Premium Beauty News - From 2011 to 2017, quite a fast development with on top of it a doubling of your turnover!

Alain Blondel - That’s true! We lost no time! I must say that the market was favourable: the make-up sector is doing very well and the mascara niche even better! Today we manufacture some 160 million injected mascaras brushes a year and we have a global capacity for more than 300 million parts. It was essential to move to new, more suitable premises. This is now the case since a few weeks. SIMP’s new Tigery site is established on a plot of 14,000 sqm on which was built a building of 6,500 sqm which is home to 28 moulding machines for brushes plus 22 presses and finition machines for the rubber parts. Amount invested: more than 2.5 million euros, complemented with the installation, at the end of the year, of two new moulding machines and a finishing line for rubber parts.

Don’t forget that we also have a subsidiary in Mexico with a 1,700 sqm factory and a capacity of 35 million pieces. Located in Aguascalientes, this factory is specialized in the production of rubber parts for the cosmetics industry, more specifically mascara wipers, and in the contract manufacturing of plastic and rubber parts and assembly operations for local markets.

Premium Beauty News - What were the keys for this success?

Alain Blondel - As I already explained in a previous interview for Premium Beauty News, innovation is central to our progress. We have now more than 30 patents in our portfolio. Plastic moulded mascara brushes and rubber wipers remain the Company’s core business, but we are also diversifying our activities in the production of other types of applicators for make-up and skincare. Another key to our success: our strong international presence since we currently export more than 70% of our productions, mostly in Europe and North America.

Premium Beauty News - You now belong to the HCP Group, who recently acquired the German Company, Rusi a mascara manufacturer. What level of independence and synergies to do you expect?

Alain Blondel - There is no room for ambiguities towards our customers. Things were made clear at the time of our merger with the HCP Group: in spite of this change of ownership, we were to continue our activities with neither changes in our organization nor service interruption. We have continued and will continue to operate autonomously as part of the HCP Group. We continue to serve our customers, with no pressure, for necessarily combining packs and brushes. Meanwhile, we provide the HCP Group with significant manufacturing capabilities through complementary products, offering a broad range of packaging solutions that HCP proposes to major beauty brands. As for the takeover of Rusi, it enables the three entities (SIMP/Rusi/HCP) to provide a very broad range of specific products everywhere in the world, to demanding customers.