On 6th September 2017, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Assam and Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever formally opened Hindustan Unilever Limited's (HUL) new personal products facility.
Personal care products
The Assam-based factory will produce personal care HUL items from its various labels including Fair & Lovely, Pond’s, Vaseline, Sunsilk, Clinic Plus, Tresemme & Dove.
Built as a strategic site for the company, HUL and its partners have invested Rs 1000 crores (€130 mn) in the project.
Supplier network build
As part of its core strategy, HUL is actively seeking to maximise its supplier footprint in Assam through setting up numerous integration initiatives for suppliers to up its material supply capabilities in the area.
HUL’s latest unit is the company’s fourth in the Doom Dooma area, with 15 years of operating experience in the state. It currently has three production facilities in the vicinity that manufacture personal care items including skin creams, lotions, shampoos and toothpaste.
Societal collaboration
The company is also working with non-profit organisations (NGOs) and local authorities to create infrastructure, and also gave Rs. 1 crore (€130,000) to the Assam CM Relief Fund.
It aims to encourage suppliers through generating input for packing material supplies, and the new unit is projected to build logistics, warehousing and ancillary opportunities in the region.
This latest opening strives to push HUL’s commitment to the Make in India initiative forward — a series of nation-building activities that are "devised to transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub" — as HUL moves towards developing sustained growth and build upon its 30 factories located across India.