Formulation is where a product is either easy or expensive to manufacture. A formula that performs beautifully but cannot be scaled, or that needs an ingredient with a 90-day lead time, becomes a supply problem every month for the life of the product. Our lab formulates with production in mind.
The team
Formulators, a stability and microbiology function, and a small sensory panel that evaluates texture and after-feel blind. Sales is not in the room when a formula is judged on performance, which is deliberate: it keeps the feedback honest.
The formula library
More than 10,000 production-ready formulas accumulated over years of client work, indexed by category, texture, claim and price band. This is what makes private label fast — a formula that has already run in production has no stability queue and no scale-up risk.
Equipment
- Laboratory homogenisers, overhead stirrers and vacuum emulsifying units at bench scale
- Viscometer, pH meter, refractometer, centrifuge for accelerated separation testing
- Stability chambers at 40°C / 75% RH, plus refrigeration and freeze-thaw cycling
- Microbiology capability for total plate count, yeast and mould, and challenge testing
- Pilot-scale production vessel that mirrors the parameters of the production line
How a formula is developed
Brief, then two or three bench directions, then iteration on texture and sensory feedback, then validation: accelerated stability, microbiological challenge, and compatibility with the chosen pack. Only after validation does it move to pilot batch and then to production. Skipping validation is how products reach the market and separate on the shelf in month four.
Working with your existing formula
If you have a formula, we will review it for scalability, ingredient availability, cost and regulatory fit in your target market before quoting. Sometimes the most valuable output of that review is a small substitution that cuts cost 15% with no consumer-visible change. See contract manufacturing for that route.
What we publish and what we keep confidential
We will share formula architecture, key actives at their levels, and test results with you. We do not share other clients' formulas, and we do not use one client's development work as a starting point for another's brief. Exclusivity is documented rather than assumed.