Latest news with #ELC
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Beauty brands blend AI into operations
This story was originally published on CIO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CIO Dive newsletter. Cosmetic giants are moving forward with AI plans this year against a challenging backdrop of shifting consumer spending patterns and evolving global trade policies. Three of the industry's largest players, The Estée Lauder Companies, Coty and Ulta Beauty, are exploring how the technology can save costs, tailor communications and optimize forecasts amid the volatility. 'How are we prepared, as you're saying, to cope with the current business needs?' Roberto Canevari, ELC's EVP and chief value chain officer, said in response to an analyst's question during a conference Tuesday. 'There is a lot ahead of us. AI is bringing a lot of opportunities, but I personally feel we are in a very solid place.' The beauty brand, which includes Clinique, Mac and Too Faced, is using AI to modify communications for specific regions, such as India and France. The technology will speed up the process, Canevari said. AI is also helping the company decide what product goes where. 'The AI version that we're working on is looking at what is happening around the world and where is better,' Canevari said. 'The more we do it, the more it will become accurate.' ELC is doubling down on AI under new leadership. The company appointed Brian Franz as its chief technology, data and analytics officer in April, marking the first time all tech-related functions have been consolidated under a single leader as it pursues stronger alignment. 'By bringing these critical areas together under one leader, we are simplifying our structure, removing operational silos and creating stronger alignment across our data and technology strategies,' CEO Stéphane de La Faverie said in the announcement of his first external appointment to the executive leadership team since rising to its helm in October. The previous regime had ramped up AI efforts in recent years, aiming to bring the technology to the forefront of the industry. In November, employees had access to more than 240 customized GPTs that could analyze datasets or synthesize vendor details, among other tasks, as part of a partnership with OpenAI. More recently, ELC created an agent in partnership with Microsoft to help employees market and develop products by analyzing archives and company data. The progress on AI coincides with ELC's broader strategic initiative called Beauty Reimagined, which prioritizes efforts that restore sales growth and enable agility. In May, the company reported a net sales decline of 10% to $3.6 billion during its Q3 2025. McKinsey recommended beauty brands focus on high-value AI use cases and customizable tools to accelerate impact, in a January report. Potentially valuable back-end use cases included automated sales pitch prep, training exercises, internal search, demand planning and post-call transcription. Beauty brands are pursuing AI with a number of applications in mind. L'Oréal, one of the industry's biggest players, is collaborating with IBM to develop an AI model to help develop product formulas that meet sustainability goals, the companies said in January. Similar to ELC, Ulta is going through its own realignment while ramping up AI projects. The company's plan, dubbed Ulta Beauty Unleashed, centers on driving core business growth, scaling accretive businesses and realigning its foundation for the future. 'Our teams are adapting well to our new ways of working, and we are steadily advancing our optimization efforts,' CEO and President Kecia Steelman said last week during the company's Q1 2025 earnings call. 'During the quarter, we leveraged new AI and machine learning capabilities to drive supply chain efficiencies and launched scheduling and enhanced payroll management tools to optimize our efforts and support our cost-saving goals.' The company's CEO took on the role shortly after the new year and laid out the Unleashed plan in March. Steelman changed former Chief Technology and Information Officer Mike Maresca's title to chief technology and transformation officer in January, a move she described as aligning transformation efforts with cost optimization initiatives. 'I'm very confident that, under his leadership ... he's bringing it all together in a way that we can really understand our CapEx and our OpEx spend, and making sure that we're getting our ROI and getting the value realized out of these investments,' Steelman said during an April investor conference, referring to Maresca. Ulta, which has around 1,450 retail stores across the U.S., increased its AI use following a three-year investment period in foundational systems. An ERP overhaul brought operational challenges last year, requiring teams to make process adaptations. The company also ditched a legacy store platform and point-of-sale system and made inroads in data management. 