Inside look: L’Oreal opens $40m first Qld mega warehouse
Beauty giant L’Oreal has opened its first Queensland warehouse in Ipswich, offering more than 13000 products to customers across Australia.
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French multinational beauty and cosmetics giant L’Oreal has opened its first Queensland distribution centre in Ipswich.
The second Australian site offers 14533 sqm to store, pack and distribute over 13,000 products.
It serves customers across New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory, in total, a $40m investment.
The mega warehouse also features a biodiversity garden, rainwater harvesting infrastructure and electric vehicle charging stations.
L’Oreal Australia and New Zealand chief executive officer Alex Davison said the company will be out of capacity without the new centre.
“We will be disappointed consumers and customers up and down the country, if we didn’t have this distribution centre opening,” he said.
“In the future, there could be automation, there could be new capabilities added to the centre, which will obviously require further investment at all.
“When it’s up and running in full, it’s going to be reducing the transport to our customers, because we’re so centrally located in a very heavily populated part of Australia.
“We’re anticipating a four Green Star Rating, so it’s been built with sustainability in mind.
“I’m excited that it’s doing it in a way that directly benefits climate, and it increases our responsiveness to customers as well.”
Chief operating officer Cedric Lemetter said operations at the distribution centre started eight weeks ago.
“We see that as a first stone in continuing to build operations here,” he said.
“We have 30 per cent capacity and (are) filling up quickly.
“We plan to be at 100 per cent by November.”
The site is still hiring and will have 70 workers by the end of year.
Ipswich mayor Teresa Harding said the investment will support new jobs to enhance the local economy.
“Attracting L’Oreal Groupe to Ipswich is another sign that businesses have confidence in Ipswich, as we continue to boost our supply chain resilience and provide opportunities for our residents to work where they live,” she said.
French Ambassador Pierre-André Imbert said the development was evidence of the brand’s success in Australia.
“L’Oreal is very important to the art of all the French people,” he said.
“(It is) also a commitment to future growth and more products for new customers in Australia.
“Now we have a link in Queensland, and so we can’t wait to see how you will welcome the world after Paris.”
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Originally published as Inside look: L’Oreal opens $40m first Qld mega warehouse
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