© Pascal Biomez
Pochet du Courval will have an electric furnace at its Guimerville (Seine-et-Maritime) site by the end of 2024. The first French furnace for luxury flaconnage will require an investment of between €22m and €30m.
French luxury glassmaker Pochet du Courval, which is celebrating its 400th anniversary next year, has announced plans to install an electric furnace at its Guimerville site in France by the end of 2024. The new electric furnace will replace the existing furnace 2 at the glassworks.
Making the announcement during an on-site press conference last week, Operations Director Benoit Marszalek said it will be the first French furnace for luxury flaconnage (glassmaker Verescence’s first electric furnace is slated for 2025 at its Mers-les-Bains site). It represents an investment of between €22m and €30m depending on the furnace’s capacity, Marszalek revealed.
The other two furnaces at Guimerville, furnace 5 and furnace 4, will ultimately also be powered by carbon-free electricity or potentially other green technologies, by around 2033-34, Marszalek said.
The move is in line with the glassmaker’s decarbonisation roadmap – it is aiming to reduce carbon emissions by 50% between 2014 and 2033. In addition to the energy used at production, Pochet is also focusing on using recycled glass.
Keeping up with demand
Keeping up with today’s “explosive demand” even when operating at full capacity (the site has, on average, 12 or 13 of its 15 production lines open), has brought up challenges in terms of the workforce, says Marszalek. “We need to recruit around 100 people,” he says. “But finding the right candidates is a real challenge; ours are industrial trades that are not well-known in France, and we are recruiting in isolated areas.” This has repercussions when it comes to lead times: “The flacons ordered today will be delivered in March 2023, while usually lead times are around four to six months.”
©Valentin Charbit
©Valentin CharbitPochet is also investing €12m between 2022 and 2024 in ergonomics and automating packing across the majority of its 15 production lines.
Fragrance represents around 80% of production at the site, skincare accounts for 18%, while make-up, which today is increasingly turning to glass in the luxury segment, is a nascent market – the site has notably produced Lancôme’s new glass mascara packaging. Some 80% of Pochet du Courval's turnover (€204m in 2021) comes from around 15 clients, including LVMH, Chanel, L’Oréal and Estée Lauder.
