The Situation Room with Bob Phillips: The Value of a Staff Chemist

I do not know if you’ve noticed, but the industry is full of a new brands and products.  The majority of these brands are what’s called “white label” products.  White label products are products manufactured and packaged for companies selling their proprietary branded products.  There is certainly nothing wrong with going this route to market, but it seriously makes me appreciate the value of being an actual chemical manufacturer with a staff chemist and blending team to produce our products.

Our current facility was built in 1990, and at the time it was state-of-the-art.  A ton has changed over the years, but at its core it’s still very similar to what we built over 30 years ago.  We are so fortunate to have Dave Phillips as the brainchild behind our products.  We just re-released Ultracoat Polish, a product developed by Dave in 1987.  The benefit of having Dave as our visionary is his vast experience in formulating and a strong connection to what makes a successful detail product.  Anybody can get an off the shelf formula and toss it in a bottle, but can they create a product from the ground up that performs the majority of the products that have been on the market for years?  Ultracoat Polish or UPC1987 is that product.  Built over 30 years ago and still performing strong!

Dave has personally formulated every single P&S product for the past 35 years.  When we bring a new product idea to Dave, he has big checklist of questions to develop the product.  We have learned over the years that rushing to market with a product is a recipe for disaster.  Products must have a solid formula, extensive testing and a quality manufacturing process for them to be successful long-term.

Under Dave’s purview is our quality manufacturing team.  They take Dave’s vision and make products a reality by blending them into a finished product.  Our lead “compounders” or “blenders” have all been with our company for over 20 years and have a ton of experience on what it takes to make a successful blend.  We refer to it as their “street smarts”.  A lab batch is created initially and tested by our team.  Once it has been fully vetted, it then goes into the big tank and a finished product is produced by our manufacturing team.  This is such a great asset to have as TEAM P&S!!

As the CEO of P&S, I sleep well at night knowing we can deliver on our promise of quality performing products for our clients.