Industrial operations
For over 100 years, industrial operations have been a core part of the Gattefossé value chain. Everyday, our teams make sure we deliver the highest quality to our customers in the shortest possible time.
Our industrial activities are based on two areas of expertise: lipid chemistry and plant chemistry. Our products are manufactured on our own sites or those of our partners, according to our technological and capacity requirements. Major investments are being made to increase our production capacity, notably with the creation of a new site in Texas. Production will start in 2024.
Our commitment to quality products
Manufacturers of pharmaceutical and cosmetic ingredients face ever-increasing constraints in terms of regulatory changes, intellectual property, risk management, process and technological complexity, environmental impact and raw material traceability.
At Gattefossé, we are particularly attentive to these issues:
-
We support our customers as they face growing demands in terms of quality and traceability, by implementing appropriate industrial standards (IPEC, ISO 9001, Iso 14001, GMP, etc.). Our facilities and manufacturing practices are adapted to cope with these changes.
-
We respond to ever-greater technical and environmental constraints to limit industrial risks and protect our planet. To do so, we are deploying programs to reduce waste, to control effluents and to cut our water and energy consumption.
-
We ensure that our employees work in safe industrial environments, and we take steps to prevent accidents. Our production workers, like all our employees, are constantly trained and made aware of the importance of safety and risk management.
Two industrial activities
Gattefossé's industrial activities are based on two areas of expertise: lipid chemistry and plant chemistry.
Lipid chemistry
Lipid chemistry (Lipochemistry) refers to the use of fats of plant origin combined with hydrophilic molecules, using esterification and interesterification reactions. Other steps, such as distillation or winterization, complete the process to obtain the finished product. No flammable solvents are used in these reactions.
The products obtained can be in solid, liquid or paste form. They can be packaged as such, or processed into powders or pellets.
Our packaging facility complies with ISO 8 Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). Our facilities are regularly inspected by health authorities and audited by our customers.
Plant chemistry
Our extraction processes are specifically adapted to the raw materials we use - plants, plant parts and flowers - in order to collect the highest quality active ingredients and extracts.
Our priority is to use bio-sourced solvents and natural extraction techniques, such as NaDES (Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent) technology, microwave-assisted extraction and supercritical fluids, which enable us to obtain innovative natural active ingredients with proven efficacy.
Our ingredients are packaged in cleanrooms or sterile environments, reducing the use of preservatives without increasing the risk of contamination.
A production site on every continent
Our production capacities are spread over several sites around the world, to guarantee manufacturing flexibility and improved delivery times for our customers. In addition to our 3 sites, we rely on other production facilities managed by trusted partners in France, Spain and Italy.
Europe: Saint-Priest
Site created in 1965
Industrial area: 6ha
Equipment: reactors, atomizer, pelletizer, GMP packaging line, winterization process
Plant extraction: extraction tank, centrifuge, filter: ultrafilter, osmosis unit
Site certified ISO 9001 and ISO 14001
Asia: Singapore
Site created in 2012
Production facilities on the industrial site of our partner Faci
Equipment: reactor, mixer, deodorizer, GMP packaging line, pelletizer
Site certified ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, HACCP, Kosher
America: Lufkin, Texas
Site under construction, first production scheduled for February 2024
Industrial area: 6ha
Equipment: reactor, pelletizer, mixer, GMP packaging
Certifications: Leed, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001
Factory 4.0
In March 2022, with the support of the Rhône-Alpes-Auvergne region, Gattefossé undertook a Factory 4.0 diagnostic, to address 2 of the 3 axes of our strategy: innovation and industrial expansion.
This diagnosis has enabled us to draw up a roadmap for the coming years to support the company's industrial transformation. Several promising avenues are currently being explored. Among them, the introduction of autonomous robots and the digitization of our production files are currently being explored.
From 2023, we will be working on optimizing our raw materials purchasing, with the help of Datapred. This decision-making tool, based on artificial intelligence, enables us to analyze, predict and optimize to ensure consistent purchasing decisions.