CHALLENGESOF OEM MANUFACTURER IN HALAL COSMETIC PRODUCTS CERTIFICATION APPLICATIONS

As the 2.4 billion Muslim consumers around the world want more halal cosmetics, Malaysia is creating many cosmetics founders, both Muslim and non-Muslim, who push cosmetics with halal certification to help educate consumers about halal cosmetics. With an Original Equipment Manufacturer(OEM)manufacturing business, the business founder can have their own brand of cosmetics even they do not have a factory. OEM is a business that makes products based on what the founders desired. The OEM manufacturer will manage every procedure involved in producing a cosmetic product, including for getting halal certification. For the cosmetics to be halal certified, most OEM manufacturing companies will face a variety of procedures, one of them is due to the involvement of different cosmetics products thus, different requirement involved. It will not be easy, and the manufacturer must face a lot of challenges during the application process. The aim of this research is to explore about the problems faced by the OEM manufacturer, Anjung Skincare Solution SdnBhd, during the halal cosmetics certification process and how the problems have beensolvedthroughout the process. This study adopts a qualitative method where semi structured interview has been conducted to selected representatives who are the workers at the cosmetics company to identifythe application process that theyexperienced, problems faced and the solution taken. The data collected through interview has been analysed using thematic analysis. The finding shows that the staff who made the application understand exactly which references and criteris thatneeded to be used for halal certification of cosmetics products. Based on the analysis, Anjung Skincare Solution SdnBhds solutions and strategies are working well to help them deal with the problems. Each employee plays an important part as an agent in spreading the use of halal cosmetics. This research is expected to guide more cosmetics manufacturers to understand the challenges in getting halal certifications, besides the solutions to solve the issues.