'We didn't have really good data governance around all of our data, which is a huge unlock if you can have clean data sources to leverage AI, generative AI in the future,' Steelman said in April. Ulta saw net sales increase 4.5% to $2.8 billion during Q1 2025, though the company remained cautious about the rest of the year, Retail Dive reported last week. Cosmetic giant Coty has embarked on the latest leg of a transformation initiative first laid out in fiscal year 2020 at the peak of COVID-19 disruptions, which aimed to boost margins and save costs. One of the key pillars announced in April as part of the next phase of transformation is to streamline support functions. The company wants to add around $130 million of fixed cost savings to bring cumulative savings to around $1.2 billion since the program kicked off in 2021. AI is one of the levers Coty is using to reach its goal. 'Having this knowledge, the technology, leveraging AI in one hub, in that basically, we have a clear control tower on planning, and this will bring significant savings in terms of costs,' CEO Sue Nabi said in November. The work to consolidate planning into one hub and enable AI is ongoing, executives said during the company's Q3 2025 earnings call in May. Coty, which includes CoverGirl, Kylie Cosmetics and Sally Hansen, blamed market uncertainty and foreign exchange headwinds for declining sales during the quarter. 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Newsweek
4 days ago
- Newsweek
Zebra Escapes Less Than 24 Hours After Tennessee Owners Brought It Home
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A zebra is still on the loose in Rutherford County, Tennessee, after it escaped on Saturday less than 24 hours after the owners brought it home, a Rutherford County Sheriff's Office (RCSO) spokesperson told Newsweek. The search continues for the animal, which had spent its weekend "wreaking havoc on the interstate," according to a Facebook post from the RCSO. Why It Matters Local officials are trying to corral the zebra after it endangered the public while running through both lanes of traffic on Interstate 24 near Joe B. Jackson Parkway in Rutherford County on Saturday. Lanes in both directions of the interstate were temporarily closed before the owner chased the zebra into the woods. The zebra remains at large on Monday. It is unclear how it escaped its enclosure. What to Know The zebra escaped its enclosure on Saturday, not 24 hours after the owners brought it home on Friday night, the RCSO spokesperson said. Shortly after its escape, the RCSO posted about the zebra on Facebook. The post sparked thousands of interactions on social media, and it was shared across Facebook more than 1,000 times. The animal has been causing trouble ever since, with numerous videos shared across social media showing close calls between motorists and the animal as it ran alongside the road. Doorbell cams also captured the zebra wandering through neighborhoods over the weekend. A stock photo of a zebra. A stock photo of a zebra. jeiman/Getty "UPDATED POST: The zebra search continues Sunday," RCSO posted on Facebook yesterday. "The zebra escaped into a wooded area off Interstate 24 between Joe B. Jackson Parkway and the Epps Mill Road exits Saturday afternoon and could not be located. Owners obtained the zebra Friday night. Cpl. Zach Campbell talked to the owners who are still searching for their lost animal." Although zebras are "not naturally aggressive," according to the Environmental Literacy Council (ELC), they can exhibit aggressive tendencies if provoked. Zebras are legal to own in Tennessee, and no special permits are required to acquire one, The Tennessean reported. The animals can be difficult to catch once they escape because of a "strong ducking reflex," ELC said. What People Are Saying ELC said in a website about zebras: " ... [Z]ebras are more aggressive and dangerous than horses. They can bite and kick and are not typically suitable for domestication. Zebras are difficult to domesticate due to their aggressive nature, lack of a family structure, and a strong ducking reflex that prevents easy capture." Fox 17 Chief Meteorologist Katy Morgan shared a doorbell cam video of the zebra on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday: "Here's something you don't see every day.. a zebra strolling through your neighborhood. This video was caught on Skyler White's ring camera Saturday, in Rutherford Co near I-24." What Happens Next Efforts are ongoing to capture the animal. People who see it are asked to call the RCSO at 615-898-7770.
