Fraunhofer IPA
Personalized skin cream from the mini factory
Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA) have developed a mini-factory that enables them to produce personalized skin cream directly at the point of sale in a cost-effective way. It is already in use in three Douglas stores.
It is a social megatrend: for years, industry has had to manufacture in ever smaller quantities and at the same time produce products with a greater range of variants. The end point of this development is 'mass personalization' - the mass production of personalized products. This poses problems for the process industry, which manufactures pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, among other things. This is because many different extrinsic and intrinsic factors have an effect on the skin alone: The former include UV radiation, eating and drinking habits, sleeping habits, season and stress, while the latter include hormonal balance and genes. They all influence how oily, moist or dry our skin is.
The Fraunhofer researchers have therefore concluded that there cannot be one skin cream that helps everyone all over the world and in every life situation equally. Viktor Balzer and his team at Fraunhofer IPA have now developed a system that makes it possible to produce personalized skin cream economically.
At the beginning of March 2018, Balzer and Lars Rüther, Head of Research and Development at Dermatest, set up their own start-up Skinmade GmbH. Their mini factory is now in use in three Douglas stores: the flagship store in Frankfurt's Zeil shopping street, the Douglas PRO concept store in Hamburg-Eppendorf and Breuningerland in Sindelfingen near Stuttgart.
But that is not the end of the story. Balzer's aim is for Skinmade to soon be represented in other Douglas stores. Beyond that, however, he sees a much brighter future in online retail: "Our customers will then simply measure their skin condition in the stores and have their cream sent to them." It can be even more convenient: Skinmade is currently developing a mini skin measuring device with a corresponding app for use at home. Then customers won't even have to leave the house to buy their personalized skin cream. It should be ready by mid-2019.
You might also be interested in
The personalized skin cream at the touch of a button
Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA have developed a mini-factory with which they can produce personalized skin cream economically directly at the point of sale.
read more...Robotics Institute Germany co-founded
Fraunhofer IPA is a co-founder of the Robotics Institute Germany, which aims to bundle Germany's cutting-edge research into AI-based robotics.
read more..."Manufacturing-X data room preliminary study" presented
Manufacturing-X is seen as the next step on the road to Industry 4.0, but how could a data room be designed for the data ecosystem? A study presented by VDMA and ZVEI gets to the bottom of this question.
read more...How companies use data for product development
Where do companies stand when it comes to collecting data from products and using it to develop new products? Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA have investigated this in a study.
read more...Fraunhofer project determines properties of coatings virtually
In the "PaintVisco" project, researchers at Fraunhofer IPA are modeling the development and processing of paints. The bat was the model for the development of a new simulation program that can be used to virtually determine the exact properties of...
read more...The digital value stream analysis
A research team from Fraunhofer IPA is digitizing value stream analysis together with the Stuttgart-based software provider Ifakt. This should enable this optimization method to be carried out in the future with significantly less effort and almost...
read more...The top articles in January 2022
Obstacles and opportunities characterize the top 10 most-read articles in January. Click through the obstacles in companies and find out what opportunities the year 2022 has in store.
read more...Intelligent sensor detects leaks
To simplify the search for leaks in compressed air systems, a researcher from Fraunhofer IPA is working with Sick to develop an additional leakage service for an intelligent flow sensor. Self-learning algorithms evaluate the measurement data.
read more...Improved safety for service robots
In the S³ research project, researchers from Fraunhofer IPA worked with project partners to develop safety technologies and recognition algorithms for service robots. They were tested on the Care-O-bot 4 service robot in a nursing home application.
read more...