Information technology in make-up

The case of Art Cosmetics, the Bergamo-based make-up creator that is growing at a rate of 30% each year: thanks to Overlog and Tecnest’s integrated software each and every workphase is now computerised, guaranteeing more control, safety and quality.

Since 2010 Art Cosmetics has increased its turnover at a rate of 30% each year, going from 9 to 25 million euros and 40 to 140 employees. Set up in 1990 and specialised in the formulation, development, production and packaging on contract for make-up, the company has among its strongpoints the quality of the product, a leading edge, all-Italian production process and its customer service. In 2010 it hence began its two digit growth, that has led in but a few years to an increase its turnover by 155%. A leap forward that has demanded a substantial review of work processes, implemented thanks to the cooperation with Overlog (warehousing systems) and Tecnest (production and supply chain planning, control and management solutions): integrating their software has enabled Art Cosmetics to implement complete and complementary management of all production stages, and this in full respect of ISO 9001 regulations.

Prior to the “digital revolution”, Art Cosmetics managed its production and warehouse in a “paperbased” manner, a situation that was no longer sustainable with the development of the business that imposed a radical solution. Several objectives needed to be targeted: optimisation of management of production processes, implementation of full product track&trace, control of quality and processes. Marco Quotadamo, Project Manager of Tecnest, explains that to reach the intended results, Art Cosmetics digitalised all its production phases, thanks to barcodes present on all products and a some ten or so mobile positions with touchscreens accompanying production, interfaced with machines already present, such as digital scales for weighing the various ingredients. Basically, some phases were automated to make them more functional. On a technical level, Tecnest has implemented the J-Flex Process MES software solution, created for managing the production processes in the processing industry, integrated with Overlog’s WMS SLIM2k for warehouse and logistics management, thus obtaining an integrated solution enabling complete traceability and control of production and logistics.
As Giorgio Sinigagalia, head of the Overlog project underlines, the system adopted has also enabled the attainment of the full track&trace of raw materials and finished products, thus enabling an efficient control of production and posts-sales checks.