DEVA Founder Shi Xuedong: 20 Years in Cosmetics ODM

In 2004, in a small office in Tianhe, Guangzhou, a young man from Shantou just past his thirties, driven by a deep understanding of the cosmetics industry and boundless enthusiasm, founded Guangzhou Tianxi Biological Technology Co., Ltd. At the time, perhaps no one could have foreseen that this small enterprise would one day become an undeniable force in China's beauty supply-chain sector.

This man is Shi Xuedong — founder and Chairman of .

Born in Shantou, Guangdong in 1975, Shi Xuedong has, over nearly 20 years of perseverance and dedication, transformed a startup into an ODM benchmark serving more than 300 leading beauty brands each year. With his "infant-grade" skincare philosophy and the positioning of "fresh & active efficacy cosmetics," he has set a unique benchmark in the industry.

Chapter One From "Little Nurse" to Entrepreneur: The Germination of a Quality Gene

Entering the Industry: The Imprint of Quality Awareness

In 1997, having graduated in daily chemical engineering, Shi Xuedong joined the ascendant "Little Nurse" brand (Shenzhen Lishida Daily Chemical Co., Ltd.) as a quality-control inspector. At the time, "Little Nurse" possessed the country's foremost quality system and QC process; this experience left a profound imprint of "quality as the foundation" on Shi Xuedong's thinking.

"Quality obsessive" — this has been Shi Xuedong's lifelong "occupational habit," and it is precisely this obsession with quality that later became the core gene of DEVA International">DEVA International.

Transition: From Quality Control to Sales

In 2002, the "Little Nurse" brand was acquired by L'Oreal, and Shi Xuedong was invited to Guangzhou to serve as factory director at a cosmetics manufacturer. The boss happened to discover that he explained products to clients more thoroughly than the sales manager did, so, without ever having worked a day in sales, Shi Xuedong was appointed sales director. Under his leadership, performance quadrupled within two years!

Seven years of employment gave Shi Xuedong a deep command of the industry's five core elements — "raw materials, quality control, R&D, production and market." He clearly realized that competing on "low quality" and "low price" could only make one a porter. When an industry's product prices are driven down to cabbage level, that industry is doomed to have no future.

Entrepreneurship: The Birth of DEVA

In 2004, armed with deep industry insight and a firm belief in making good products, Shi Xuedong founded Guangzhou Tianxi Biological Technology Co., Ltd. in Tianhe, Guangzhou. From the day of its founding, DEVA has been living up to its promise of "making good products and providing good service."

In 2015, having completed its initial accumulation, DEVA urgently needed to expand production. That year, the company relocated from Tianhe District to Huangpu District. On site selection, Shi Xuedong insisted on the philosophy of "Mencius' mother moving three times," overruling objections to build the new factory in Guangzhou Huangpu Development Zone — the high ground of beauty R&D and manufacturing.

"Guangzhou Development Zone is a national-level economic and technological development zone, where R&D and production bases of many Fortune 500 companies are clustered, and numerous leading domestic enterprises have settled. Being neighbours with such excellent peers allows us to recognize our own shortcomings, obtain technical collaboration nearby, and spurs DEVA people to keep running, until one day we become as excellent as they are."

Chapter Two The Establishment of Positioning

In the same year, DEVA's corporate positioning and development plan were formally established. Predicting that efficacy and ingredients would be the future direction of skincare, DEVA proposed the proposition of "specializing in functional cosmetics" and positioned itself as "a customisation expert in fresh cosmetics," establishing a development path of "innovation + R&D + quality + service."

From then on, DEVA stipulated: annual R&D investment must not be less than 7% of total annual sales (later raised to over 8%), to ensure focus on product R&D and innovation, and to dedicate itself to "fresh" pure skincare ODM contract manufacturing and brand incubation.

Chapter Three Breaking Through with Ampoules: Defining an Industry Standard

A Disruptor in the Year of the Ampoule

2017 was hailed as the "Year of the Ampoule" for China's cosmetics industry. DEVA was the first in the industry to launch a glass "mini ampoule" series with "high purity, high activity and high concentration," completing 10 related invention patents, and quickly won consumer favour.

