Lablabo opens its new production site

Interview by Jean-Yves Bourgeois

21 January 2013

Located near Annemasse in the French Alps, on a plot of 8,000 m2 (86,000 sq ft) on which was built a building (offices + production workshop and warehouse) of 4000 m2 (43,000 sq ft) just three kilometres from the former site, the new factory of Lablabo, a company which has been specializing for the past thirty years in metering dispensers, is not only "brand new". It was designed taking into account the most stringent safety standards in terms of pharmaceutical and cosmetic packaging. Cost of the operation 4.7 million Euros! Explanations by Jean-Philippe Taberlet, CEO.

Premium Beauty News - A word first on Lablabo?

Jean-Philippe Taberlet - For more than thirty years we have specialized in metering devices around two main ideas, innovation and reactivity. After creating in 1995 the market’s first airless dispenser with a soft pouch, we are now striving to continually adapt it to the needs of our clients in terms of technicality, quality and increased protection of formulas.

Premium Beauty News - A few key figures?

Jean-Philippe Taberlet - Last year we achieved a turnover of 12 million Euros equally divided between the Pharma and the Cosmetic sector. To note that we export 80% of our production and that, globally, the United States weigh more in our turnover than the French market. With this new production site, we will be increasing our production capacity which will reach 40 million pumps per year, 35 million pouch bottles and 12 million valves.

Premium Beauty News - A new factory like no other it seems?

Jean-Philippe Taberlet - It’s true! We decided to build it for three main reasons:

– Moving from a former industrial site which in fact consisted of three parts.
– Increase of course our production capacity.
– Place ourselves in industrial conditions enabling to meet the GMP requirements.

May I recall that we obtained the ISO 9001 certification in December 2003 and that since December 7, 2010 we are also ISO 15378 certified (which covers primary packaging materials for medicinal products) and that with this new site the goal was to achieve compliance with such standards as ISO 8 or grade D. This concretely translates into a 1,200 m2 (13,000 sq ft) overpressure air filtered production clean room. This means that not only some 4,000 m3 of air are filtered and recycled every six minutes, but that the air is maintained at a constant temperature and humidity rate. All parameters are recorded twenty-four hours a day and can be traced at any time.

Of course, the staff can only enter production room through security gates equipped with air showers. Finally, and very importantly, no cardboard box nor pallet or wood packaging can enter this room.

Premium Beauty News - The different steps in the development of a product have not changed?

Jean-Philippe Taberlet - The phases are as follows:

– Identify and validate the materials best suited to the product,
– Perform the compatibility and development tests adapted to the product,
– Ensure the production of pilot batches for the pre-industrial tests,
– Provide assistance for the building up of the pharmaceutical packaging file.

Premium Beauty News - A few words on your latest novelties?

Jean-Philippe Taberlet - Our latest product is called Ellipse: an airless metering bottle, very slim with an elliptical shape, a feat which was made possible using the soft pouch system. This HEAD High Efficiency Airless Dispenser consists of a high performance multilayer aluminium pouch paired to a precise metering pump equipped with a self-sealing actuator. Pharmaceutical technicality combined with cosmetic design!