What is skinification? – LinMot as a driving force behind new cosmetic trends
February 12, 2025
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More informationDuring lockdown, many people resorted to dyeing their hair themselves, often resulting in hair damage. This experience intensified the desire for intensive care and repair, leading to a boom in new products based on "skinification." Skinification describes the approach of combining hair care with skincare principles by using high-quality, nourishing ingredients typically found in skincare products. Thanks in part to this renewed consumer interest, the beauty and household care industry in Germany was largely able to decouple itself from the challenging economic conditions in 2023, despite ongoing slumps in consumer spending and a high propensity to save. Domestic sales of personal care and cosmetic products rose by 10,6 percent to €15,8 billion. Deodorants saw the largest increases, rising by 21,2 percent, followed by decorative cosmetics such as lipstick, makeup, and nail polish, which grew by 17,7 percent. Perfume sales increased by 15,0 percent.
11 IKW projection based on GfK and Federal Statistical Office (Jan. – Sept. 2023).
Enormous product demand
But can manufacturing technologies meet the enormous product demand of new skincare trends? A renowned special-purpose machine manufacturer from Weilheim in Upper Bavaria has been working for decades to ensure that this question can be answered with a resounding yes. Whether structured and delicate lead designs, organic formulations, extremely soft or matte lip and balm sticks or mascaras, serums, creams and deodorants, the company's filling and production facilities Weckerle Machines are up to the extraordinary product diversity of the cosmetics industry. The machine manufacturer, which is particularly focused on sustainability and climate neutrality, offers numerous innovative functions, including the ability to integrate various filling technologies and process complex cosmetic products with a wide range of rheological properties. "It is very important to be able to dose different media, because the product portfolio of the industry and our customers is very diverse," explains Florian Gander, Manager of Mechanical Design at Weckerle, citing one of the reasons that led, among other things, to the development of a new linear filling and processing machine. The newly developed and unique MultiStick MS3 filling system focuses on the essential key parameters of the process, such as the precise dosing, heating, and cooling of high-quality lipsticks and other cosmetic and personal care products. Furthermore, this unique process encompasses all filling technologies (top-fill and backfill, silicone and metal molds), offering customers maximum flexibility and process reliability in their production.
In general, LinMot linear and rotary actuators impress with their sophisticated design and compact size, as well as their ease of use and maintenance. Not to mention the performance of these drives.
Code word: procedural flexibility
But product variety isn't the only crucial factor for customers. Alongside the growing trend toward ever smaller batch sizes and the desire to bring previously outsourced production in-house, the process flexibility of new machines is given top priority. "A very clear requirement of the customer for the MS3 was a fast format changeover, as they produce 12 different products on the machine," says Mr. Gander. Weckerle owes the fact that this format changeover can be completed in less than 25 minutes in part to the LinMot components, which, as now standardized solutions, have been used as handling systems at the Bavarian machine manufacturer for over 20 years.
LinMot for 20 years
The feeding system for the MultiStick machine was implemented using LinMot components: In combination with attached parallel grippers, the containers are picked up, aligned, and placed down again by the LinMot H-guides. Thanks to the specific properties of these guides, the Z-axis stroke could be modified so that the Weckerle engineers remain less dependent on the load suspended below. In addition to standard pick-and-place movements, the LinMot linear guides also enable a variety of other processes: An unloading station, equipped with a swivel gripper, picks up components, rotates them 90 degrees, and either drops them into a chute or places them on a conveyor belt. This is also easily accomplished because the sophisticated design of the LinMot linear guides simultaneously acts as an anti-rotation device and easily absorbs external forces as well as torsional and bending moments.
Linear modules
LinMot's highly dynamic linear modules and linear guides are ready-to-install, pre-assembled systems based on the B and H guides, which have proven their worth for over two decades. These advanced drive solutions offer all the design advantages of state-of-the-art drive technology and are capable of precisely and reliably implementing a wide variety of complex motion sequences for diverse customer applications. Thanks to a broad range of strength classes, sizes, stroke lengths, and a comprehensive range of accessories, as well as stainless steel versions and stroke lengths up to 2 meters, LinMot linear guides and modules are characterized by exceptional performance in any production environment and machine integration.
Linear Rotary Motors
One of the biggest advantages of LinMot rotary motors is their ability to significantly simplify screwdriving processes.
Complete systems for screwing processes
The unique modular design of the PR02 series further supports precise motion sequences through a delicate, hard-anodized housing with a shortened installation length, into which various LinMot features can be integrated, such as force and torque sensors. These enable highly precise force and torque control in a closed loop, as well as precisely reproducible and logging-capable screwdriving processes. Florian Gander emphasizes: "Especially in the screwdriving processes in our systems, which have to handle a large number of different products, new requirements quickly arise. The superior quality of the LinMot rotary actuators is also evident in the fact that we have no problems finding the thread start, even with a high degree of product variety."
When precision and dynamics are paramount, we choose LinMot based on our very positive experiences.
Small footprint, high torque
Depending on the casting machine, the workpiece carrier configuration and the number of load cells to be used vary. Therefore, a rapid format change is crucial, even at a secondary gripping station. Here, a LinMot rotary actuator is used, which moves with the gripper, picks up the workpiece, rotates 180 degrees, and places some of the products onto the load cell and the rest back onto the workpiece carrier – a classic loading and unloading motion. Weckerle doesn't have to replace the entire gripper, only the gripper jaws. However, since one gripper plate can accommodate up to ten jaws, the unit has a high moment of inertia. "The PR01 was chosen precisely because of these technical requirements. The travel distance must be completed within a short cycle time, which is why this LinMot rotary actuator, in combination with a gearbox, is perfectly suited for this task," explains Gander. With selectable transmission ratios and guide rails for absorbing lateral forces, the LinMot PR01 with gearbox also functions as the heart of the machine in many other fastening, screwing and assembly applications, offering high torques even under large inertial loads.
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