As ampoules exploded in popularity, more and more players entered the field, and the mixed quality of low-price, inferior ampoule products seriously disrupted market order.

Releasing the Industry's First "Ampoule White Paper"

As a responsible beauty enterprise committed to setting things right, in 2019 DEVA, together with China Cosmetics Network, released the industry's first ampoule report — the "Ampoule White Paper." The white paper proposed the industry's first ampoule standard, clearly defining 13 indicators such as production process, packaging specifications, internal-material requirements, error rate, debris rate and flash value for mid-to-high-end ampoules.

This white paper effectively promoted the standardization of China's ampoule market and the healthy development of the ampoule market. It has now become the generally followed prevailing standard for ampoule products in the industry, and formed the corporate IP of "go to DEVA for high-end ampoules."

Chapter Four Infant-Grade Skincare: Defining Safety with Ultimate Standards

An Industry First

In 2019, Shi Xuedong took the lead in proposing the concept of "infant-grade skincare products" and conducted in-depth development research. He believes that infant and toddler products must be made to infant-grade standards, and adult products should also be made with reference to infant-grade standards.

This concept is reflected in products through infant and toddler cosmetic safety assessments and tests such as 11 toxicological tests, eye-drop safety tests, anti-allergy tests and microbiological tests, comprehensively guaranteeing product safety in use.

The Practice of Minimalist Formulations

A children's brand client requested a minimalist formulation of 15 ingredients; DEVA, following the principle of "no addition unless necessary," ultimately developed a minimalist formulation containing only 12 ingredients.

DEVA has successfully built infant and toddler partner brands such as "HaiGui Baba," and the industry has formed a high degree of recognition of DEVA's professionalism in infant and toddler product R&D and quality assurance.

From Infants to Adults

A deeper practice is to integrate the infant-grade skincare philosophy into the botanical formulation R&D for sensitive and problem skin. DEVA proposes the high standard of "professional manufacturing of infant and toddler products, infant-grade adult skincare," running through every link from raw material screening, formulation R&D, manufacturing to best-seller creation.

Chapter Five R&D-Driven: Building a Technological Moat

Sustained High Investment

Having been deeply involved in the beauty industry for many years, Shi Xuedong once said: "The height of R&D determines the height of the company, the height of quality management determines the height of the factory, and the height of customer service determines the height of the market."

This statement runs through the entire development history of DEVA International. DEVA has valued R&D since its founding in 2004, began laying out independent R&D in 2009, and set about building its own R&D system and talent team.

A Powerful R&D System

To date, DEVA has formed an "two institutes, two stations and three centres" R&D layout in innovation and research — the Natural Chinese Cosmetics Research Institute, the

Shennongjia Beauty Ingredient Research Institute

, the Cosmetics Postdoctoral Research Workstation, the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Commissioner Workstation, the Beauty Application R&D Centre, the Process Technology Research Centre and the Cosmetics Evaluation Centre.

The R&D team is led by four internationally renowned scientists and doctors, bringing together more than 30 ace technical experts, and has successively obtained more than 70 national invention patents, utility model patents and design patents, and possesses more than 5,000 mature and efficient botanical-application + high-tech core formulations.

The Rise of Chinese Ingredients

In the Shennongjia Forestry District, DEVA has built characteristic raw-material planting bases such as Paris polyphylla, Shennong fairy algae, Shennong high-mountain green tea and Shennong fragrant chrysanthemum, with seven newly filed raw materials already initiated.

"Truly Chinese-owned raw materials will have broad prospects. For Chinese cosmetics to rise, they cannot do without cosmetic raw materials with Chinese characteristics."

After entering the efficacy era, "Chinese ingredients" are on the rise. With the approach of "ethnic botanical extracts + functional ingredient compounding," DEVA inherits Oriental beauty and promotes the development of a Chinese-characteristic cosmetic system centred on natural plants.

