Vuitton opens new factory in France
French fashion house Louis Vuitton opened a new factory in Marsaz, France on Friday 24 June, expanding the label’s production capacity by 70 people. The company currently owns 17 factories that manufacture bags and accessories and employs about 3,500 leathergoods workers in France. Marsaz is the twelfth in France; in addition, there are three factories in Spain and two in California.
The site is part of a strategy to eke out small quantities of growth throughout its operations, starting with the factory floor. “Our paradox is how to grow without diluting our image,” CEO Yves Carcelle said at the new factory.
Vuitton’s growth over the years means it is often coming up against its full production capacity. Last year, Vuitton was running so low on inventory that it closed its French stores early in the day. The company only manufactures components such as zips in Asia.
Shortly after Vuitton opened a factory near Mont Saint-Michel in 2002, Mr Carcelle began planning the next opening. Its first factory outside of Paris, opened in 1977 in Saint-Donat in central France, wasn’t up to the company’s standards anymore, so Mr Carcelle decided to build a site nearby, with the latest machines. The new site, in Marsaz, could accommodate all of Saint-Donat’s 200 workers plus more. Vuitton spends “tens of millions of euros” annually on industrial investments, Mr Carcelle said.
During the years it took to build Marsaz, Vuitton found other ways to increase production. Mr Carcelle implemented a lean production process, inspired by Japanese car makers.
By reorganising teams of about 10 workers in U-shaped clusters, Vuitton was able to free up 10% more floor space in its factories. “We were able to hire 300 new people without adding a factory,” Mr Carcelle said.
Each step of production was analysed for potential gains. At Vuitton’s shoe factory in Italy, robots now fetch the foot moulds around which a shoe is made instead of workers walking back and forth from their workstation to the shelves. The use of robots resulted in a “considerable” time gain, Mr Carcelle said.
Vuitton developed a computer program to help leather cutters identify the flaws in the skins they buy. The program determines where to cut out the dozens of different pieces of a bag, a process that has significantly reduced the amount of wasted leather.
