have volatile pricing – costs will rollercoaster between harvests, seasons and manufacturing needs. There is immense pressure on ingredient vendors to keep up with demands and to create or source new innovative ingredients. Manufacturers, in turn, must do their best to adapt to the fluctuations in the natural and organic ingredient market – as fallout from the recent trends, keeping costs and supplies level and predictable for our clients has become exceedingly difficult.

INGREDIENT VENDORS vs. GLOBAL REGULATIONS
Recent global regulations (ex: EU) have put an enormous strain on ingredient production and availability. Due to the required transparency of raw ingredient formulas in export documentation, ingredient vendors have been forced to disclose proprietary details. Some ingredients have been denied export – as a result in some instances, ingredient vendors have chosen to discontinue ingredients. Some ingredient vendors have denied us paperwork, forcing us to discontinue an ingredient

Due to global regulations, ingredient vendors have had to reformulate some ingredients in order to get them approved for export, as well as supply far larger amounts of paperwork than in the past. These costs are passed to manufacturers. Another factor to keep in mind for the near future is the potential impact of REACH on ingredient vendors. REACH is a new EU regulation on chemicals and their safe use. If all goes according to plan, this has the potential to reshape the structure of raw material suppliers due to the enormous registration costs involved. There could be some additional shake-out of suppliers from this initiative, but thankfully, these issues have calmed down as the economy weakened the last year.

Unfortunately, we do not have control over ingredient vendors’ decisions or global trends. However, we do have control over our reaction to these changes. Therefore, rest assured, if for any reason an ingredient is removed from our offering we will immediately start researching viable replacements or alternatives, with the least amount of struggle for our clients. After some experience with these ingredient fluctuations, we have pleasantly found most replacements or alternatives have proven to be far more beneficial for the end product and in turn better for our clients’ brands.

The science of today is the technology of tomorrow. In fact no one day is the same as any other in R&D: We may be working with academics from a scientific background or with beauty experts or advancing in our research in the laboratory to formulate modern desirable skin care preparations using the latest techniques and materials. We are always challenging, updating and upgrading our formulas; always striving to create products that deliver stellar performances. CoValence Laboratories helps you listen to your skin and helps you restore and maintain the intrinsic beauty of your skin with our updated skin care technology. Our product pipeline is diverse and changes over time as new molecules progress from discovery to development and ultimately to approval where they become available to customers.

Our Research and Development Group works in areas like new peptide development, utilizing new ayurvedic botanicals and beneficial recombinant proteins in skin care formulations. We are also developing a new line of skin care products for enhanced skin physiological function, for example Mitoprotect^TM. Our newly developed skin care formulation is tested with the advanced technology VISIA® Complexion Analysis and different skin testing probes i.e., Corneometer, Cutometer, Reviscometer, Skin-Thermometer, and TEWAmeter for meaningful skin evaluations and the skin care treatment progress.

To learn more about our new products visit us at the HBA Global Expo in New York City on September 15th, 16th and 17th in booth #2112 or contact your Account Executive.