L'Oreal plant in North Little Rock goes solar

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR - L'Oreal executives cut a green ribbon to celebrate going green -- all while saving some green.

"We use real time tracking the information so everyday we know the kilowatt hours we generate," said Erick Fox, the North Little Rock distribution center's plant manager.

Fox said crews installed the solar panels earlier this month and they can already tell a difference.

"It goes a long way to our citizenship goal, which L'Oreal set a goal by the year 2015 to cut carbon emissions, energy consumption and waste generation on the site, "said Fox.

The energy-efficient hardware outside of the distribution center makes everything inside run smoother.

Executives gave us a tour of the robotic assembly line called "The Flex." It's used to package mascara. The company has bottles shipped in from their supplier. Once it arrives in North Little Rock, they go through "The Flex" to get filled.

The bottles are connected with their brushes, and the two are packaged, boxed and then shipped out to stores.

"Going from 50 pieces per minute to running at 120 pieces per minute is just fascinating quality product for our consumer," said Cassie Liverance, the company's distribution manager.

"We've got a lot of water recirculation projects under way, as well as retrofitting the plant with LED lighting," said Fox.