Spotlight
Emmanuelle Delage from our Innopack division talks about how she leads the team to incubate innovative packaging solutions for our beauty customers both big and small through collaborative ideation, rapid prototyping, and constant testing and learning.
- Tell us a little about what you and your team do?
I manage the Innopack team, which is part of the Packaging Solutions Engineering & Innovation Department. Our team focuses on doing research and development, sometimes in collaboration with brands to co-develop, to find innovative and customisable packaging solutions that will empower customers to enrich their brands and product offerings. We incubate new technologies from both within and outside the beauty industry. For the last two years, we have been especially focusing our efforts on sustainable packaging solutions, allowing our customers to maintain their brand identities and, at the same time, reduce environmental impact through accessible eco-friendly options.
With a wide range of packaging IPs already under our belt, we continue to innovate – using market intelligence to fuel new ideas based on consumer needs and trends. Our new concepts are, among others, showcased to customers during our MEIYUME CREATIVE DAYS, which are held in our Commercial Offices such as Paris every year.
2. Can you walk us through the concept to commercialisation process?
We have a collaborative innovation process that leverages technical expertise within the Engineering team, market trends, and design knowledge.
We use our IDEA.LAB at the concept development stage to brainstorm and foster cross-team ideation. Next, we use the MAKER.LAB to prototype, iterate and test our ideas. To do this, we first build a technical concept using rapid prototyping. This allows us to iterate quickly and improve the concept up to the industrial feasibility stage. Users tests are part of this process and because most of our team sit in Hong Kong, our colleagues there are always our first testers!
MAKER.LAB is also a great resource for us to be able to print 3D models of our concepts and experiment, test fast, fail and learn fast. Once feasibility, design and functionality are all validated, we then move into the industrial stage. We are building unit tools to show samples to our customers, gather their feedback, and validate feasibility for mass production.
As with all new technological developments, it can be a long process that involves multiple trials and errors. The final step of the concept to commercialisation process is building marketing material and cost studies to equip our sales team with all the information they need to present our new concepts to customers.
IDEA.LAB
Brainstorm, cross-team ideation
MAKER.LAB
Prototype, iterate, test
3. What are some interesting projects that you are working on? What synergy do you see between these projects with recent trends?
We are currently focusing our work on sustainable packaging as part of the strategy and effort to help reduce the environmental impact of the beauty industry. It is exciting to be working in this area as we find new solutions to enable brands to go green. We started this journey 18 months ago, working on materials, eco-design and recyclability. We now have 4 patents and a number of new exciting concepts in the making!
We also keep a close pulse on the current environment to build solutions that matches market needs. For example, most recently we have launched a range of touchless packaging and applicators for hygienic beauty regimens at home, as the pandemic has expanded DIY trends for those staying inside. Our Gemstone Facial Wand lets users apply skincare without having to dip their fingers into the product and contaminate the rest of the formulation.
We are also now working on a new generation of recyclable packaging solutions, including an anti-microbial Revitalizing Cool Lift massager made of 100% aluminium that you can just easily recycle along with your usual metal cans.
Stay tuned and keep an eye out on this space for our new developments!