Kolmar Korea announced Oct. 20 that it has been selected as the lead company for the government‑led "AI Factory Alliance" project — the only cosmetics firm chosen — and will develop an AI autonomous manufacturing system to advance K‑beauty’s global competitiveness.
Selected under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s AI Factory program, Kolmar Korea will integrate cosmetic production processes into an AI‑driven autonomous manufacturing platform. While smart factories automate machines to follow human‑set parameters, AI factories analyze data in real time and make autonomous decisions to optimize production.
Kolmar plans to modularize production planning, manufacturing, quality control, and filling/packaging, and to raise process accuracy to at least 95% using optimized AI models. The company says the system will reduce rework from defects, maximize production efficiency, and enable agile small‑batch, multi‑product manufacturing to meet diverse customer demands quickly.
The project runs from September 2025 through December 2029. As lead organization, Kolmar will participate in the AI Factory Alliance’s bio division and drive AI transformation (AX) in cosmetic manufacturing. Key tasks include building a platform to integrate and link cosmetics production data and developing autonomous process‑control AI models to improve quality and process accuracy.
Industry voices say a shift to AI factories is essential for K‑beauty to meet global standards, since many production steps for varied designs and sizes still rely on manual labor. Kolmar plans to share successful AI factory case studies so other domestic cosmetics makers can follow, aiming to raise productivity and accelerate innovation across Korea’s cosmetic manufacturing sector.
Since 2019 Kolmar has implemented smart factory automation and completed processing of all source data, cutting defect rates to 42%. The company expects that moving from smart to AI factories will further reduce rework and create advanced manufacturing optimized for small, diverse production runs.
A Kolmar representative said being the sole cosmetics lead for the AI Factory project recognizes the company’s technology and innovation capabilities, and added that the AI‑based autonomous system will strengthen K‑beauty’s global competitiveness and elevate Korea’s cosmetic manufacturing standards.
Kolmar operates production sites in Korea, the U.S., Canada and China; once development is complete the AI system will be applied across domestic and overseas plants. The company also plans to extend the system to group production facilities including Kolmar BNH (health supplements), HK inno.N (pharmaceuticals) and Yeonwoo (cosmetic packaging).
