494 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS aware of the company's needs and requirements. The department must build up and maintain good relationships with the suppliers and ensure that they understand the company's philosophy. Good purchasing men are salesmen on the other side of the desk. Just as the cosmetic company ensures that flexibility is in its own pro- duction, it would be worthwhile to ensure that the supplier has the same approach to his own operation. By so doing the overall company com- mitment can be reduced, and it is possible to meet unexpected sales trends by calling upon a supplier. Every manufacturing man realises that between 40% and 75% of his ex works cost should be in the hands of his purchasing department, and through them with the component and ingredient supplier. Therefore to limit severely or cheese-pare the size of the purchasing department or place all purchasing in one man's hands could be very unwise. Naturally, in the very early days of growth, one man is a necessity but the difficult time arrives when the department could be termed in middle growth. This is at a time when there are between five to eight purchasing agents reporting to a purchasing manager. Here there are not enough to split the department between two supervisors and too many people report to one man. The responsibility resting on one man's shoulders can become far too onerous. At this stage the company must rely on good strong men, but as soon as eight or nine agents are employed, each group of approximately four should be provided with a supervisor. The type of man required in purchasing can also vary during growth. Initially an experienced man, with knowledge of suppliers in that par- ticular country is vital, and as at this stage the technical quality control personnel is usually limited, a technical knowledge of the manufacturing processes involved particularly the packaging field is useful, as is an understanding of chemical specifications. In a larger unit there appear to be two types of approach: 1. The commercial, where the purchasing man concentrates on the service of the supplier and his price of goods, and leaves the quality aspect to the technical control side. 2. Where the purchasing agent is expected to be a technical specialist, who can advise and can understand the supplier's production processes. The ideal emphasis should be on the commercial approach, but each man should have a knowledge of how to cost a supplier's wares and this provides a more scientific approach than mere quotation shopping. However, there are times when a new design or concept not yet attempted by a particular

EXPANSION AND MANUFACTURING IN THE COSMETIC INDUSTRY 495 industry is being considered and then the 'amateur' approach can be of value, i.e. the cosmetic company knows what it wants and it is up to the supplier to find the way. In general the containers, packaging and closures are certainly not designed to ease the supplier's problems, they are de- signed for purely aesthetic reasons. This thought should always be at the forefront of a purchasing man's mind. ENGINEERING An excellent engineering department, at all stages of growth of a cos- metic production unit, can be invaluable but the type of service it gives varies with the situation. In a small unit, engineering ability to modify and to adapt mactrines is of prime consideration. Many successful contract fillers certainly rely on an inventive head set-up mechanic. With growth, this type of man finds himself away from the production line and usually operating in the development engineering section. In the early stages, the production man in processing or packaging spends a great deal of time considering new equipment, supervising its installation and assessing other machinery on the market. With growth this function can be taken over in part by the industrial engineering group, but the true engineering appreciation must be carried out by a project engineer on the engineering staff. It is dangerously possible to allow the engineering function to grow so that the company is running an engineering shop and not a cosmetic manufacturing unit. In larger companies the need is for contract engineering work and packaging and processing units should, if possible, be designed to be made completely outside. The main duty of the engineering department should be one of maintenance with a skilled and experienced sub-section working on change parts and modifications, in order to enable the machinery to meet new demands. One would expect to see a slightly higher proportionate growth in the qualified men and in the drawing office and control side, than in the number of fitters, electricians, etc. With the growth of the more mechanised packaging line, the influence of the engineering department would be felt in the specifications of com- ponents, for at higher speeds with more automation, it is necessary to make manufactured components more accurately to enable them to work successfully on fillers, cappers and automatic cartoners. New specifications have to be developed to smooth the interaction of machine and component