“When it comes to automation, we will always come to you” 5 Squirrels Recommends Adelphi Manufacturing
5 Squirrels Accelerates Growth and Production with Adelphi Manufacturing
5 Squirrels supports medical aesthetics clinics in launching their own signature skincare brands, offering a complete service from formulation and testing through to filling, shipping, brand design, marketing, and beyond.
Since their inception in 2014, the business has gone from strength to strength, earning a strong industry reputation for high-quality products and an extremely personalised approach.
Founding Director Gary Conroy and Production Executive Nic Crump discuss the continued success of their operations, one year after installing their Response Benchtop Filler from Adelphi Manufacturing.
#StartARevolution – An Innovative Approach
5 Squirrels’ holistic approach to business sets them apart in the marketplace. Alongside formulation and filling, their support for newly launching brands extends to marketing, sales training, and more. This unique point of difference is reflected in their forward-thinking approach to production.
“We always want to increase to the next step, to prove our capabilities to customers,” says Nic. “Previously our lip pens were manufactured and filled in batches of 1kg – now we’re up to 6kg!”
“In the past year we have increased our product range by 20%, adding three brand new products, and we’ve increased our top customer’s range by three products too.”
To support rising demand, the 5 Squirrels production team has grown from three to five people in the same period – a 66% increase.
“Our largest batch size filled on the Response is now as high as 10,000! It does exactly what we were promised.” Nic Crump – Production Executive
Scalable Automation for Continuous Improvement
Partnering with Adelphi Manufacturing has enabled 5 Squirrels’ vision of continuous improvement and scalable production to be realised in a cost-effective way.
The Response Benchtop Filler forms part of an innovative, scalable system. Up to four benchtop units can be incorporated into the fully automated Response Automation line, ensuring that the initial investment is never rendered obsolete when upgrading to full automation.
The next step for 5 Squirrels is to add infeed and outfeed tables, along with a length of conveyor, to their benchtop machine. This will free up operators to focus on other areas of production. Importantly, this approach makes full use of the original investment, with all new components remaining usable throughout future growth stages.
Fast Filling – “Regularly Exceeding Our Estimated Filling Schedule”
Capable of filling up to 40 containers per minute, depending on product and container type, the Response Benchtop Filler was a natural progression into automation for 5 Squirrels.
Its versatile nozzle options allow the full product range – including washes, creams, serums, exfoliators, and more – to be filled with equal ease.
Beyond speed, the Response Benchtop Filler has also improved productivity by significantly reducing downtime for stripping, cleaning, and reassembly.
“Set up and assembly is very easy,” says Nic. “Even people without a technical background get on with it perfectly – they can set up and strip down without supervision.”
The machine can be fully stripped for cleaning in as little as three minutes, minimising downtime when switching between product formulations.
“The only product now being filled manually is taking 26 hours to fill a small batch,” Nic explains. Adelphi Manufacturing have provided advice on how the existing Response filler can be adapted to handle this challenging, sticky balm, and will soon return to run further trials with the 5 Squirrels team.
Shared Values – A Focus on Quality
A high level of care and attention to detail is evident throughout the 5 Squirrels site and production processes. The business is now looking to formalise this commitment through ISO certification at the earliest opportunity.
Adelphi Manufacturing is ISO 9001:2015 accredited and takes pride in maintaining superior, industry-regulated production standards.
Both businesses share a highly personalised approach to customer service, rejecting a ‘one size fits all’ mentality. Each offers customisation, modifications, and bespoke design solutions to ensure the final product – whether skincare or machinery – meets customer requirements precisely.
“Over and above this, the main difference with Adelphi’s quality of service was the hands-on training we received,” says Gary. “Adelphi offered to help us set up the machine and stayed while we completed our first fills. It wasn’t just receiving a machine in a box with no further support.”
“When it comes to automation, we will always come to you!”
Working with Adelphi has been “a very positive experience!” Gary Conroy – Managing Director