Press and Journal
19-05-2025
- Business
- Press and Journal
ISA Nursery joins Aberdeen City Council funded hours scheme with enhanced "Encore!" programme
The International School Aberdeen (ISA) has unveiled details about its nursery joining the Aberdeen City Council's funded hours scheme, set to begin in August 2025. This initiative is a key component of 'ISA Nursery Encore!', an expansion of the school's preschool provision under its wider 'Encore!' extended hours programme. Some Press and Journal online content is funded by outside parties. The revenue from this helps to sustain our independent news gathering. You will always know if you are reading paid-for material as it will be clearly labelled as 'Partnership' on the site and on social media channels. This can take two different forms. This means the content has been paid for and produced by the named advertiser. This means the content has been paid for and approved by the named advertiser but written and edited by our own commercial content team. The ISA Nursery is situated in a modern, purpose-built area of the school campus near Cults with full access to wider school facilities. Children benefit from direct access to a large, enclosed outdoor play area, promoting active learning and exploration, and a bright indoor space where creativity and imagination are nurtured through child-led activities. Staff play a crucial role in this, skilfully guiding children to learn through play and enabling them to explore and develop. The quality of the nursery is reflected in parental feedback. One parent commented, 'The staff are all friendly and personable. They truly care about the children and it shows. They are wonderful at keeping parents informed of what is going on in preschool. The facility is outstanding, especially the garden. My child truly loves going to school at ISA preschool'. From August 2025, ISA will partner with Aberdeen City Council to offer 1,140 hours of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) funded provision for children aged three to five. These funded hours are available during term time, Monday to Friday, from 8am to 2:10pm, and will include lunch for the children. ISA will offer families three distinct programme tiers to cater to varying needs: The school emphasises that it will retain its flexibility with three, four, and five-day attendance options available for families. Andrea Taylor, head of preschool at ISA, commented on the new developments: 'At ISA, we understand that every family's schedule is different. Our Encore! programme is giving families flexibility while allowing children to continue to learn and have fun in a familiar, supportive environment.' This expanded offering aims to provide an enriching, nurturing, and creative environment for ISA's youngest learners, giving parents flexible and affordable high-quality early years education and care. The team at ISA are happy to arrange visits for any interested families. To arrange a visit or for further details on fees for 'Encore!' and 'Encore+' options, families are encouraged to contact the ISA admissions office at admissions@
The National
18-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Petition against battery storage site to face Holyrood
And the campaigners are calling on people in Scotland to sign their petition demanding clearer regulation around the proximity of BESS to residences. Launched a week ago, the petition already has more than 1000 signatures and is now in the top 40 of petitions on the Scottish Parliament website. The protest has been sparked by a plan for one of the largest BESS in Europe to be sited on agricultural land just 85 metres away from housing at Cockenzie in East Lothian. It would see 140 shipping-sized battery containers, 35 transformers, three substations and fencing on the land owned by East Lothian Council (ELC) near a local health centre, nursery and primary school. READ MORE: Archaeologist may have found William Wallace's Battle of Stirling Bridge camp The protesters claim it would create a serious risk of fire, explosion, pollution and noise, as well as result in the loss of prime agricultural land and land purchased with the aim of providing employment opportunities. 'A prevailing wind fire at this site would mean a huge evacuation of most of the community, including the main shelter at the community centre,' said a spokesperson for Communities Against Cockenzie BESS (CACB). 'All of this means huge risks to the local area, including the health centre and the primary school. This is simply unacceptable – exposing the community to needless risk while better options exist elsewhere. 'An incident would also pose unacceptable risks to wildlife habitats and farmland because there would be no way to prevent harmful liquid or gases entering the Forth or wider local environment.' The campaigners believe there is a 'gold rush' of planning applications for such sites in Scotland as developers and investors try to cash in on the new technology which is aimed at storing electricity when supply is high and demand (and price) is low. A resident whose home is within 85 metres of the proposed site said her 'anxiety was through the roof' over the proposal. 'It's pretty shocking and would create a precedent in Scotland if it goes ahead because it is so near people's back fences,' she told the Sunday National. 'When they built Cockenzie Power Station back in the 1960s, there was a barrier left between it and the housing, so why isn't there something like that now?' The petition, which has been set up by Cockenzie and Port Seton Community Council, calls for a minimum baseline level of practice around the location and proximity of BESS in relation to residential properties, public buildings, and community amenities. 