Apothecary group invests in research center

The Apothecary will inaugurate tomorrow an research and Development Center, in which invested r $ 37 million. Before, the work was carried out in six different areas throughout the headquarters, located in São José dos Pinhais, Curitiba metropolitan region. Now, everything will be done in a building that has 8 thousand square meters of constructed area and in which 230 people work. In it there are 2.3 thousand products in development, with guaranteed release between 2013 and 2015, outside those who are still in the initial stage of study and can be discarded. Attention to the research area has reason to be: half of the Group's turnover is achieved with new products.
The Research Center, which was completed in 15 months and went into operation in February, is part of the investments of r $ 464 million made last year by the group. The area Director, Richard Schwarzer, says that the number of workers linked to the survey grew 40% in two years and, if there is demand, there is now space for the team double in size. According to him, the searches can be deepened with the development of technological resources and spaces created on site for testing with consumers.
In 2012 the group released 1.6 thousand products and 500 for the brand of makeup who said, Berenice?. For the body are created between 500 and 600 items per year. According to Schwarzer, of 2.5% to 3.5% of revenues, which amounted to about $ 6.6 billion last year, is intended for research and development.
Schwarzer, chemical engineer who had spells for companies like Natura and Unilever, is in the Apothecary there are 11 years. "International visitors who have already met our new structure say that we shouldn't anything to any company outside," he says, while presenting the various rooms for testing and analysis. There are dry and wet booths for assessment of skin hydration, other for perfume, trail length (the distance that the fragrance goes) and other spaces. There is also a library of fragrances with a capacity of 8 thousand products.
The process of creation, explains the Executive, can last from three months to two years and will seek opportunity identification of attributes, tests, record and release for sale. The Center serves all brands (O Boticário, Eudora, Skingen, Berenice and who said?), both in makeup, perfumes, creams and others. There is also a group devoted to items related to holidays.
Some products can die already at the stage of research. Others have short duration of time. Can be developed to be part of a collection. There are still those who, as the Cologne Acqua Fresca, who is from 1979, undergo changes in packaging. The return to investment in the area are difficult to calculate, says the Executive. "We've never had trouble getting resources to the area," he says.