For companies in the cosmetics industry, CMMS software have become essential for maintenance management due to the increasing number and complexity of standards in this sector.
Because of the specific nature of cosmetic products, their production is subject to numerous rules, issued by the competent health authorities in each country. The French cosmetics industry is strongly export-oriented and must comply with the standards of each market for which it produces.
In terms of maintenance, the most effective solution to meet these requirements is to adopt a high-performance CMMS capable of providing the most suitable tools to comply with standards while promoting the company’s competitiveness.
Particularities Of The Cosmetics Industries
The cosmetics industry is a particular sector of activity, whose specificities are partly similar to those of the pharmaceutical and chemical industries.
SMEs in the cosmetics industry
Some of the largest international cosmetics companies dominate the industry, but SMEs are not going unnoticed and are slowly breaking into the market. According to the “Socio-Economic Contribution of the European Cosmetics Industry” report, published in 2018 by Cosmetics Europe, “SMEs are key drivers of innovation and economic growth. More than 5,500 SMEs are involved in the manufacturing of cosmetics in Europe”. However, they also underline the fact “(…) that the strength of the sector lies in the co-existence of both large and small companies.”
For small and medium-sized companies, it is often more complicated to find digital tools adapted to their characteristics. Indeed, they have to be efficient and should not require significant and risky investments.
A major economic sector focused on exports
The cosmetics industry is a major sector of the French economy, and the second largest export sector behind aeronautics, with nearly €16 billion in exports in 2019. The cosmetics export business alone has been growing steadily for the past 10 years and employs approximately 130,000 people in France. Its main customers are other European countries, the United States and China. Consequently, companies in this sector must respect the standards of the various markets they serve.
The weight of standards
Cosmetics are special products that can have important consequences on the health of consumers. This is why this industry, which lies at the crossroads of pharmacy and chemistry, is subject to numerous standards, much stricter than those that apply to other economic sectors.
One example is Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 on cosmetics, which came into force in 2013 throughout the European Union. Among other things, this regulation requires the production of cosmetic products to comply with good manufacturing practices (GMP), as described by the ISO 22716 standard.
In addition, in order to export to the North American market, companies in the cosmetics sector must comply with FDA (Food and Drug Administration) standards. Those come with numerous constraints, in particular in terms of traceability of all actions carried out on production equipment, meaning maintenance in the first place.
Meeting cosmetic industry standards with new CMMS-software
The multiple standards that weigh on the cosmetics industry revolve around all aspects of their manufacture, including the maintenance of machines and equipment. In order to meet these requirements, the use of a next-gen CMMS has become essential.
Standards and maintenance management
Two major standards affect the maintenance management of equipment used in the cosmetics industry: 21 CFR Part 11, which applies to the U.S. market, and Annex 11, Volume 4, of the European GMP.
These texts impose strict rules, in particular regarding traceability, archiving and tracking of all electronic documents. The FDA standard thus defines the criteria according to which it accepts documents with electronic signatures as equivalent to paper documents with handwritten signatures. Compliance with these criteria establishes the reliability, accuracy and correspondence of these elements. Companies subject to this standard must implement controls, verification procedures, validations and electronic signatures, as well as provide documentation related to the computerized systems involved in the processing of electronic data.
The European GMP rules ensure that the quality of products and the control of related processes and risks do not decrease when computerized systems replace manual operations.
Electronic signatures and access rights
For maintenance management, the standards that apply to the cosmetics industry have important consequences in terms of access rights and traceability. Thus, a strict and advanced management of access and user rights, the definition of clear hierarchical schemes for data approval and a log of connections and accesses must be put in place.
Obviously, these processes cannot be established within the framework of an Excel maintenance management. They may be established with a traditional CMMS, but it would certainly turn out to be difficult, as they are really heavy to set up. A next-gen CMMS such as Mobility Work is much more adapted: the parameters of the application make it possible to ensure that each intervening party has only the authorizations of access and modification of the data and the documents that correspond to its hierarchical level, as required for example by the 21 CFR Part 11 standard.
Manage the confidentiality of your data and documents in your CMMS
Easily generate an audit trail with a new CMMS
An audit trail is a chronological record of all actions performed on a digital file or folder. It provides documentary evidence of the activities that may have affected an operation, event or procedure in the event of an audit by an authority outside the company. An audit trail records any creation, modification or deletion of an electronic document, the date and time of each of these interventions, and the affixing or removal of electronic signatures.
To be FDA compliant, a company must not only associate an audit trail with each digital document, but also be able to prove that audit trails cannot be altered or replaced, and that they are retained as long as the document exists.
While it is highly recommended to automate audit trails due to the high number of digital documents in companies today, it is also necessary to have tools that are 21 CFR Part 11 compliant, that can provide two-factor authentication, SSO or SAML login procedures and a complete audit trail procedure.
The Mobility Work new CMMS, meets these requirements and keeps a trace of all the actions carried out on the documents related to maintenance during 10 years. Moreover, in case of control by an external authority, the company can obtain, within only 72 hours, the audit trail of all its documents.
Advantages of new CMMS-software for maintenance in the cosmetics industry
Beyond the respect of the standards, the new mobile CMMS solutions such as Mobility Work make it possible to rationalize and optimize the maintenance of equipment in the cosmetic sector. It thus becomes much simpler to adopt a TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) approach, to ensure the maintenance of machines and equipment in perfect operational conditions, respecting the standards. However TPM approaches are essential in the cosmetics industry but increasingly complex to set up.
Mobility Work is provided with an analytic tool to help you analyze all your maintenance data and adapt your strategy
The Mobility Work app offers features that support both the productivity of maintenance technicians and compliance with standards. Available in both mobile and desktop versions, it can be used from any connected device such as a tablet or smartphone (iOS or Android), allowing maintenance technicians to enter their intervention reports in real time or to consult documents or maintenance history at any time. This is a real time saver and makes them more likely to strictly adhere to standards.
Moreover, by using anonymized data analysis of all the machines in the community, Mobility Work allows all its users, including small and medium-sized businesses, to turn to predictive maintenance, the most effective maintenance strategy, particularly useful in the cosmetics sector.
Manage all your maintenance plans with Mobility Work CMMS
To meet the many constraints to which they are subjected while remaining competitive, companies in the cosmetics sector must put all the available technological innovation at their service. In terms of maintenance management, it can mean adopting new CMMS solutions such as Mobility Work, whose design allows to respect international standards while offering a great ease of use, at a reduced cost.
