SCC CEP Pre-Show Courses: Cosmetic Chemists Guide to Product Development

This course will cover the entire process of how a new product gets created in the cosmetic industry. After taking the course you will know details of the three main phases of product development from idea creation, prototype development and commercialization.

Who Should Attend

This course will be useful for scientists, sales people and cosmetic marketers alike.  This includes formulators, quality control chemists, regulatory scientists and product development professionals. Raw material sales people will also benefit from learning all the development issues facing cosmetic formulators.

In addition, small business owners, and those developing their own cosmetics and personal care products, will gain valuable knowledge and insight concerning the complete life cycle of product development in the industry.

Note: this is an SCC NEXTGEN course.  Courses marked NEXTGEN are primarily geared toward young professionals, students and those who are new to or looking for a refresher on certain topics.

Course Outline

This course is divided into three primary segments:

1. Ideation – In this section you will learn various ways in which ideas for new products are generated and how they are converted to descriptions used by Research and Development for turning them into real world products.

This section will cover:

• Market research
• Consumer research and insights
• Idea synthesis
• Using open innovation to find solutions
• Technology transfer from universities
• Partnering with suppliers
• How ideas are filtered & refined

2. Development – In this section you will learn how to convert ideas into working prototypes, the types of tests needed to demonstrate safety and effectiveness, and everything involved with realizing a commercial prototype.

Specific topics covered will be:

• Developing a product description from an idea
• Generating & Finding starting formulas
• Techniques for creating prototypes
• How to test and refine prototypes
• Working with different packing materials
• Steps involved in developing product claims

3. Commercialization – In this section you will discover how lab formulations are turned into full production scale batches and how to deal with the challenges that may develop. Also, the required paperwork you need to generate will be described.

This section will cover:

• Process engineering and formula scale up
• Dealing with issues that arise during production
• Setting product specifications
• Regulatory issues and developing product dossiers

Perry Romanowski is the Vice President of Element 44 Inc, which is a cosmetic science consulting firm specializing in instructing people how to formulate cosmetics. Additionally, he runs a popular website ChemistsCorner.com which focuses on topics useful to cosmetic chemists.  He has numerous publications to his credit including Beginning Cosmetic Chemistry.  He earned a degree in Chemistry from DePaul University and also studied Biochemistry. He is an active member of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists and was formerly the President of the national SCC.