UK student brains help global giant go green

Three Cambridge University engineering students have devised an eco-friendly solution to improve energy efficiency of one of the processes in L'Oral's UK manufacturing plant in South Wales, with the potential to reduce consumption by more than 50%1.

The solution, an organic process which converts heat into electricity and the installation of a heat pipe exchanger, was developed as part of L'Oral's Ingenius programme: a global competition which aims to give engineering students experience in the world of manufacturing and commerce.

Open to selected UK Universities for the first time ever, the challenge set by the Ingenius 2008 competition was to help L'Oral meet its tough environmental targets! Students worldwide were asked to look at the energy efficiency challenges faced by the global giants' manufacturing process, each working with L'Oreal engineers to find a workable solution for the manufacturing plant in their country.

Engineering students from across the UK were challenged to submit an entry to the competition. Six successful teams from Imperial College, Cambridge, Nottingham and Cardiff (three teams) were then invited to attend a three-day workshop at L'Oral's Llantrisant plant in South Wales before presenting their final proposals to the management team.

After two months refining their solution with the help of L'Oral's engineers, Melanie Hoehl, Yazid Jalani and Zhao Lu, from the winning Cambridge University team, are now preparing to travel to Paris for the international final, where they face tough competition from 11 other teams from across the world.

It's exciting to be involved in a programme which allows us to take what we've learnt in the lecture theatre and apply it in real life to produce a solution which will have a positive effect on the environment, says Melanie Hoehl.

Martyn Price, Engineering, Safety & Environmental Manager of the L'Oral Llantrisant Plant says:

L'Oral is 100% committed to reducing its environmental impact and has set some ambitious targets on reducing energy and waste for this year.

The Ingenius 2008 challenge is not only helping us to become a greener company but is also giving young people the opportunity to showcase their talent. We think the solution the Cambridge students came up with is both practical and highly creative and we have high hopes for them in the international final.

Paul Smart, HR Director for L'Oral's plant in Llantrisant adds: L'Oral has a great record of working closely with university engineering departments to recruit top-class engineers. This year we will recruit three engineering graduates in Llantrisant and we hope Ingenuis will play an important role in this process.