North Little Rock is home to L’Oréal USA‘s largest global manufacturing plant. The facility, one of five in North America, is nearly a start-to-finish facility producing face powders, eye shadows, mascaras, lip glosses and nail polishes for Maybelline New York, L’Oréal Paris and Essie.

The 800,000-square-foot facility is a model of eco-friendly manufacturing. Following an energy audit in 2008, L’Oréal worked with the City of North Little Rock to implement an energy conservation plan using a nearby hydroelectric plant for its energy and converting to high-efficiency light fixtures and machinery. In 2017, L’Oréal installed the third-largest commercial solar power project in Arkansas. The 3,528-panel solar array aims to provide about 10 percent of the power to the North Little Rock factory, reducing carbon emissions by 556 metric tons per year. The plant has also attained a 100-percent waste recovery rate, meaning nothing is sent to a landfill.

Behind the L’Oréal plant are more than 450 workers and professionals, many of whom come from the Metro Little Rock region’s deep and skilled manufacturing workforce.