Case L’Oreal Karlsruhe, Germany

L’Oréal’s modern production facility in Karlsruhe is impressive. We had an opportunity to visit the factory and discuss briefly with Mr. Benjamin Wilhelm, Supervisor Automation, Process & Technique from L’Oréal Karlsruhe, about their key priorities, especially with their packaging.

Haloila has delivered several fully automatic Octopus stretch wrapping machines for L’Oréal. One of the main priorities of the stretch wrapper is safety, which is a top priority for L’Oréal as well. For Haloila also reliability and usability of the machine are important features when designing wrapping machines.

In total there are three Octopus machines installed at the Karlsruhe facility, all equipped with automatic Reel Change System (RCS) for a safe, ergonomic and smooth operation. Two of the machines are equipped with the Top Sheet film device for water or dustproof packaging. A long term relationship and profound experience in the field have helped Haloila to achieve the best solutions for L’Oréal. “Safety is one of the core values for L’Oréal and Haloila is supporting this goal well.” says Mr. Benjamin Wilhelm. “Also the maintenance is easy, and the Octopus wrapping machine is convenient to use for the operator.” Mr. Wilhelm continues.

L’Oréal has chosen the so called Packaging Management (PM) concept for their Karlsruhe factory. This means that the machinery is rented from Mima Films, which is Haloila’s sister company manufacturing stretch film. Both Haloila and Mima Films are part of the Signode Industrial Group, a leading manufacturer of industrial packaging products.

The monthly fee of the PM contract includes the rent of the machinery, maintenance contract and the film usage. “The PM concept was chosen as it is easy to handle for us. Everything must be measurable somehow, and for instance the film consumption is always invoiced by the real usage, not by an estimate.” Mr. Wilhelm explains.

As usual, there were some challenges to be solved, the extreme low pallets being one of the main issues. With the FlexROPE solution Haloila is able to wrap also the lowest pallets (height approx. 100 mm) whilst the air blow nozzle at the same time is preventing loose film tails during the wrapping cycle.

Along the Octopus wrapping machines, Haloila has delivered also a large conveyor system which was recently extended with three turntables and three conveyors.

The world leader in beauty, L’Oréal (www.loreal.com) is present in 130 countries on five continents. The group’s mission is to provide the best in cosmetics innovation to women and men around the world with respect for their diversity. Environmental protection, safety and quality are the top priorities for L’Oréal. The group has ambitious targets to reduce the CO2 emissions, the water consumption and amount of waste in all their factories.

Interested to hear more? Contact us for further information.