3. If we could halve all changeover times in the factory, what effect would this have on inventory? L’Oréal cosmetics is now the world’s largest toiletries and cosmetics group, with a presence in over 140 different countries. In the UK, the 45,000 m2 purpose-built facility in mid-Wales produces 1300 product types in a spotlessly clean environment, which is akin to a pharmaceutical plant in terms of hygiene, safety and quality. The plant has 55 production lines and 45 different production processes, and the manufacturing systems employed are of a flexibility that allow them to run each of the 1300 product types every 2 months – this means over 150 different products each week. But the plant was not always as flexible as this. It has been forced to enhance its flexibility by the requirement to ship over 80 million items each year.

The sheer logistics involved in purchasing, producing, storing and distributing the volume and variety of goods has led to its current focus on introducing JIT principles into the manufacturing process.