Precision products and services at competitive prices have made Weckerle a well-respected partner of the cosmetics industry. Today, around 85% of all lipstick products around the globe are made on Weckerle machines.
The company has consistently improved its products to meet ever-changing market needs. An extraordinary passion combined with an outstanding innovative spirit has contributed to Weckerle’s leading market position.
Weckerle is internationally known as a market pioneer in the cosmetics industry offering full service with a difference. “Our company is driven by values such as passion, excellence, responsibility and respect,” underlines Randolf Lehmann-Tolkmitt, General Manager – Sales, R&D, Marketing of Weckerle Cosmetics Eislingen GmbH. “We simply love what we do, and want to do it as well as we can by respecting the environment and protecting it for future generations. Our aim is to offer excellent products and services that satisfy individual customer needs. We consider entrepreneurship as the combination of creativity, service, quality, profitability and sustainability.”
Weckerle, a global player today, was founded in 1965 by Peter Weckerle as a small precision engineering workshop. Right from the start, filling machines have played a crucial role for the company’s dynamic development.
“Weckerle started launching its first filling machines in the early 1970s and was soon known as a market pioneer,” says Mr. Lehmann-Tolkmitt. “It did not take long, and its innovative automatic lipstick moulding machines were not only distributed in Europe but also overseas. The fact that by the 1980s the machines were used throughout the world is even more remarkable as the first filling machine was developed by Peter Weckerle himself and had been produced in his small garage.”
In 1983, Thomas Weckerle, current CEO and owner of Weckerle, joined the family business. The following years were characterized by a constant expansion – in terms of products and markets.
Weckerle established new sites in the United States and Switzerland to ensure close customer relationships. “The group’s two main challenges are machine manufacturing and contract manufacturing,” resumes Mr. Lehmann-Tolkmitt. “Thanks to our international presence, we were able to strengthen our position on the international market.”
When Thomas Weckerle became CEO in 2000, the company continued focusing on overseas markets. Weckerle was among the first ones to enter Brazil.
“Brazil is a highly interesting market for Weckerle,” says Mr. Lehmann-Tolkmitt. “Today, we have two production facilities over there. The market is still growing, and we are well prepared to react to the increasing demand. We always concentrate on markets with a distinct demand. We acquired sites in France and entered Asia to be able to react flexible to local market demands. Due to Thomas Weckerle’s extraordinary commitment, Weckerle has a global footprint today and is an attractive partner of global cosmetics producers.”
Weckerle is a widely recognized specialist in cosmetics machine manufacturing, setting constantly new market standards.
“We have a workforce of 200 employees in Weilheim/Peißenberg,” states Mr. Lehmann-Tolkmitt. “60 of them are involved in construction processes. Lipsticks of tomorrow is what they are thinking about today. This is what makes Weckerle so special. We are responsible for the entire production process of the most complex filling machines – special machines demanding extraordinary know-how and expertise. Weckerle is a hidden champion operating in a market niche and setting new benchmarks with innovations. More than 350 machines are positioned around the world today. This way, we got a good overview about the international cosmetic industry.”
With more than 1,000 employees around the world, Weckerle turns over 100 million EUR. A further growth, especially in the private label sector, is expected.
Weckerle dues its constant success highly motivated and skilled employees and innovative products that are all developed in-house. High-performing filling machines convince with speed, flexibility in lipstick surface structure, modularity and highly quick format and colour change.
While filling machines for lipsticks are still Weckerle’s core product, other highly specialized machines now complement the range. State-of-the art machines are suitable for the filling of lip balm sticks, eyeliner pencils, eye shadow pencils, powder and products filled in tubes.
“When it comes to filling machines for powder, dust has always been an issue,” stresses Mr. Lehmann-Tolkmitt. “Our machines are able to fill up to seven different colours at the same time, and we have no problems with dust at all. Another highlight is our mechanical pencil, invented by Peter Weckerle. Today, the trend clearly goes towards multifunctional products satisfying consumer needs for convenience and efficiency. At the same time, we see an increasing demand for eco-friendly products. The organic market has a substantial growth rate. We clearly do not want to miss the boat in this field, but we need to ask ourselves what really means organic cosmetics? All raw materials need to be certified, which means that restrictions are unavoidable. We cannot create colours with the same brilliance for instance, but we are working on it. In July 2013 the new EU cosmetic law came into force. This will change the way we as producers will be working in the future. Our Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance departments will have to work very accurately to meet the expectations of this law. Customers will start to value this so-called “paper work” more than today. Weckerle Cosmetics Eislingen GmbH has a very experienced and well-organized Regulatory Affairs Department which is a big asset to our company. We therefore see this law as an opportunity and are well prepared for the changes to come.”
Operating according to strict quality and environmental regulations does not only affect the production of filling machines for cosmetic products. In 2009, Weckerle acquired the production of the Eislingen based company Dr. Scheller Cosmetics AG. Since 1984, the company successfully distributed the well-known toothpaste brand Durodont.
“We are among the top two private-label producers of dental care products in Germany,” stresses Mr. Lehmann-Tolkmitt. “The business is quite exciting, and Durodont GmbH now contributes a large part to our annual sales of 40 million EUR in Eislingen. We need to start working with new innovative technologies here and to cooperate with the machine manufacturing department at Weckerle Machines. Given this, we will put more emphasis on the know-how transfer between the dental product business and the cosmetics one. With Premium Cosmetics GmbH, a second subsidiary is based in Eislingen concentrating on private labels in terms of coloured cosmetics. When talking about private labels, we need to consider the quality of the products themselves but also aspects like repackaging that are prominent parts of our concepts. We are aware that the production of private labels is pivotal for us. Customers know that we are part of Weckerle; they appreciate that we have our own production facilities producing quality Made in Germany. Despite our strong focus on Germany, Weckerle will push its international activities especially in Asia and South America. Emerging markets are highly interesting for us. We focus really on one goal: to be the fittest in colour cosmetics.”
