Adhering to regulations is crucial in the fragrance and cosmetics industry to ensure product safety, quality, and consumer trust. Benoit Nicol, owner of The Nature of Things emphasizes, “In terms of quality control, MRPeasy is an essential tool for us now.”
The Nature of Things
The Nature of Things is a certified organic essential oils manufacturer based in Ireland. The company was conceived in 2018 by Benoit Nicol, a visionary in the world of scent with more than two decades of experience. The name of the company is inspired by ancient Roman poet Lucretius’ book of the same name. It’s a philosophical work about the wisdom inherent in living in simple harmony with nature. In the same vein, The Nature of Things brand is inspired by celebrating meaningful bonds between humans and the living world.
The company’s inception was driven by Benoit’s desire to fill a market void for best quality, ethically sourced, certified organic essential oil-based products. The product line consists of single and blended essential oils, mist sprays, roll-ons, diffusers, and other aroma-based products. The Nature of Things products are on the shelves of dozens of retailers in more than 20 countries worldwide, including Ireland, the UK, USA, Germany, and Japan. The products are also available direct-to-consumer via a Shopify-powered web store.
Seeking a new blend: the move to MRPeasy
Starting out, The Nature of Things came to market with only pure essential oils. These were relatively simple products with simple bills of materials (BOMs), the production of which was managed using mostly spreadsheets. As the company grew in ambition, however, a move toward more complex blends and products marked a need for a more sophisticated production management solution.
Benoit Nicol recounts the catalyst for change: “As we ventured into the realm of more complex products, it became clear that we need a better method for monitoring inventory and controlling that our formulas are well executed.”
A search for suitable manufacturing software quickly led Benoit to MRPeasy. In addition to a great price-point and promising inventory management and formula control, it was MRPeasy’s seamless integrations with the company’s preferred accounting and e-commerce platforms, Xero and Shopify, which sealed the choice.
Implementation insights
MRPeasy is designed to be a self-service system that doesn’t require a team of consultants to implement in most cases. Knowing that, Benoit decided to give implementation a go on his own. Thanks to the software’s CSV import functionality, he was able to easily migrate most of the existing data from the spreadsheets directly into MRPeasy.
“There was somewhat of an initial learning curve and the bigger work was to create all the Manufacturing Orders and BOMs,” he says. “I knew from the start that we would have to do a bit of data processing on the entries. But what matters in the end is that the system is doing what we expect it to do.”
As is often the case with adopting new production planning software, there was a short period of time where the team had some manufacturing jobs run in parallel on the old system. However, once all the parts, ingredients, and formulas were imported and the first full stock-take was completed using the new software, the spreadsheets were put away for good. In terms of timeframe, MRPeasy was up and running within a few weeks of starting implementation.
Harvesting success: traceability and inventory control
MRPeasy’s benefits over the old system became apparent soon after implementation. In particular, it’s the end-to-end traceability of the new system which The Nature of Things has come to rely on most.
Benoit and his team are now able to extract a wealth of information on any product or component with a few clicks. He particularly lauds MRPeasy’s batch tracking functionality: “We are part of the cosmetics and fragrance industry. There are a lot of rules that we need to follow and regulatory compliance is simply a must. The ability to trace back to the batch numbers is essential for us.”
By offering a panoramic view of inventory, MRPeasy has also helped bring The Nature of Things to a new level of quality control. Benoit shares an insight: “We just had an organic inspection this morning. It was the same person who had been coming to do the inspection for the last 4-5 years. I showed her how we’re tracing items from the purchasing to the finished product and even the customers directly on the app. She was really impressed. In terms of QC, MRPeasy is an essential tool for us now.”
A wholehearted recommendation: test the software to make sure it matches your use case
For other small manufacturers looking to implement production software, Benoit Nicol recommends a thorough approach to product testing: “Make sure to test the software enough to determine that all the required points like processing, quality, purchasing, etc., work for you and that the system outputs all the data you need.”
Many providers offer free trials for their products to allow would-be clients to make sure that the software matches their unique requirements. MRPeasy, too, has a grace period of up to 30 days before committing.
Benoit further recommends playing around with test data to scrutinise the software’s capabilities: “Create a mockup product or process and check if it does what you need it to do. Each industry is very different and has different requirements so it’s vital to make sure that it suits your specific needs.” He also adds that it’s smart to be mindful of functionalities that you don’t require today but might end up needing as the company scales.
All in all, The Nature of Things has managed to comprehensively enhance their process control with MRPeasy. Benoit and his team can now focus on expanding the company’s market reach and remain confident that their chosen software companion can handle any complexities that a scaling operation entails.
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