Parfums Christian Dior opens a new production site in France
Dior has just acquired the Amore Pacific fragrance factory, located in Chartres, Eure-et-Loir. This site becomes the third production site of Parfums Christian Dior and will be dedicated to producing high value-added references. Jérémie A., Head of Fragrance Packaging Engineering, talks to us about the industrialization of this site on which Christophe, agap2 consultant, has been working for eight months.
What motivated Dior to buy the Chartres production site?
Dior’s acquisition of the site has been effective since January 1, 2019. It completes the production facilities of Parfums Christian Dior, and is added to the historic centre of Saint-Jean-de-Braye, near Orléans. We have already started to transfer part of the activity. We will develop our collection of top-of-the-range brand perfumes, Maison Christian Dior.
What are the challenges involved in the industrialization of this new site?
These high-end products require a superior manufacturing and packaging process. It was therefore necessary to train the teams in new technical processes. The site will also include a production line dedicated to cosmetics. This will relieve congestion at the Saint-Jean-de-Braye site, where 210 million units are packaged per year, which has now reached saturation point*. According to Jean-Dominique Bosq, Director of Operations of Parfums Christian Dior, the objective for this year is to double the number of employees before welcoming nearly 300 when the site reaches its full activity.
Why did you choose to use agap2 to support you on this project?
The proposed acquisition of this site was only known to a few people in the organization. The signature, and therefore the formalization of the acquisition, launched the industrial transfer project. Our objective was to start production activities at this site “as soon as possible”. This activity was, on the one hand, unplanned, and on the other hand, with a limited duration. Using agap2 allowed us to have access to a profile that was comfortable with this type of activity and quickly operational in the field. Christophe therefore joined our Packaging Process Engineering department and created his network and contacts to interface with Orléans and Chartraines organizations. It has also shown good adaptation and flexibility to carry out this project.
* Declaration Jean-Dominique Bosq, L’écho Républicain/l’Usine Nouvelle, January 2019
Agap2 expertise
Christophe has been working with DIOR since October 2018 on the implementation of other packaging lines at this new site in Chartres.
The challenge was to meet the commitments of the engineering department in order to enable the new production unit to package its assigned perfume catalogue as soon as possible. I attended and participated in a close collaboration between all the departments to meet the Directorate’s ambition to make a new Chartraine structure operational.
This is a project that will allow the luxury house to develop its high-end collections. It is rewarding to be able to follow the preparation of the site, support the improvement of machines, the implementation and launch of production lines.
It is exciting and very rewarding to participate in such a project and to progress with such motivated teams. Projects of this magnitude only occur very few times in a career.
Christophe, Project engineer – industrialisation
