California-based Centric Software enhances its PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) for cosmetics manufacturers, brands and distributors, and is expanding its team of sector experts.
Since entering the cosmetics and personal care sector during the Covid-19 pandemic, Centric Software has been constantly improving its Centric PLM, Centric Visual Boards and Centric Market Intelligence solutions, which enable cosmetics companies and multi-category distributors to reduce time-to-market, optimize costs and improve compliance, traceability and sustainability.
Thanks to a strong market response, Centric has almost doubled its customer list in the cosmetics and personal care sector over the past year. At the same time, the company also doubled its team of industry experts. "These specialists bring product development best practices and reinforce Centric Software's extensive experience in developing and implementing enterprise technologies for consumer goods, adding in-depth industry knowledge."the company says.
Innovations include Centric AI Formula Match: users specify product parameters and rely on Centric PLM's Formula Match functionality, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), to find suitable ingredients and existing formulas that match product specifications, providing product development scientists with suggestions for a formulation starting point.
In addition, Centric's innovation in regulatory management strengthens compliance workflows. Via Centric's "compliance cockpit", users indicate which product characteristics are to be prioritized, such as the countries in which the product will be sold. This is then used to define standards for ingredients and the levels of ingredients permitted in each country. Results can be filtered according to desired parameters, such as "vegan" or "cruelty-free" formulations. In addition, data can be extracted from anywhere in Centric PLM, or entered via the global certification body FoodChain ID, which links users to 220 global food and chemical certification libraries and databases.
"One of the improvements we've achieved is that we now have just one repository. The information is there, it's accurate to 100 % and visible to everyone at the same time. Centric helps us a lot, because we can be sure of having up-to-date, accurate costs in real time.explains Heike Linnemann, General Manager of the Kiko brand.
"PLM's unique data repository and its ability to increase efficiency, reduce the risk of error, and ensure that we meet safety and environmental standards will ultimately enable us to improve product quality and reduce time-to-market."says Giulio Pistolato, CIO at Pettenon Cosmetics.
The AI-powered Centric Market Intelligence solution scans competitor websites, extracting product attributes and prices to create benchmarks and gain an overview of the market. These reports provide insight into trends, specific bestsellers and promotional calendars.
Centric's Visual Boards enable assortment planners, buyers and merchandisers to collaborate visually in a dynamic, operational digital space rather than on flipcharts, eliminating the need to be physically present while continuing to work together in real time. Visual Boards are easy to use thanks to a beautiful user interface developed in partnership with leading luxury brands, streamlining the creative process and maintaining consistency throughout product development.
"We are delighted to share our solutions with players in the cosmetics and personal care sector. Features such as Formula Match and partnerships with companies such as FoodChain ID illustrate the advances and improvements we regularly make to our product offerings. We are customer-focused. By integrating the right people into our teams, we give ourselves the means to continue serving the companies that put their trust in Centric Software."says Ron Watson, VP Products and Head of Security at Centric Software.
