2024 universal registration document

1.3.5 Operations: a key driver of the Group’s growth

L’Oréal’s Operations teams create innovative, inclusive and sustainable beauty in collaboration with their partners. They harness the power of technology and strive for excellence to design, develop, supply, produce and distribute products and services worldwide. Consumers are at the heart of the decisions made by the Operations teams, which seek the most agile and effective solutions, and guarantee compliance with strict standards on quality, safety and CSR across the globe.

Expertise and responsiveness to drive growth

Building on years of operational excellence, the expertise and commitment of the Operations teams have boosted the Group’s growth. In a volatile and challenging global context, they have demonstrated their responsiveness and resilience, while pursuing their digital, sustainable and innovative transformation. L’Oréal’s industrial activities are at the cutting edge of technology, reinforcing its agility across the value chain to meet market challenges.

Thanks to science and technology, the Operations teams is constantly innovating to enhance the personalisation, agility and traceability expected by consumers. Digitalisation is a major lever for simplification, ergonomics and real-time access to information.

Quality and safety: a priority

Offering consumers the highest quality product is an absolute priority. Over several decades, L’Oréal has set up a single, global and structured quality and safety management system that applies to all its plants and subsidiaries worldwide. Detailed information is provided in section 4.10.

This unique system guarantees manufacturing excellence and the products’ quality with the same high standards applicable everywhere in the world. 100% of the Group's plants are certified to ISO 22716⁽¹⁾ and ISO 9001⁽²⁾. The ongoing quality improvement process resulted in a low rate of consumer complaints in 2024: 100 complaints per million products sold.

Employee safety is central to the L’Oréal model: in 2024, the Safety Management System, which applies to the Group’s teams and all administrative sites, laboratories, plants, distribution centres and shops, was again recognised by RoSPA⁽³⁾.

At the centre of design and development is innovation in responsible packaging

Thanks to the science of materials and design, in order to provide the best consumer experience and product performance, packaging is a key differentiating factor for the product and of its perceived value-creation by consumers. The L’Oréal teams, distributed over five Packaging Hubs around the world, specialise in design, consumer experience, innovation and product development. They rely on the expertise of laboratories dedicated to materials and packaging to create cutting-edge innovations. L’Oréal filed 74 patents for packaging in 2024.

Since 2007, L’Oréal has adopted an eco-design process for its packaging based on the 3Rs: Reduce packaging volumes and therefore resource use; Replace materials and processes with others that have a better environmental footprint (renewable, post-consumer recycled, lower carbon impact processes, etc.); and Recycle by creating packaging that contributes to the circular economy.