Beauty is big business.
Behind the glossy advertising, celebrity endorsements and glamor-affirming catchphrases of our favorite beauty products is a global network of hard workers who manufacture the lipsticks and shampoos that we love.
Northern Kentucky plays a vital, and growing, part in the ever-evolving and competitive global beauty business. French-owned cosmetics giant L'Oreal is expanding its Florence-based manufacturing plant, doubling its Northern Kentucky workforce.
The L'Oreal USA plant, which manufactures some of the brand's haircare products, soon will be company's second largest plant worldwide. Plant manager Eric Wolff says the expansion is driven by two main factors: projected business growth and plant consolidation.
"Our brands are growing in the market today, and we have future growth potential," he says. "The company is really excited about expansion. We expect this site to become a center of excellence for hair care for L'Oreal. We're looking forward to next year."
So why expand the Kentucky plant?
Reason No. 1 is the Northern Kentucky area worker talent pool, Wolff says.
"I moved here from New Jersey, and I can tell you the workforce here in Northern Kentucky is top-notch. There is a strong character, a great work ethic and people are actively engaged in their jobs."
He likens the work ethic to that of farmers and hunters.
"The farmer mentality is a person who doesn't give up. They have a process to complete, day in and day out, and that process has to be managed to be successful. There is a level of integrity and relentlessness there, so no matter what you have thrown at you, you have to tend to your crops," Wolff explains of the farmer analogy.
Of the hunter worker mentality he says, "Hunters are the people who know they have a mission, they have a challenge to complete. They have a great work ethic and make things happen. I would say we have a lot of innovators as well."
Plant expansion brings more haircare lines, workers to Northern Kentucky
L'Oreal has a decades-long history in Northern Kentucky. The company purchased its existing plant, at 7080 New Buffington Road, in 1993 when it acquired Redken Laboratories.
As part of this major expansion of its 560,000-square-foot campus, the company will invest $42.1 million in building improvements and equipment. L'Oreal received $5.8 million in tax incentives, most of which is tied to job creation. The company will also receive $800,000 in sales tax rebates for fixtures and construction materials related to the expansion, according to the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA).
The additional manufacturing facility will be in an adjacent 110,000 sq. ft. building the company previously purchased. Improvements to that building should be finished by the middle of next year, when production there will also start up, Wolff says.
In the meantime, the company will begin hiring 211 new employees to fuel the expansion. Hiring should start early next year and will continue into mid-2014, according to Wolff.
The plant will also be adding professional haircare lines to the current consumer brands produced there, including brands produced in Northern Kentucky in the past.
"We're bringing back Redken, we'll be manufacturing Matrix and Pureology, some of the professional and luxury end brands," he says.
Two regional companies will be consulting on the expansion project: design firm Process Plus, and construction manager Miller Valentine Group.
The new building project will seek LEED certification, an internationally-recognized green building standard.
"We are very conscious of our environmental impact. This is part of our mission to reduce our CO2 emissions to 50 percent of 2005 levels by 2015. It's ambitious. It's achievable, and we are on our way," Wolff says.
Advanced Manufacturing continues to grow, create jobs in Northern Kentucky
The L'Oreal expansion is just one of several major manufacturing and e-commerce companies creating new jobs in Northern Kentucky within the last year.
Those companies, including iHerb, NorAm, Elovations, Amazon, and DHL, are either expanding or locating in Northern Kentucky. In November, TIMCO Aviation Services, an aircraft design, maintenance and overhaul company, announced it was coming to Northern Kentucky. The company plans to grow a new regional aircraft services division.
TIMCO officials have said the region's workforce played a role in its decision to grow in Northern Kentucky.
"This team of employees is fully skilled, experienced, and very capable on this particular fleet of aircraft, and that was very attractive for us," Leonard Kazmerski, TIMCO Vice President of Marketing and Business Development
earlier told Northern Kentucky Tri-ED. "It's a fantastic way to launch this part of the business."
L'Oreal will be hiring from the region's talent pool for a broad spectrum of manufacturing-related jobs. Those jobs include HR, finance, controlling and logistics, quality, mechanics and operators.
"We'll certainly tap into the community here in Northern Kentucky. The more talent we find closer to people's home, the better off we are," Wolff adds.