A Commitment to Quality and Innovation in Cosmetics - L’Oréal Spain

Recently, L’Oréal Spain has expanded its base of MARKEM equipment with the purchase of the SmartLase laser coder, which they use to code packaging with expanded information for complete tracking.

The history of L’ORÉAL begins in 1907, when a young French chemist, Eugene Schueller, developed the so-called “Auréole” hair coloring.

Today, the L’ORÉAL Group is the world leader in the cosmetics market with a portfolio of more than 17 international brands, distributed in 130 countries: L’Oréal Paris, Garnier, Vichy, La Roche-Posay, L’Oréal Professionnel, Lancôme, Biotherm, SoftSheen-Carson, Maybelline, Matrix, Redken, Kiehl’s, Shu Uemura, Helena Rubinstein, as well as perfumes under the names of Cacharel, Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren. This is one of the most successful business models in the world, which in 2003 for the 19th consecutive year experienced double-digit growth, with more than 14,000 million euros in revenue.

L’Oréal’s activity is focused on the cosmetics business, based on 5 specialty areas: hair care, makeup, hair coloring, skin care and perfumes.

The company’s vocation is to deliver up its resources, research and experience to the service of consumers and their needs, by manufacturing high quality and safe products. Research implies innovation, and this is the foundation of all L’Oréal products launched on the market. For this reason this is a key axis of the Group’s policies, with R&D investments equivalent to 3% of its revenue. In excess of 2,800 researchers are currently working in the various L’Oréal laboratories throughout the world.

In 2003, the four Divisions of L’Oréal España, i.e. Retail Products, Professional Products, Deluxe Products and Active Cosmetics, launched a total of 68 new products and references in the Spanish market. Improvement of quality, on-going innovation as the result of the research work carried out by the Group’s laboratories, renewal of product lines and the introduction of innovations have all served to consolidate the leadership of L’Oréal in various segments and to break it into developing markets (men’s cosmetics, nutria-cosmetics and others).

L’Oréal España has 2,392 employees, distributed throughout the four commercial divisions of the Group and in its three plants and distribution centers. As for industrial facilities, L’Oréal has three plants in Spain: L’Oréal Hair Products, the Albesa Plant and Cobelsa Cosméticos, which ranks L’Oréal third in terms of industrial facilities within the Group, behind France and the United States. During 2003, 25 million Euros were invested in the three plants, which ended the year with total production of 243 million units.

The European plant for the Professional Products Division, in Burgos

The L’Oréal industrial plant for Hair Products, located in the industrial park of Villonquéjar, in Burgos, began operations in 1971. It currently has a developed surface area of 40,000 m2, employing 616 workers. This facility specializes in the manufacture of all types of hair products (shampoos, conditioners, dyes, nail polish, mousse, perms) and all brands of professional hair products (L’Oréal Professional, Kerastase, Redken, etc.)

The Burgos plant is the focal point of production for the Professional Products Division in Europe, and supplies the European market as well as America and Asia.

Albesa: makeup products

The industrial plant at San Agustin de Guadalix, to date responsible for manufacturing makeup for the mass market, over the next two years will assume production of all makeup – powder, nail polish, lipstick, mascara and foundation – bearing deluxe brand names and active cosmetics such as Biotherm, Helena Rubinstein, Armani and La Roche Posay, respectively. At the same time, during this period the current production of mass market cosmetics products will be transferred to the specialized plant L’Oréal has in Settimo, Italy. Its products are for Europe, the United States and Japan. At the present time it has 244 employees and a surface area of 12,500 m2.

Cobelsa Cosmetics Nail Polish

This industrial plant located at Alcalá de Henares is one of the few in the world that has the technology necessary to manufacture nail polish. The product is sent for packaging to L’Oréal plants throughout the world. It primarily manufactures product for the European and Asian markets. Its developed surface area is 1,300 m2 and 21 workers are employed there.

MARKEM Coding Solutions

MARKEM Sistemas S.A.U., a subsidiary of MARKEM Corporation in Spain, began operations in 1987 in several small offices in Barcelona. At present it is experiencing constant sales growth on the order of 20% per year for the past three years, and similar results are expected for the end of 2004. It currently has a workforce of 25 employees and its new offices are in the Valles Technology Park, a region known for being home to technology companies.

MARKEM Corporation has always dedicated great efforts to researching market needs and meeting them by developing new products.

MARKEM Solutions for L’Oréal S.A.U. Hair Products

Consistent with its policy of international specialization, the L’Oréal plant in Burgos, PRODUCTOS CAPILARES L’ORÉAL, S.A.U., was faced with the need to optimize logistics, tracking and inventory control for more than 8,300 references. In order to achieve this, it was clear that they had to abandon the thermal printing coding system that did not have the features necessary to carry it out, and that was also costly and slow.

