SCS Formulate 2025

This November, the PCS Instruments team attended SCS Formulate in Coventry, spending two days alongside formulators, ingredient suppliers and sensory specialists. The atmosphere was friendly and hands-on, and it gave us the chance to connect with people working directly on formulation and sensory challenges while seeing how texture and product feel are approached across the sector.

Attended from PCS Instruments:

  • Dana Miller MCIM, Head of Marketing
  • Dr Kieran Nar, Applications Development Engineer
  • Amitha Clark, Content Writer
  • Kelvin Stanley, Knowledge Transfer Partnership Associate

What the Programme Offered

The event combined technical talks, ingredient sessions, sensory workshops and live demonstrations. Moving between these streams gave a clear view of the day-to-day decisions that shape product development.

Technical sessions covered topics such as formulation strategies, ingredient behaviour, adaptive design, mixing methods, preservation approaches, packaging considerations and environmental assessment. These talks grounded the programme in real formulation challenges and practical examples of how teams refine products.

Sensory workshops were a big feature of the event. These sessions focused on feel, flow and texture, using live demonstrations and real product samples to show how formulators assess tactile qualities in practice. Discussions around slip, spread and material behaviour came up repeatedly, giving useful insight into how sensory considerations guide early formulation work.

Live mixing demonstrations added another layer of context. Emulsions, gels and body washes were mixed on stage, highlighting how ingredient choices, shear, temperature and processing steps influence the final texture. These sessions helped connect formulation theory to what happens in the lab.

Across the exhibition floor, ingredient suppliers showcased materials designed to modify texture, improve sensory qualities or support formulation stability. Conversations here were grounded and practical, centred on how different materials behave and how they could be applied.

What Stood Out Across the Two Days

A few consistent themes emerged during the event:

1. A good space to connect

The event provided a relaxed and open setting to meet formulators, suppliers and sensory specialists. Conversations across the halls helped us understand the practical challenges people are tackling day to day.

2. Sensory experience front and centre

Texture, feel and consumer perception were recurring points in both workshops and seminars. Almost every discussion returned to how a product behaves on the skin and how that experience is shaped.

3. Scientific understanding remains essential

One of the clearest messages came from a technical session led by Tom Arches of Lucideon, who highlighted that consumers increasingly expect robust scientific data, and that formulators need a deep understanding of how their products behave. This talk gave us a clearer sense of where tribology helps explain the surface interactions that sit behind slip, feel and overall product behaviour.

4. Limited quantitative validation

Despite the strong focus on sensory behaviour, there was relatively little structured sensory panel data or analytical validation on the programme. This gap was noticeable and came up in discussions around consistency and repeatability.

Key Takeaways

  • A positive opportunity to connect in a new space and hear directly from formulators and suppliers
  • Sensory assessment was a core theme, especially around feel, flow and product behaviour
  • Strong emphasis on understanding how formulations behave at each stage of development
  • Quantitative sensory validation was limited across the sessions
  • Live demonstrations and workshops helped show real formulation challenges in action

Closing Thoughts

Across SCS Formulate workshops, demonstrations and technical sessions, the consistent thread was an emphasis on understanding how products behave under real-world conditions. Whether through sensory evaluation, ingredient selection or mixing decisions, each part of the programme returned to the same idea: the feel and behaviour of a product are central to its success. Seeing these approaches up close also made it clearer where tribology can sit alongside existing sensory and formulation work by helping to explain the surface interactions that influence slip and texture. The event provided a thoughtful, practical look at the challenges teams are working through and how different disciplines contribute to refining product performance. It was an insightful two days with a strong focus on how products behave in practice, rather than simply how they are made.

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