Guillaume de Demandolx

Premium Beauty News - Properly speaking, you are not a “new comer” in MWV organization!

Guillaume de Demandolx - Not really, I have been in the company since 2005, joining in the US where I participated to the acquisition of Calmar by MWV and after that in some other growth initiatives like, for example, the acquisition Keltec, specialized in Airless. At the end of 2006, I moved to China to lead the company growth in the region where we have built a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant, fully operational since 3 years, producing both dispensing systems (pumps, triggers, airless) and folding cartons.

Premium Beauty News - Looking to the world of “dispensing system” as a whole, including triggers, MWV remains today by far the global leader!

Guillaume de Demandolx - You are right and it is always useful to remind it to the industry, as it reinforces our image of being “the” leading specialist of spray and fluid dispensing. Regarding the Beauty market, we are not yet the global leader, but we have become, under the leadership of Thomas Jonas, President, an active challenger and we are reinforcing our position a little more every year. The “pumps and Airless” share of our production of dispensing systems is becoming more and more important. Our development program and capacity growth for the following months is very significant, for both our plant of Barcelona and in China in our Wuxi plant.

Premium Beauty News - Some capacity growth and innovation on the whole product range, including airless systems?

Guillaume de Demandolx - Yes, absolutely! For perfume or cosmetics pumps and also of course for airless where you know our market presence is relatively new, after the acquisition of Keltec in Holland, but whose system (one-piece engine) has proven to be very well suited to the market demand. As for innovation, it remains a permanent objective for our teams. We will for sure surprise some next year. The development of Airless is obviously a key factor for us, either with our existing system or some other systems under development.

"MWV’s highly succesfull ultra low profile fragrance pump, Melodie, which is produced in Barcelona, Mexico and Sao Paolo, has been chosen by the most prestigious and succesfull brands."

Premium Beauty News - In the end, the crisis had little impact on you!

Guillaume de Demandolx - It is true that the diversity of our range and our markets has help to create a relative economic stability and we have been quick to react to the crisis in restructuring part of our manufacturing footprint and our commercial organization. The company has a strong balance sheet, with important reserves of cash for potential investment (850 million dollars in cash!) so we have the means of our ambitions. But what is also important is that our global manufacturing footprint gives us a key advantage in being able to respond to the needs of our customers in whichever part of the Globe.

Premium Beauty News - You also have the business of “folding carton” under your watch?

Guillaume de Demandolx - A very active market for the company which now dedicates some of its teams and some of its manufacturing assets to the specific and demanding market of Beauty Personal Care. We have had a very strong growth in China and our new plant is now a major supplier of MNCs like L’Oreal, Unilever, or Kimberly Clark. In Europe we have also been successful in developing some new customers and provide a more differentiated and competitive offer. The production dedicated to the Beauty & Personal Care market is more and more concentrated in our plant in Poland with a strong development in our plant in Russia. The manufacturing and the service for the boxes and folding cartons remain to be an important growth driver for the company.