US direct sales giant Mary Kay is said to be exploring the possibility of upgrading its Dallas manufacturing and research center, or building an entirely new facility. The cosmetics company has pledged US$80 million to US$100 million to the project.

Some 600 manufacturing and R&D employees are based at the 420,000 square-foot facility, which produces up to 1.1 million units a day, and conducts more than 500,000 product tests every year.

“As we approach the status of a top five beauty brand globally, it’s essential that we continue to have state-of-the-art manufacturing and research and development facilities to produce the highest quality skin care and color cosmetics for our more than 3.5 million independent sales force members worldwide,” said Mary Kay CEO David Holl.

To that end, the company has engaged real estate firm CBRE to help inform its deliberations and a decision is expected at the end of the year.