With a worldwide reputation for cosmetics that rejuvenate, France’s L’Oréal is setting an innovative example to global manufacturers on how to re-invigorate global manufacturing by applying a transformational foundation of cultural and technological change.

During an exclusive tour of L’Oréal’s Franklin, NJ, plant yesterday by members of the Manufacturing Leadership Council and specially invited guests, the benefits were clear to see. Team performance metrics are everywhere, charting marked gains in efficiency, output, quality, machine downtime, and much more. In one area alone, collaborative teamwork has recently slashed production times for lip gloss batches from 264 minutes to just 90.

It’s a strategy that is underpinned by the company’s recently developed integrated technology platform, called ISIS, which combines Apriso’s FlexNet system with SAP. L’Oréal has already rolled out the platform in 24 of its 38 plants worldwide.

“Our cultural strategies are just as important as our technological and organizational changes,” stressed Nicole Zukowski, L’Oréal’s first woman plant manager in North America, who oversees the 250 staffers producing lipstick and skin products at the 195,000-sq. ft. Franklin facility.

The inspiring plant tour, and L’Oréal’s focus on cultural change, was an apt prelude to the latest Manufacturing Leadership Council discussion on Global Manufacturing and Supply Networks, held later that evening.

Joining us around the discussion table were George Nickel, Director, Global Process Architecture, at Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products and a Leadership Board Member; Morris Lenczicki, VP, Industrial Systems Applications, at L’Oréal USA and a Leadership Council Member; Jill O’Sullivan, Professor of Manufacturing at Farmingdale State College and a Leadership Council Member; Kenneth McGuire, Board Member of the Association of Manufacturing Excellence; Kevin Fuhr, Director, IT Integrated Supply Chain and MES, at medical technology company Becton, Dickinson; Rick Gallisa, Industry Director, Life Sciences and Consumer Goods, and Tom Hennessey, VP of Marketing Communications, at Apriso; Jeremy Shores, IT Lead, Patient Specific Products, and Gary Maingot, Director, Manufacturing Engineering, at Biomet 3i; Henk van der Ven, VP, Flavors IT and Supply Chain IT, and Peter Sattler, VP and CIO, International Flavors & Fragrances Inc.; Fred Schneider, President of precision manufacturer Volckening Inc.; Martin Silver, President and founder of Schoen Trimming & Cord, which claims to be America’s last tassel maker; and Jian Xu, Global IT Manager, Operations, at National Starch.

Combining their extensive global experience, the panelists explored many of the challenges companies face in a changing world, where new markets and new competitors emerge each day. Do manufacturers now need to distinguish more clearly between being simply international, where production is mostly local but products are sold worldwide, and being truly global? For the latter, companies aim to become an integral part of local market economies, often with local sourcing, production, and, most importantly, a more enlightened awareness of local conditions and opportunities.

Panelists recognized that integrated technologies can certainly help create common platforms for operational processes, excellence metrics, and information flows around a global organization. This allows quality levels to be maintained and best practices effectively shared. But the panelists also felt that without an awareness of how local cultures really work, innovate, and buy, the full benefits of a global strategy may simply not be achieved.

The world of manufacturing, it seems, is getting flatter every day. Those companies prepared to embrace that global change will be the ones most likely to succeed. Common technology platforms can help get you there, but combining these with greater cultural awareness and internal change, the panelists agreed, is worth it every time.

Watch for more details of the full discussion in future issues of Manufacturing Executive Leadership Journal.

Paul Tate is Executive Editor of Manufacturing Executive.

See: L’Oreal’s Manufacturing Makeover