Kolmar Korea Solves 'Manual Work Bottleneck' in Cleanser Development, Cuts Deaeration Time from 1 Hour to 10 Minutes

Began development in 2024 and secured a patent... Introduced at research facilities
To be opened to other cosmetics manufacturers after two years of exclusive use

Kolmar Korea has developed equipment in-house to automate repetitive tasks performed by cosmetics researchers, speeding up the development of new cleansers. By cutting the time needed to remove air bubbles from more than an hour to 10 minutes, the company has improved research efficiency. As export growth in K-beauty fuels a rise in requests from indie brands to develop new products, Kolmar Korea aims to strengthen its competitiveness in securing ODM (original development manufacturing) orders by speeding up sample production.

Kolmar Korea said on October 30 that it has been operating an "automatic vertical deaerator," developed based on an idea from a skincare researcher, at its research facilities since 2025.

Development began in 2024, and the equipment was completed after several rounds of improvements. The company also holds a related patent. It currently operates three units at its Skincare Research Institute and plans to add one more. It also plans to introduce one unit at its Personal Care Research Institute, which develops hair products.

A researcher at Kolmar Korea's Skin Care Research Institute operates an automatic vertical defoaming machine. Kolmar Korea

Deaeration is a process that removes air bubbles from a cosmetic formulation. Foam cleansers need to produce abundant lather when used, but during development, bubbles must be removed to ensure accurate quality assessments and volume measurements. Until now, researchers removed bubbles by repeatedly striking containers holding 200 to 300 grams of samples against a desk. Processing a single sample took more than an hour, making the task a drag on research efficiency.

The equipment developed by Kolmar Korea draws bubbles in the formulation to the surface under vacuum, then removes them by repeatedly lifting and dropping the container with a motor. With the machine taking over a task previously done by hand, researchers can focus on core work such as designing formulations.

After using the equipment exclusively for two years, Kolmar Korea plans to allow other cosmetics manufacturers to adopt it. The move extends automation in the cosmetics industry, which has so far focused on production processes such as filling, packaging and logistics, to the research and development stage.

Demand for cleansers has been growing in the K-beauty market, driven by greater use of sunscreen and the spread overseas of Korean-style "double cleansing," a method of washing twice with oil and foam cleansers. Market research firm Global Market Insights projected that the global cleanser market would reach about $15.4 billion this year. Kolmar Korea's cleanser sales are also expected to increase by about 40% this year compared with 2024.

A Kolmar Korea representative said, "Researchers solved a minor inconvenience in their own work, and the result has become a competitive advantage by helping us respond to clients more quickly. We will continue developing technologies to improve research efficiency in step with the growth of K-beauty."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.