A Perfect Formula: Smart Automation for a Fast-Moving Personal Care Manufacturer
Demand for personal care and beauty products surged during the COVID era, challenging manufacturers to rapidly expand capacity while maintaining the flexibility to adapt to changing customer needs.
This leading global provider of custom formulation for beauty and personal care brands responded by setting an ambitious goal: bring a new greenfield production facility online within a single calendar year. The facility required more than 14 batching tanks, the ability to efficiently produce thousands of SKUs across multiple product lines, and needed to be agile enough to quickly shift production as customer priorities and market demand evolved.
The Challenge
When demand for personal care products surged during the COVID era, this leading global provider of custom formulation for beauty and personal care brands needed to move fast. To meet rising consumer demand and capture available tax incentives, they set an aggressive goal: bring a greenfield production facility online within one calendar year.
The new facility required more than 14 batching tanks and the flexibility to support thousands of SKUs across unique product lines. As a contract manufacturer, agility is essential, and production lines need to pivot quickly based on changing market demand, customer priorities, and product mix.
RoviSys was introduced to the customer through McNaughton-McKay for a data historian initiative. While that project was ultimately deprioritized, the customer quickly re-engaged RoviSys for a broader effort, establishing a trusted partnership in 2019 that continues today.
At the time, the client was looking to move away from a competing provider and needed a partner capable of delivering both rapid execution and a scalable long-term solution.
Our Role
RoviSys was selected to design and deliver the batch automation platform, visualization strategy, historian architecture, and scalable standards for the greenfield facility. As a Rockwell Automation Platinum System Integrator, RoviSys brought deep batch, manufacturing, and platform expertise that helped simplify complex operations while creating a flexible foundation for future expansion.
To support the aggressive timeline, RoviSys rapidly scaled a team that peaked at 15 concurrent engineers, including a dedicated five-person onsite group. This group was embedded at the customer site for a six-month period. Beyond technical execution, RoviSys helped lead construction coordination, startup planning, installer management, and risk mitigation to keep production goals on track and help the customer achieve readiness in time for peak seasonal demand.
- Designed and delivered the batch automation and historian strategy
- Leveraged deep expertise with Rockwell Automation to simplify operations and support scalability
- Scaled engineering and onsite teams to meet timelines
- Guided construction, startup planning, and risk mitigation
- Enabled production readiness
The Solution
RoviSys strategically recommended leading-edge Rockwell Automation technologies to support the customer’s aggressive production goals, operational flexibility, and long-term growth strategy. While the technologies themselves were proven platforms, the value came from how RoviSys applied them to simplify complex batch operations, standardize execution, and accelerate deployment within an aggressive schedule.
To accelerate implementation, RoviSys developed a modular ISA-88 batch design which leveraged both FactoryTalk Batch and FactoryTalk Historian. The architecture leveraged reusable structures and standardized equipment phases that reduced recipe complexity, minimized engineering effort, and shortened deployment timelines across all batch systems. An asset-based historian strategy enabled rapid deployment while maintaining operational consistency and visibility across production units.
Solution Features
- IO-Link integration improved device visibility and simplified electrical design through a modular, standardized panel strategy that could be replicated across the facility and future sites.
- Scalable system architecture designed to support future facility and production expansion.
- Active project leadership during construction and startup, including site walks, installation coordination, schedule tracking, startup planning, and proactive risk identification.
- Collaboration with customer’s IT team to guide OT infrastructure strategy, best practices, and long-term ownership after startup.
- Leveraged an extensive panel builder network to accelerate panel fabrication, delivery, and installation during critical project phases.
The Result
The facility was delivered on an accelerated timeline and exceeded expectations for startup readiness. The client gained a highly flexible manufacturing operation capable of responding quickly to market shifts, customer demand, and seasonal demands. Since the initial project, the company has continued to grow and expand operations across the U.S. and Europe.
Strategic Impact
- Achieved production readiness within aggressive timelines
- Enabled flexible batch operations across thousands of SKUs
- Standardized automation and electrical design strategies
- Implemented resilient operator interface and recovery capabilities
- Accelerated installation, startup, and production readiness
- Eliminated project bottlenecks to keep production moving
- Enabled product manufacturing as quickly as possible
RoviSys simplified a highly complex batch automation challenge and helped the customer rapidly bring a new large-scale facility into production with confidence. Delivered on time, on budget, and across approximately 12,000 project hours, the success of this first major engagement established RoviSys as a trusted long-term partner for future growth and expansion.