The Burgos plant comprises three Production Units. UP1 is responsible for packaging shampoos and hair care products, where the Production Manager is Mr. Gonzalo Sedano. At UP2 aerosols and other products with alcohol content are packaged; the Production Manager until December of 2002 was Mr. Vicente Huraux, who was promoted to another plant within the group and the new Manager is Mr. Raúl González Martín. At UP3 hair colorings are packaged. The Production Manager through mid-2003 was Mrs. Mari Carmen Guardiola, who moved to Paris plant, and the current Manager is Mr. Rafael Uribe, who came from the Mexico plant and was used to working with MARKEM equipment.

Based on the recommendation of its regular machinery vendors, the company selected MARKEM thermal transfer equipment, not without first having carried out a careful evaluation of the systems offered by several vendors. “We started to invest in other brands, and we tested several technologies. The experience and capabilities of MARKEM were decisive factors for us to decide on a complete system. We found the correct solution and this was perhaps the reason for the decision,” noted Mr. Sedano.

Mari Carmen Guardiola talked to us about the beginning stages of the cooperating relationship between L’Oréal and MARKEM. “We began by installing SmartDate® coders. On coloring tubes at the beginning we only marked the shade with a number because they were being manufactured for domestic use. When we began manufacturing products for use throughout Europe, we needed to also print a description of the product in three or four languages, so the system that we had been using to that point was no longer suitable, because of its speed and its print quality. In addition, we had two levels of requirements: the product image from marketing that had to be adapted to the idiosyncrasies of each market, and the logistics aspect, because it had to be an independent system that could work from a database, from which we could extract all the information in real time.”

With SmartDate coders installed on the labeling machines, they began to code the labels for individual packages of the Majirel coloring, for the tube as well as the box. The equipment was later installed at the other Production Units [UP in Spanish] in order to code the individual packages on the various production lines.

With the proven guarantee of excellent reliability of SmartDate coders(45 units installed), L’Oréal also acquired the label printer-applicator for Cimjet boxes (with a total of 48 units installed to date) in order to apply labels on bundles. “The reason for buying the Cimjet® labeler was the same as for SmartDate coder: the need to customize boxes,” noted Mr. Sedano. Mari Carmen Guardiola added: “The reason was the distribution requirements, because in 1999 we became the International Distribution Center. Before we only had to mark the product code, but starting with the conversion we had to also print a code for each country. The small label used only to identify the product became a label with a barcode and the L’Oréal logo. One advantage of Cimjet labeler is its faster output. We needed faster output given the increase in production volumes. Another important aspect was simplification and cost reduction in regards to warehouse management, since with the new equipment we did not have to maintain an inventory of preprinted labels.”

Our Composer™ software for designing custom labels is installed in L’Oréal’s packaging offices. It manages SQL data to manage and process references, allowing labels to be displayed and fields and codes to be edited. It also allows updates and fast searches to be performed. The CimControl® software and Composer software and the central database are linked to share information and facilitate integration.

What is exceptional about this solution is that it allows simple, graphical management and easy maintenance of all products from a single database. Keeping in mind that L’Oréal has more than 8,300 references, this is achieved using links to the customer database via ODBC and EPL in both directions.

Mari Carmen Guardiola expressed her satisfaction in this way: “MARKEM gave us the ability to customize the software. When we were making significant changes and we were not clear as to how to do it, they helped us to specify and organize the data. For nearly a year we were working together, hand in hand, on this project, with the packaging and computer departments. They perfectly understood what we wanted to do and the solution is still working perfectly.” Mr. Sedano added: “Another very important point for us is product tracking, which has been well implemented with the developments made, as well as the excellent quality of technical service during startup, and training of personnel.”

Recently, L’Oréal has expanded its base of MARKEM equipment with the purchase of the SmartLase laser coder, which they use to code packaging with expanded information for complete tracking.

Furthermore, by using the CimControl software from MARKEM, all the equipment in the various units is integrated on a network and is controlled from a single PC. The MARKEM equipment is distributed throughout the three Production Units and all of them are connected via 485 and Ethernet networks. At each Production unit there is a PC with the latest market version of CimControl software installed, version 5.5, that manages the operation and status of all the equipment. CimControl software connects to the central L’Oréal database using SQL. The operator enters the product code to be printed for each piece of equipment in host mode. CimControl software receives it and searches for it in the database.

What is extraordinary about this software solution is that there are more than 100 pieces of equipment connected and supervised by 3 CimControl software licenses.

The Burgos plant is being used as a point of reference at the domestic as well as the international level. At the ALBESA production facility the same situation occurs with the installation of the first SmartDate coders, and there are already plans to install Cimjet labelers and SmartLase® coders and integrate them into the network using CimControl software.

In France and Italy, based on the success in Spain, the first thermal transfer and print&apply equipment has started to be installed. In the United States and Canada, thermal transfer, print&apply and laser equipment is being installed, which has already been used for several years in the L’Oréal Mexico plant.

MARKEM equipment offers a reliable, trustworthy coding system, in production environments where small errors have serious consequences.