Univar Solutions: Ingredients, innovations and technology trends taking shape in 2024
22 Jan 2024 | Univar Solutions
Personal Care Insights checks in with Julie Carnes, director of supplier management for Beauty and Personal Care at Univar Solutions to learn about the key trends shaping up this year. We dive deep into ingredient innovations and find out how the company is navigating supply chain management issues and a higher cost environment to deliver top products to its partners.
Julie Carnes, thank you so much for joining us on Personal Care Insights, for our viewers and our readers.
I should tell them, you are the director of supplier management for beauty and personal care at Univar Solutions.
Welcome.
Thank you for having me, Anita.
I'm excited.
You bet.
Me too.
Julie, we had a previous discussion.
You're, you're just full of so much great information.
Sustainability, a huge buzzword, right?
We saw it last year, and it looks like this is a trend that is going to remain strong this year as.
Your thoughts?
Yes, we, we, we have not seen a slowdown.
Sustainability is so key for all of our customers.
And the way Univar really looks at sustainability is, is in three pillars.
We're looking at a holistic approach to meeting our own and our customers' ESG goals.
We're really prioritizing innovation around sustainable ingredients and sustainable packaging and everything in that space as as providing our customers and the industry more clarity and transparency around what they're putting in the products.
OK, and that leads me , when we talk about sustainability, that leads me right to biotech, another huge term, that we've seen just growing in importance.
It's everywhere.
Tell us what Universe Solutions is doing in this regard.
I understand, you recently had a big announcement here.
Right.
Absolutely, yes.
So we just did an announcement, of a partnership that we have with Ederma IDderma Labs.
Iderma is a provider of functional, biotech and sustainable ingredients.
We're excited because it's, it's one in a host of many.
Ingredient innovations that we're finding out there in the market and we're bringing to our customers.
So, we have, we have several exciting things coming down the pipe this year, to make sure that we're helping customers where we see that they're, they're lacking, in either a technology, a solution, and, and really again, helping them meet all of those goals that are so important to them as.
And then another really good exciting thing along with the Imderma partnership.
Universe Solutions has set up a sustainable and natural product framework.
So we're, we're calling that, yes, SNP if you will, and we're taking each of our existing technologies as as the new ones.
We're listing them out on our website and giving the customers all of the transparency and the documentation behind that.
So where we started a year ago with 20 ingredients, we have over 700 ingredients listed globally out there in this site and growing every single day as we announce new partnerships.
That's incredible.
You know, various trend reports, that I look at, they point to the fact that it's really all about ingredients right now.
It's all about the quote unquote, ingredients.
Is that the big reason why we're seeing this huge library now of ingredients?
Definitely, definitely, you know, and, and when you talk about it ingredients, right?
Ingredients come and go, and, and some of them are always here to stay.
But we're really seeing a lot of innovations, of course, in the biotech space and then delivery systems.
How do you get more efficacy out of your existing peptides or vitamins or actives, so that, so it can be, you know, providing additional efficacy as as ability and all the things that the formulators need to get it out to market faster.
You brought up a great point there.
You know, we started this talking about sustainability, but in a previous conversation, I want you to share this with our viewers.
It seems efficacy still trumps all.
Is that right?
At the end of the day, you want your product to work, and you want it to work.
It is, it is, only about 54% of our customers globally actually have strong ESG sustainability goals.
So we know there's a long ways to go, but every single one of our customers needs the products to work.
The customers need them to work.
So functionality and efficacy still trumps all.
With next being, you know, some price points are obviously very important to be able to, to fit inside of the category of beauty that you need and then followed up with naturality and sustainability.
Let's, let's talk a little bit about price points.
We know that we're in the middle of a very high inflationary environment, depending on who you talk to, i.e., Wall Street analysts, economists, central banks.
They say inflation is easing, but Main Street really hasn't seen that as yet, right?
Tell me how that is impacting Universe Solutions and its partners.
So, are you looking at pricing more closely these days, given the fact that consumers definitely are?
Yeah, consumers, the, you know, the events of, of 2020 and 2021 were, were chaos, right?
It impacted everything.
Shortages led to overstocking.
So here we are in a space where prices have escalated across everything you buy, whether it be food or beauty, and And all of our supplier partners are facing the same challenges.
For us, we're doing a few things.
We're utilizing our solution centers to do customer projects.
We have solution centers in Essen, Germany, in Houston, Texas, in Paris, in Brazil and Mexico.
And where customers come with, with formulation challenges where they're trying to meet a certain price point but they need the efficacy, our solutions, our solution centers are providing them with some of that support to get those products out to market.
Also, our supplier partners, they have a host of products and whether it be, you know, lower priced up to some of the very, very high functional.
