Premium Beauty News - From the outside, it seems like a impetus was given to the company these last three years. It started with the acquisition of Dr. Scheller Cosmetics which enabled you to set foot in the full service activity, and then there was the development of a highly innovative powder pressing machine, and finally your decision to establish a new plant in China and move into a new and bigger factory in the United States!
Thomas Weckerle - This cannot be denied... Our group has certainly taken a new dimension since 2009. Certainly a turning point to both, more strongly settle our legitimacy as manufacturer of high performance machines for the production of lipstick and with the development of the multi-layer technologies and our innovation capacity through the development of a series of brand new machines including one for pressed powders. We have achieved our goals on both points, since in both cases, our "machine" activity has continued to strengthen and we are already working on other techniques that we had actually also developed two decades ago like the liquid filling of powders.
Premium Beauty News - But currently the "machine" activity more or less, only accounts for a relatively small share of Weckerle’s overall activity.
Thomas Weckerle - Yes, but it still is very important! I often say that it represents the "heart" of Weckerle and that the other activities represent the other parts of the "body" of the company. And you know ... without the "heart!"
Especially since it is with the know-how acquired in the manufacture of machines that we can claim a real legitimacy in the cosmetic sector in general. One example, the development of multilayer lipsticks which really relaunched this product. Our customers want more performance and speed. One drawback to this "machine" activity, is to find technicians and engineers who identify themselves with cosmetic products, which is key to develop cosmetic products.
Take the full service activity... The take over of Dr Scheller Cosmetics in 2009 might have appeared as a risky gamble. Three years later, we have integrated the factory with all its “know how” in the group. This “know how” is now available to all our customers around the world. We are using our proprietary technologies to develop innovative product lines and our customers are very satisfied. And then speaking of full service, you are well placed to know, it is a "heavy" trend.
Concerning the "pencil" activity, it remains extremely strong and we are continuing to invest in this area.
Premium Beauty News - The strengthening of your positions abroad has also been a major growth driver!
Thomas Weckerle - Undoubtedly yes! Even though sometimes this growth is not quite the one we expected. In China, for example, the market of colour cosmetics is not growing as fast as we would have thought. In South America, on the contrary, growth is strong. As for Russia, our activities are growing much faster than the rest of the group.
Premium Beauty News - Innovation remains a key growth driver on the market of colour cosmetics?
Thomas Weckerle - Our customers want innovation. Our business is therefore entirely focused on innovation. We are not only concentrating at the finished product, we are also innovating in the process to produce the product. This has been the one driving us since the creation of Weckerle by Peter Weckerle in a small garage of Peissenberg. Now Weckerle has grown into a major corporate force with their own laboratory facilities, in-house plastic moulding, packaging design team, and Global Marketing Bureau, providing the world’s leading brands with the entire spectrum of high quality products they can trust for years to come. For the future, Thomas Weckerle proudly continues the legacy his father began over 30 years ago—staying true to the Weckerle motto: innovation never ends.
