L'Oréal meets rising demands in India
production capacity of up to 100 million units per year. The new
factory is to supply India - where L'Oréal sales grew by 33.4 per
cent in 2003 - and other neighbouring Asian markets.
The company began doing business in India in the early nineties through a distributor and later established L'Oréal India, a wholly owned subsidiary of the L'Oréal Group. L'Oréal - the second ranked international cosmetics company in India - claims that revenues in the country increased five-fold over the past five years.
The new factory in Pune is the latest step in the group's rapid development in the subcontinent. The high-tech plant is to manufacture hair care, hair colour and skin care products to meet rapid increases in demand.
The Pune site is one of the first within the company to implement L'Oréal's newest GHP or Good Hygiene Practices.
"These new requirements have a profound impact on the way buildings are designed, the way production units are organized and on the installation layout. GHP zones are protected by airlocks to allow for a controlled atmosphere, and processing vessels are isolated in dedicated areas physically separated from the rest of the facility," said a spokesperson for L'Oréal.
L'Oréal operates three divisions in India, including the Consumer Products Division - L'Oréal Paris,, Maybelline New York and Garnier - the Professional Products Division, which manages the salon business, and the Active Cosmetics Division with the Vichy brand of dermo-cosmetics.
