L’ORÉAL CHOSE COPENHAGEN FOR ITS SCANDINAVIAN LOGISTICS BASE

A new central warehouse serving the whole of Scandinavia and a comprehensive restructuring of the Scandinavian markets has not only proven financially gainful for L’Oréal. It has also ensured the leading French cosmetics company a much improved service with quicker delivery, better qualified staff and more efficient management in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

The 12,000 m² warehousing facility is located in Greve, south-west of Copenhagen, and forms an integral part of an organisational setup based on logistics that were decided in principle in spring 1997.

An independent analysis had also shown that it would be economically viable to merge the company’s separate warehouses in Copenhagen, Malmö and Oslo into one single warehouse serving the entire Scandinavian region.

L’Oréal’s Operations Director for Scandinavia, Peter Trabolt comments: “The equation was a fairly simple one. All our goods enter Scandinavia from the south, so in terms of distance and transport considerations Copenhagen was the most obvious choice.”

Robust organisation
As well as establishing a shared warehouse, the three Scandinavian countries also introduced a joint IT system and centralised a number of other functions – including many administrative and financial activities.

“Everything worked well from day one, and with the new central warehouse we have markedly improved our ability to deliver. We can deliver quicker and more precisely from here to Sweden and Norway than the Swedish and Norwegian warehouses were able to do prior to restructuring,” points out Peter Trabolt.

Concurrent with the introduction of these organisational changes and the new logistics setup, L’Oréal in Scandinavia has experienced strong growth.
“Without the new organisation, we could not have managed the strong growth we have seen in both products and turnover, nor could we have implemented the complex logistics solutions that we are now working with.” 

“We have achieved significant economic gain and enhanced quality. And we now have better qualified staff and improved dialogue with our customers. All in all, we have a far better and more robust organisation today,” concludes Peter Trabolt.

Read more at: http://www.loreal.com/