When Mike Michie and a group of investors purchased Clovis, Calif. spa product developer EcoOne in 2004, the company had just two employees. Now, the publicly traded company is known as Pacific Sands Inc., boasts 14 employees and experienced 38 percent revenue growth from 2010 to 2011.
Pacific moved to Racine in 2004 and recently relocated to a 3,200-square-foot space at 4611 Green Bay Road in Kenosha.
The company is also pursuing growth through acquisitions. In 2008, it acquired Franklin cleaning product manufacturer Natural Choices Home Safe Products LLC.
“They got to the size where they really couldn’t grow because they were doing contract manufacturing,” said Michie, Pacific’s president and chief executive officer.
Pacific Sands now develops and manufactures about 200 nontoxic, safe products for cleaning, pet care and pool and spa maintenance under several brand names, including EcoOne, Natural Choices and OXY-Boost. It also makes private label products for about 25 customers.
The products, including dishwashing detergent, bathroom cleaner, glass cleaner and degreaser, are sold at stores like Roundy’s, Pick ‘n Save and Whole Foods. The company’s brands compete with each other on some shelves, Michie said.
“If you’re going to compete with someone, I’d rather compete against ourselves,” he said.
The manufacturing space has a lab for testing chemicals, a mixing area, a deionizing station and a packaging area. The powder mixer can process about 15,000 pounds of powder cleaning product per day, Michie said.
For products like the degreaser, Pacific focuses on effective cleaning power without using solvents. There are no dyes or perfumes in Pacific cleaners, and chemists work with suppliers to choose ingredients that are biodegradable and non-irritants, said Marion Myers, a chemist at Pacific.
“We try and pick the raw materials that are effective but are safe to use,” Myers said. “For cleaning products, we know that chlorinated compounds can be irritating.”
He said many companies put the undefined term “green” on their bottles, but Pacific is able to show it has natural and effective products.
“Whatever you put on your bottle, if you make that claim, you’ve got to support it,” Myers said.
The company also practices environmentally friendly business practices, like only turning on the lights necessary in the inventory area and reusing plastic pallet wrap in artworks for the business.
Michie hopes to be able to concentrate Pacific products into much smaller sizes so customers can mix them with deionized water at home and reduce the environmental impact of shipping.
“The greatest impact to the environment is shipping that ready-to-use container over hundreds of miles,” he said.
Michie said he has worked hard to get Pacific’s products in the hands of dealers to increase brand awareness and build customer demand.
“Where we immediately started to see a lot of growth (after the acquisition) was in private label,” Michie said. “That high level of customer support has really helped us grow quickly.”
Originally, Pacific marketed its spa products as “green,” but found that consumers think green products won’t clean as well as others. Now, the company focuses on the message that its products are simple to use, more effective than the competition and environmentally friendly.
“In any consumer product world, especially against someone else, their ability to get in front of the consumer will more than likely win,” Michie said. “We can’t compete with a Procter & Gamble, but we can continue to make our product excel in terms of performance.”
Pacific Sands Inc.
4611 Green Bay Road, Kenosha
Industry: Cleaning products
Employees: 14
www.pacificsands.biz
