Irvine’s SeaCliff Beauty Packaging & Laboratories Inc., which manufactures and packages cosmetics, is launching a line of travel products.
Its Mini Kittour brand allows customers to put their personal cosmetics into small containers that are ideal for complying with airline restrictions.
The idea is to do it fashionably, according to Vonda Simon, owner.
This is the first time SeaCliff has put its name in the retail market. It usually makes packaging for other retailers.
So far it already has received orders from Los Angeles-based Ron Herman Inc., operator of clothing retailer Fred Segal, and Las Vegas’ Wynn Resorts Ltd.
Last year the company did more than $10 million in sales with its manufacturing and packaging business.
It has more than 150 customers—50 of them local, including Irvine-based Allergan Inc., Sgii Inc., Boscia LLC and Xsura.
Business for the first quarter was off about 15% from a year earlier, but the second quarter was up 20%, giving Simon some indication that things might be turning around.
This year the company added a 2,500-square-foot laboratory, which clients use for research and development. In all, it has about 25 local workers.
Simon says it typically takes an investment of about $1 million to put together a manufacturing and packaging process. Simon is seeing an interest from companies that want to keep their inventories low as they ride out the economy but have a nearby manufacturer to fulfill orders quickly if the economy starts to turn.
Lighting Play
Former deejay turned concert lighting supplier Anthony Dever is having his busiest year yet.
DigitalSound Production Services in Costa Mesa is looking to do more than $3 million this year with its light-emitting diode, or LED, lights, which cater to musicians.
Its biggest show of the year is for OC Style Week, a production put on by Irvine Company that features fashion events.
The style week is eight months in the making for DigitalSound, whose products will be seen by some 15,000 people during the event that begins Sept. 24.
The lights, which use less power, are becoming increasingly popular, according to Dever.
Compared to a traditional light that might use about 600 watts of power, the LED light will use about 225 watts while giving off the same effect, he said.
This year DigitalSound has saved the Irvine Co. as much as $40,000 in lighting, Dever said.
The lights aren’t cheap. At about $5,500 a pop, Dever has invested more than $165,000 so far.
This year Dever will do about 25 different shows, each one using a different routine.
Many of the events use a variety of lighting shifts to display different effects.
Changes in color, brightness and strobe effects all are designed to set different moods ranging from explosive to elegant.
Dever has about six full-time employees and contracts out an additional 15 yearly.
Protective Coatings
Anaheim-based Crest Coating Inc. is pegging its future growth on a new technology that allows it to easily paint things like bicycles and fire hydrants with protective coatings.
The company specializes in covering everything from plane and computer parts to kayaks and street signs with applications like Teflon and other protective textures.
Last year it did about $7 million in sales. It employs about 70 locally in two plants totaling 44,000 square feet.
Founded in Santa Fe Springs in 1968, it is one of the oldest in the business.
“We’re known for solving problems other coaters can’t,” said Bonnie George, who is owner and vice president of the family-run business.
The Halo-branded technology allows Crest to cover rounded objects that were once more difficult to cover.
Crest is the first to carry the license for the technology.
The company believes Halo could possibly double its sales.
“Everything was done with film until recently,” said Mike Erickson, president.
It’s hoping road construction and other government projects that are expected to ramp up in the coming years will lead to opportunities for things like signs and guardrails.
Before this, the biggest revolution in the industry came when powder applications replaced liquid ones.
In the past, the company relied on aerospace and defense work as a main part of its business.
Lately, some of its biggest customers have been from the hard-hit auto industry.
It also serves as a tester of products for Delaware-based EI DuPont de Nemours & Co., a maker of chemicals.
