Nationality: France 🇫🇷
Sector: cosmetics 💄
LVMH Fragrance Brands brings together the expertise of two emblematic Houses: Parfums Givenchy and Kenzo Parfums. From its acronym, LFB has 2 production sites: Vervins (perfumes and gift sets) and Beauvais (cosmetics, skincare and perfumes).
The Beauvais site employs 235 people:
In the past, the schedule was managed in Excel with the number of resources required per day and per line. Lines were not opened every day or every week (need to be able to close lines daily to replace this file). Operators were placed with physical cards on planning boards. On average, around 10 employees join the packaging teams on permanent contracts each year.
At the Beauvais site, we have deployed a allocation schedule of personnel in 3 packaging workshops. This sector operates in two shifts (morning and afternoon), designated as A and B shifts in Mercateam.
Before adopting Mercateam, workshop managers had to retain a multitude of information, which increased the risk of assignment errors. In addition, the handling of cardboard sheets was complex, and the management of staff assignments lacked traceability. In addition, several Excel files were used to manage the schedule, which did not communicate with each other.
With the implementation of Mercateam, the aim was to avoid assignment errors, such as double assignments, poorly respected rotations, or poorly distributed or assigned skills. In addition, it was necessary to improve ergonomics to facilitate schedule adjustments in the event of unforeseen events, such as absences or unplanned line stoppages. Another objective was to be able to consult the history of planning and assignments, while centralizing data via a collaborative tool to facilitate information sharing.
The results obtained with Mercateam are significant. Automated scheduling has minimized assignment errors, thanks to the constraints set when the tool was parameterized. In addition, a visual alert allows errors to be identified directly in the schedule. Schedule adjustments are now much easier, and a schedule history is available for each year. Finally, most of the Excel files previously used have been replaced by Mercateam.
Before Mercateam was implemented, the tracking of machinists' skills was managed via an Excel matrix, and there was no matrix for non-machinists (supervisors and operators) - knowledge of which rested with the workshop managers. What's more, several Excel files were used to track authorizations, and these did not communicate with each other.
The aim of deploying Mercateam was to replace the Excel file used to track machinists' skills, and to develop a versatility matrix for supervisors and operators. It was also intended to simplify and centralize the tracking of in-house training and regulatory authorizations.
The results obtained with Mercateam are considerable. Skills evolution is now monitored on the platform. This enables the rapid identification of critical key skills and training needs, thus improving the maintenance of versatility. The tool has also made it possible to anticipate the end of validity of authorizations, centralizing all the necessary information.
Integrating a user into the tool takes around 2 to 3 minutes to configure their profile. The training of a new user on the tool takes around 30 minutes, with the integration of 20 users this year, representing a total of 10 hours of training.
The primary objective of using Mercateam was to obtain an automatic automatic scheduling to place the right person with the right skills in the right place, as opposed to a purely manual assignment in the past. Assignment errors are minimized thanks to constraints set when the tool is parameterized.
Depending on the period, the number of temps fluctuates, with an average of 40 to be assigned each week. It takes an estimated 5 to 10 minutes to create a new employee file. Temporary workers are automatically assigned to each job in the same way as the rest of the staff.
Every week, around 5 absences are reported, which could lead to as many line stoppages. Thanks to the information available directly on the schedule, LVMH Fragrance Brands can anticipate these potential stoppages. To date, there have been no Mercateam-related line stoppages (i.e. due to unanticipated staff absences).
We estimate an annual time saving of around a quarter of an FTE. This corresponds to a quarter of the time previously lost in production to reassignment and adjustment of the workforce over a 7-hour working day.
In addition, the possibility of having a schedule history facilitates its realization from one week to the next on the one hand, and enables us to meet regulatory requirements on the other.
Finally, before Mercateam, skills were reviewed once a year; today they are reviewed quarterly. As the tool centralizes the monitoring of skills, in-house training and regulatory authorizations, it is easy to identify critical skills and anticipate training needs.