Chapter Six Factory Branding: From Behind the Scenes to Centre Stage

Professionals Doing Professional Work

Although constantly innovating in products, DEVA does not consider building its own brand. Shi Xuedong attributes this to the "factory gene." He said: "The reason I still don't build my own brand to this day is that I am very clear about DEVA's gene — its strength lies in controlling product quality, doing good product development, and building a supply-chain platform, rather than the marketing and traffic tactics of the consumer front end."

Insight-Driven Innovation

As early as 2016, DEVA established a Market Development Centre, building a professional team for market information analysis, insight and application, deeply applying big-data tools such as Mintel, Beauty Promise (MeiLixiuXing) and Feigua Data, contributing well-honed new-product proposals from raw-material application hotspots and trends to brand new-product logic.

Shi Xuedong said: "Without deep insight into the terminal market, it is impossible to develop products that sell well."

Impressive Performance

Chapter Seven Smart Manufacturing Upgrade: A Layout for the Future

Intelligent Factory

DEVA International continues to deepen its supply-chain layout. By introducing equipment such as the ultra-sonic submicron dispersion technology platform and German-imported LEXA-MIX vacuum homogeneous emulsification systems, the automation level of key processes has been greatly improved. It has also invested in building DEVA's second factory, the Southern Beauty Valley campus — a smart factory integrating smart digitalization, intelligent manufacturing and automated production, covering a full-process digital management system.

New Headquarters Base

DEVA International's new headquarters base is located in the core industrial sector of Huangpu District, Guangzhou, with a total site area of about 14,000 square metres and a planned construction area of about 40,000 square metres. It is planned to build 24 intelligent production lines, expected to be officially put into production in Q1 2028, with an annual capacity of up to 300 million PCS upon completion.

Chapter Eight Industry Evaluation and Social Recognition

Shi Xuedong in the Eyes of Peers

At DEVA International's "coming-of-age ceremony," Ma Ya, Honorary President of the All-China Federation of Beauty and Cosmetics Industry and founder of CIBE China International Beauty Expo, evaluated Shi Xuedong as follows: "Extremely dedicated and hardworking; nothing can defeat him, on the contrary he grows stronger with every setback." This spirit of the founder has also been carried into DEVA International, becoming a unique "gene" of the enterprise.

Zheng Weidong, current President of the Huangpu Cosmetics Industry Association of Guangzhou Development Zone and head of the Guangdong Baohua Testing Centre, said: "I have watched DEVA International grow and strengthen all the way. Even though the industry has changed from blue ocean to red ocean, it can still win in the 'involution' with technological innovation and quality control."

Social Positions

Shi Xuedong's social positions include: Director of the China Integrative Pharmacy Alliance, ISO9000 National Registered Auditor, Visiting Professor at Guangdong Food and Drug Vocational College, Visiting Professor at Guangdong Light Industry Vocational and Technical College, Vice President of the Guangdong E-Commerce Development Promotion Association, Vice President of the Guangdong Beauty and Hairdressing Cosmetics Industry Association, and Vice President of the Huangpu Cosmetics Industry Association of Guangzhou Development Zone, among others.

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"The belief that DEVA International has always practised is to believe with a heart of reverence, to persist in believing in what we believe, and one day it will surely bloom brilliantly," said Shi Xuedong.

From entering the cosmetics industry in 1997, to founding DEVA in 2004, to becoming an industry benchmark today, nearly 20 years of time have seen Shi Xuedong use his story to illustrate a simple truth: do the things in front of you to the extreme, and good results will naturally emerge.

Today, DEVA International has established stable strategic cooperation with many leading and emerging brands such as HaiGui Baba, Eastern Selection (Dongfang Zhenxuan), Aiying Island,

Kaweiduo,

Kangaroo Mama and Zhiwuzhuyi.

Facing the new situation of Chinese cosmetics entering the era of professional consumption, Shi Xuedong said: "Only by being professional enough can we win the hearts of professional consumers. Return to the product, return to R&D, return to the essence, hold the sharp weapon of research, and deeply build the product moat — that is the winning way."

This is the story of a craftsman who has been deeply involved in the cosmetics industry for nearly 20 years — a story about quality, perseverance and dreams.