FANCL opens new factory in anticipation of rising demand for flagship cleansing oil

The Japanese company said it invested JPY3bn ($29.3m) into the 2,403m2 production plant, its first new facility in nearly two decades.

Located in Nagareyama City, the new Miken Chiba plant, the new plant is capable of producing 12 million units of the Mild Cleansing Oil annually.

This, said the company, will help it keep up with increasing demand for Mild Cleansing Oil globally.

FANCL’s Mild Cleansing Oil was introduced to the market in 1997 and remains one of the company’s most iconic products.

The company claims that since the launch of its latest iteration in 2017, it has sold one bottle every three seconds.

According to the company, sales for Mild Cleansing Oil has seen increasing sales in Japan and overseas. At this rate, FANCL foresees the demand for Mild Cleansing Oil to increase globally.

“In recent years, purchases have been increasing not only from Japan but also from overseas, and users are expanding worldwide. In anticipation of future demand, we decided that a dedicated factory capable of mass production was necessary.”​

The new facility is equipped with a high-speed filling and packaging line with three times the capacity of FANCL’s existing production lines.

Additionally, the company has introduced for the first time, two production vats with a capacity of three tonnes.

Together, these features push the plant to produce at 1.3 times the company’s standard level of production.

The company has plans to boost the production capabilities of the factory in the future so it can produce up to 24 million units of Mild Cleansing Oil yearly.

In the nine months ending December 2019, the group’s cosmetics division recorded a sales increase of 8.4% to JPY58.6bn ($571.2m). Operating income grew by 12.6% to JPY10bn ($97.4bn)

The FANCL Cosmetics brand itself grew 9.9% to JPY46.9bn ($457.3m, underpinned by strong sales of its core products such as Mild Cleansing Oil.

Additionally, the brand saw strong interest in its new product, Deep Clear Washing Powder, which was released in April last year.

The company said aims to triple production of this new product in Spring in order to keep up with the strong demand.

According to the company, the new Miken Chiba plant combines the capabilities of three factories into one.

This will help the company will reduce production costs, create room in existing factories, and increase the production of other products, such as the Deep Clear Washing Powder.

FANCL said it expects the launch of the new factory to help grow the firm’s cosmetics business by 1.3 to 1.4 times in the long run.

“By strengthening our production base, we will respond to the need to be beautiful and healthy forever and aim for further growth.”​