L'Oréal USA Launches Innovative Approach to Bottle Supply at Florence, Kentucky Plant

(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) New York, NY - October 24, 2011 - L'Oréal USA announced today that its Florence, Kentucky manufacturing facility is operational with an innovative ‘Wall to Wall” component supply program which locates its shampoo component supplier, Alpla, in the same facility where the Garnier Fructis shampoos and conditioners are produced.  The in-house component supply model was first implemented at the company’s Rambouillet manufacturing plant in France last year and has since been introduced in Settimo, Italy and Libramont, Belgium. The Florence plant is the first US manufacturing facility for L’Oréal to implement Wall to Wall supply which will reduce freight, CO₂ emissions, waste and costs. 

“This new supply approach is a win for L’Oréal, a win for our supplier and a win for the planet,” said Antonios Spiliotopoulos, Senior Vice President, Operations L’Oréal USA Consumer Products Division. “In addition to reducing the costs and environmental impacts related to trucking the bottles, we have also been able to significantly reduce our inventories of finished components from multiple weeks to a two days’ supply.”   In June, the component supplier installed its packaging equipment at the Florence facility. The plant estimates that more than 400,000 freight miles will be eliminated with on-site production of the 70 million Garnier Fructis bottles, resulting in a corresponding 200 metric ton reduction in CO2 emissions.    In addition to eliminating deliveries by truck and related fuel consumption, the in-house production of components will also eliminate the use of 50 tons of corrugate transport packaging and thousands of wooden pallets which L’Oréal USA estimates will save more than ten thousand trees.   The 560,000 square foot Florence facility, which produces more than 170 million units of Garnier, L’Oréal Paris and SoftSheen Carson hair care  products annually, has implemented many other energy efficiency and conservation programs.  Last year, the plant implemented a vessel cleaning optimization program called OptiCIP which has reduced the amount of water used for vessel washing per unit of finished product by 14%. Annually, the plant estimates it will save more than 12,700 cubic meters or 3.4 million gallons of water through this initiative alone   Since 2005, the Florence manufacturing plant has made significant improvements in its environmental performance and expects the following reductions for 2011: 

·         -2.4% reduction in GHGs (total tones of CO2, scope 1 & 2 2005-2011)

·         -18.6% reduction of tones of transportable waste per finished product (from 2005-2011)

·         -32.1 %  reduction in liters of water consumption per finished product (from 2005-2011)

·         -17.8% reduction in kilowatt-hours of energy consumption per finished product (from 2005-2011)

About L’Oréal USA L'Oréal USA, headquartered in New York City, with 2010 sales of over $4.7 billion and 9,800 employees, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of L'Oréal SA, the world’s leading beauty company. In addition to corporate headquarters in New York, L'Oréal USA has Research and Innovation, Manufacturing and Distribution facilities across seven states, including New Jersey, Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois, Ohio, and Texas.  Since 2001, L’Oréal has been measuring its impact on global warming and joined the Global Compact in 2003, reinforcing its commitment to climate change. The company has been recognized by Corporate Knights for being among the 100 most sustainable corporations in the world, by Climate Counts for its leadership in addressing climate change and is among the Top 100 Global Green Companies in 2011 ranked by Newsweek.   L'Oréal's impressive portfolio of brands includes Lancôme, Giorgio Armani Beauty, Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, Viktor & Rolf, Diesel, Cacharel, L'Oréal Paris, Garnier, Vichy, La Roche-Posay, L'Oréal Professionnel, Kérastase and Shu Uemura Art of Hair, Maybelline New York, Soft-Sheen.Carson, Kiehl’s Since 1851, Ralph Lauren Fragrances, Essie Cosmetics, Redken 5th Avenue NYC, Matrix, Mizani, Pureology, SkinCeuticals and Dermablend. For more information visit www.lorealusa.com.    ###   Press Contact: Pamela Gill Alabaster 212-984-4905 palabaster@us.loreal.com   LORE18045