Mary Kay Picks Location for New R&D Center

After what the company is calling an “exhaustive examination of potential sites throughout North Texas,” Mary Kay Inc. has picked Lewisville, TX as the future site of the company's new $100 million global manufacturing and research and development (R&D) operations. 

Details and exact location of the site are not being disclosed pending closing of the property purchase, the company said.

Today's announcement follows an intensive internal evaluation to determine whether to update Mary Kay Inc.'s current manufacturing operations in Dallas or construct a new facility to house both manufacturing and R&D.

Mary Kay Inc. announced last month it would invest in a new global manufacturing and R&D facility. 

Construction on Mary Kay Inc.'s new global manufacturing and R&D facility is expected to begin in July 2016 with a projected completion date in the first quarter of 2018. 

“We are committed to the latest in technological innovation and Mary Kay's new facility will be on the leading edge of design, construction and production,” said David Holl, president and CEO for Mary Kay Inc. “Our analysis identified a site in Lewisville as the optimal location for our new facility that will enable us to continue to provide the highest quality skin care and color cosmetics for our more than 3.5 million independent sales force members worldwide.”

The criteria for selecting the new site included employee and logistical considerations, as well as proximity to the company's other local facilities, including its global headquarters in Addison, a distribution center in Carrollton and a warehouse facility in Dallas. The company's current global manufacturing and R&D facility opened on Regal Row in Dallas in 1969. Today, the 420,000 square feet facility produces up to 1.1 million units of in demand made-in-America products per day, of which 57 percent are exported to Mary Kay Inc.'s international markets.

“As we approach the status of a top five beauty brand globally and following several years of double digit growth, the new facility will support our company's future needs,” said Holl. “Today, approximately 75% of our business is overseas and yet more than 50 percent of Mary Kay products produced at our current manufacturing facility are exported to our international markets. So, it's essential that we continue to have state-of-the-art manufacturing and R&D facilities to produce the best-in-the-industry products to our independent sales force and ultimately to our Mary Kay brand lovers around the world.”