March 24, 2009 - L’Occitane en Provence selects XFP MES from Elan Software
Continuous Improvement & Increased Quality as the cornerstone.
Elan Software Systems, a leading provider of Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software solutions, with a customer portfolio that includes companies such as Baxter, Takeda, sanofi aventis, Rochas and Yves Rocher, announced today that the L’Occitane en Provence group has selected the XFP MES software. The Weigh & Dispense application enables L’Occitane en Provence to secure the Weigh & Dispense process, alleviate error risks and guarantee full traceability of manufactured batches.
An automated Weigh & Dispense Unit for the specialist of natural cosmetics
Specialized in cosmetics made from natural active ingredients, the L’Occitane en Provence group has experienced a tremendous growth since its creation in 1976 in Manosque, South of France. Today, L’Occitane en Provence cosmetics are available in over 85 countries with 1000 shops across the world. The company experiences an average growth rate of 25% each year. In alignment with the group’s continuous improvement strategy, the manufacturing site of Manosque decided to automate its Weigh & Dispense area.
“With a 25% growth rate and over 200 new products introduced each year, it had become necessary to automate the Weigh & Dispense process. Weighing is one of the most critical steps in cosmetic manufacturing, while compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) of the cosmetics industry ensures the reliability of all manufacturing processes.” explains Eric Lechevalier, plant director at L’Occitane en Provence “The XFP software matches cGMP standards and allows us to display error messages to operators, thereby avoiding chemical risks.”
“The XFP software simplifies and facilitates the day-to-day tasks of the operator by providing guided manufacturing and automatic controls. The risk of human error is minimized. Our manufacturing team can work more efficiently and we guarantee total quality for our clients.” adds Sophie Agat, Quality Director at L’Occitane en Provence.
During the selection process, the L’Occitane group surveyed the MES market and short-listed three key software vendors. The ease-of-use of the user interface, the speed of deployment and the Elan Software’s reputation in the Life Science have made the decision. The Weigh & Dispense area has been fully automated in less than 4 months.
“We are delighted to welcome L’Occitane en Provence among our customers.” says Jean-Pierre Amadio, Managing Director at Elan Software. “L’Occitane en Provence is a flagship cosmetics brand and we are proud to help them in their continuous improvement strategy for manufacturing processes.”