'No communities should be faced with the risks being proposed at Cockenzie,' it states. It goes on to insist that BESS should never be sited on greenfield land where appropriate brownfield sites exist and careful consideration must be given to permanent loss of prime agricultural land for a BESS site which 'may supply the grid only infrequently and at great benefit to its owners'. Lastly, it calls for communities' interests and benefits for land next to residences, amenity and community space to be prioritised over financial gain for landowners. Members of the community council have also written to the Scottish Government to question the local authority's position as a consultee on the plans for the BESS near housing in the village, given it owns the land involved. Chair Ben Morse said: 'It speaks volumes about the strength of feeling that members of the community have felt the need to form the CACB campaign group, let alone arrange a protest at the Scottish Parliament. 'Unfortunately, it speaks to a longstanding feeling of a democratic deficit which is often expressed within our community where development, even involving our own local authority, is perceived as something which is done to us rather than by, with or for us.' READ MORE: Trans women stage topless protest outside Scottish Parliament ELC is only able to comment or lodge objections to the project as it is considered a national development with approval to be given by the Scottish Government's Energy Consents Unit (ECU). The council has agreed not to object to the plans but agreed to insist the ECU ensures the 'proposed BESS would not result in an unacceptable fire safety risk or that the matter of fire risk is competently dealt with under other legislation'. 'Recent BESS fires at Rothienorman in Scotland, East Tilbury in England and Moss Landing in California pose real questions over the safety of the technology, particularly when in proximity to populated areas,' said a CACB spokesperson. 'Some developers have in-house rules about proximity to communities such as that batteries must be at least 200m from residential properties. We are calling for guidelines that can add consistency to the consenting process.' A Scottish Government spokesperson said the application was currently under consideration therefore it would not be appropriate for Scottish ministers to comment. A UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: 'Storing energy is key to reaching our 2030 mission, and we will build an energy system that can bring down households' and businesses' energy bills for good. 'Battery fires at storage sites are rare in the UK. We already have high safety standards in place that require manufacturers and industry to ensure batteries are safe throughout their lifespan and robust mitigations where fires do occur.' An East Lothian Council spokesperson said: 'The council strongly insists that the ECU should satisfy themselves that either the proposed BESS would not result in an unacceptable fire safety risk or that the matter of fire risk is competently dealt with under other legislation. 'The council further insists that the ECU should consider whether a safety management plan should be required. The council further recommends that Prestonpans Community Council and Cockenzie and Port Seton Community Council be consulted on any safety management plan that is required. 'The ECU should also consider whether it is necessary to further consult with the Health and Safety Executive on this matter.'
India Gazette
16-05-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
SVEEP voter awareness activities to be held in Himachal's Jubbal Kotkhai constituency
Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], May 16 (ANI): The District Election Office of Shimla district has decided to start a series of awareness activities under the Chunav Pathshala and Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs) in the Jubbal-Kotkhai Assembly constituency. These initiatives will be conducted at the booth level as well as in all Government Senior Secondary Schools (Classes IX to XII), Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), and Colleges in the constituency under the Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme of the Election Commission of India. These initiatives are being organised to enhance voter awareness and participation in the electoral process, especially among first-time voters and youth. The activities aim to promote informed, inclusive, and ethical participation in elections. The booth-level nodal officers (BLOs) have been designated to carry out and supervise Chunav Pathshala effectively at their polling stations on 1st Saturday of every month to engage the local community members through interesting activities and hands on experience to sensitise them on their electoral rights and familiarise them with the electoral process of registration and voting. Through Chunav Pathshala Election Commission of India aims at strengthening the culture of electoral participation among people of all age groups. ELC activities will be conducted on the 3rd Saturday of every month by the Nodal Officer of the Electoral Literacy Club formed in the educational institute, the Governmentt. Senior Secondary Schools (Class IX-XII)/ITIs/Colleges, etc, To engage students through interesting activities and hands-on experience to sensitise them on their electoral rights and familiarise them with the electoral process of registration and voting. Activities, discussions, painting competitions, declamations, games, etc., are designed to stimulate and motivate students, provoking them to think and ask questions. Through ELC, the Election Commission of India aims at strengthening the culture of electoral participation among young and future voters. These programs aim to achieve increased voter turnout in the upcoming elections, awareness about the role of each vote in strengthening democracy, encouragement for youth and first-time voters to register and participate and dissemination of accurate information regarding voter registration, polling procedures, and use of EVMs/VVPATs. All the citizens, students are requested to actively participate in Chunav Pathshala and ELC activities. (ANI)