Luxury ingredients.
We've got a nice broad array of products where we can meet all of those customer needs.
I'd be remiss, if I didn't ask you about the regulatory environment.
So we've got the high inflationary environment, but we've also got a, a, a high regulatory environment.
As , you know, day in and day out, we're met with various, , news briefings, if you will, whether it's ECHA, in Europe, whether it's MORRA, FDA in the United States.
How closely are you watching developments on that front, Julie?
So very closely, very, very closely, obviously, beauty care has been a regulated, a loosely regulated, but a very much regulated, , industry for decades.
We have a large regulatory department that is focused on this, working with, local government agencies as as with all of our suppliers to make sure that we're compliant and we're supporting our customers throughout that.
So MCR, yes.
Completely in line.
Obviously, that's gonna bring some transparency to labeling and some other key benefits, but we're committed to continuing to bring safe ingredients, providing all the documentation that is needed.
And, you know, at this point, there's a checklist of two pages of regulations that when a new, company comes to us and they want to launch, we go through those with them in detail and these are the barriers that are needed.
To, if we wanna have broad penetration of your ingredient in the market.
It seems like a, a real big team effort here.
It is very much so.
Very large team from all around the globe.
Do you see, do you see that, that environment, easing up as we kick off this new year, or do you think, what trends do you see unfolding with respect to regulation?
Yeah, I, I, I don't think we're gonna see anything change.
The regulations are coming, you know, there's still continues to be some ingredients in focus for certain brands, but other brands are absolutely fine.
So it's really a mixed bag, but what we do see is a lot of customization.
So, you know, you go to the store and you're seeing more and more and more brands launching every single day with more specific needs, and the consumer isn't fatigued with that yet.
They still want it.
We're using AI engines, all over the place, right, to create your custom color, your custom, skincare need that you have that continues to really be a driver that will virtual makeup try-ons and isn't it crazy?
It's crazy.
And somehow they get your color right by looking at you.
I guess if doctors can do it virtually and, and, you know, tell you what's wrong with you, then makeup can too.
How, how do you keep up with all this, like, with respect to AI and I'm glad you brought that up.
It just seems like that just changes on a dime every second.
It does.
We have, you know, over 10,000 customers around the globe.
So when you think about that giant voice of customer that's constantly being pulled in.
We're evaluating that.
We're trying to, alter our marketing efforts, our sales efforts, and then we're also looking for new ingredients to make sure that we're meeting all those needs.
So it's really that, that constant voice of customer that's being pulled in from our teams around the globe that allows us to shift as quickly as we can.
Would you all say that you're back to normal, quote unquote, you, off the top, you mentioned just what a crazy time it was, 2020, 2021.
I can only imagine as operating a business, you know, not having enough, enough supply, not being able to get key ingredients to having an abundance of it with nowhere to, to, to push it.
Where, where does Universe Solutions find itself right now?
I would say it's, it's different depending on, on the region.
North America is starting to normalize.
You know, we went through years with no seasonality, you know, things where normally there was holiday pushes.
Oh jeez, let's use what we've got.
And I actually was just at the store the other day and somebody said, I missed those Christmas gathering gift baskets.
If you looked this year, you know, there just wasn't because people were driving down inventories, but , we're definitely getting to a more norm and we're starting to see some of that.
I wouldn't say it's all the way back because things have changed.
The, the last 3 years created different, different dynamics where things have changed, but, you know, in, in Europe, definitely more, more stable, more consistent, and, and then, you know, we'll continue to watch North America with obviously with the economic situation going on that's And, and of course all the political things that are going on out there.
Now we've got, you know, the, the canal, blockage, we've got, you know, ships being routed around, taking 4 extra weeks for supply chains.
So lots of dynamics that we're keeping our pulse on constantly.
It seems like that's the new normal, supply chain disruption.
Yeah, I think it is, it is, and, and it's something nobody ever thought about, I don't think before COVID, and now, you know, it's, it's a buzzword and it hasn't gone away because there are still so many disruptions.
What are you most excited?
My final question to you, what are you most excited about, with Univar Solutions?
Definitely, our drive for sustainability and our ability to attract new ingredients as as keep our exciting supplier partners that we have today.
So they're innovating with us.
They're innovating based on that voice of customer, bringing recycled, upcycled, total biotech, sustainable ingredients from all of our core suppliers, and then identifying those new technologies that we can really help the market and, and bring those out in an exciting way like MDderma and others to come.
All right, I said you were full of information, you didn't disappoint.
Julie Carnes of Universe Solutions, thank you so much for this.
Really appreciate it.
Thank you, Anita.
I really appreciate it.
Have a good day.
