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Ten panelists representing mak-ers of surfactants. detergentsand automatic laundry equip-

ment discussed the possible effect ontheir industry of federally mandat-ed-but as yet unspecified---energyreductions due 10 lake effect in 2000.The common goal seemed to be tointroduce any changes in equipment.surfuctants or detergents with as linleinconvenience as possible to con-sumers.

Louis Kravetz. staff researchchemist for Shell Chemical Co.,organized the discussion-NewWashing Machine Design and Perfor-mance Evaluation-as part of a ses-sion on May 10 during the AOCSAnnual Meeting & Expo. Kravetzserves as Shell's liaison with theHousehold Appliance ManufacturersAssociation (HAMA),

No definitive decisions have beenmade about potential use of horizon-tal-axis systems in washing machinesto replace the vertical-axis systemsused in current home laundry wash-ers. Consequently, detergent makersare not yet altering formulations inanticipation of new equipmentdesigns. and surfactant makers arenOI committed to future emphasis ofany specific performance characteris-tic.

However. surfactant manufactur-ers. detergent manufacturers andhome laundry equipment manufactur-ers are taking a systems approach andcoordinating their decisions. Thegoal is that any changes should govirtually unnoticed by consumersbecause laundry performance wouldbe equal to. or better than. currentperfonnance.

Machine designGlen Graham of General Electric andDick Stilwell of May tag presentedthe appliance manufacturers' view-points. Stilwell reviewed the historyof the federal legislation requiringincreased energy efficiency in wash-ing machines.

Machines could meet the newstandards by using less water (mean-ing less energy would be required 10

heat water for the machine) or byreducing the temperature of thewater used. according to Graham.Design changes also could includefewer selections of wash and rinsetemperatures. altering the clothes-to-water ratio. and increasing theamount of water extracted fromclothes during the spin cycle. thussaving dryer energy and cuttingcycle time.

the appliance industry and on TheSoap and Detergent Association'sconsumer education committee.

Detergent formulators are study-ing various combinations of chemicalenergy (detergent formulations) andkinetic energy (agitation. tumbling.spinning) to maintain or to improvelaundry results at lower temperaturesand/or lower water levels. Use ofcooler water reduces dye transfer

Detergent [ormulators are studying variouscombinations of chemical energy

(detergent formulations) and kinetic energy(agitation, tumbling, spinning) 10 maintain

or to improve laundry results at lowertemperatures and/or lower water levels.

among fabrics of different colors orcompositions, but stronger detergentscould offset that benefit.

The detergent dose used per loadprobably will remain about the same.and the size of home wash loads inEurope and the United States-whichJacobson said currently are about sixto seven pounds-probably willremain unchanged. Jacobson said thatthose who believe that dosage wouldbe reduced with a lower water vol-ume are mistaken because dose cor-relates to the amount of soil, not theamount of water.

The implications of low-watertemperatures for detergent formula-tors include potential problems withdispersion and solubility. In addition.temperature-dependent ingredients.such as surfactants and oxygenbleaches, will have to be reopti-rnized. according to Jacobson.

"Builders' role needs to be reopti-mized, and we would expect thatdosage for horizontal-axis machinewould be close to that of today," hesaid. adding that European dosages

~ Home laundry systems to change-but how?

Major challenges for equipmentdesigners include developing testmethods to determine the effects ofchanges in temperatures, nvcidingmarket segmentation so that luuudryproducts for new machines also canbe used in older machines, and evalu-ating the effects of more vigorousspin cycles on wear and tear andwrinkling of fabrics.

Detergent rcrmuiattcnThree panelists from detergent com-panies coordinated their presenta-tions to avoid duplication. accordingto Jack Linard. technology managerfor development of powdered deter-gents at Lever Brothers. Other pan-elists were Ron Jacobson of Procter& Gamble (P&G). who has beeninvolved in development of laundryand dish washing products since1961. and Adam Mandry of Amway.who spent more than four years inlaundry product research for P&Gbefore joining Amway. Jacobsonserves as P&G's North AmericanTechnical Relations coordinator with

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Three member. of the panel that discussed possible changes to surfactants, detergentsand washing machines are (from left) George Feighner, Jack Anderson and Adem Mllndry.

are "about the same" as in the UnitedStares.

"But European machines use a 101less water-a-about four gallons (per

wash) VS. 18-23 gallons in the U.S.,"Jacobson said.

"Washing performance is a func-lion of temperature, agitation, chem-istry, lime, water volume and compo-sition. fabric. and soil level andtype," said Arnway's Mandry, pre-dicting significant changes in some,but nor all, of the factors. Changes inthennal and mechanical factors willprompt changes in detergent chem-istry and require adjustments to con-tinue to meet consumers' expecta-tions. Such changes might includelower foaming surfactants, enzymesstable in the presence of strongerdetergents, new technology for fabricsofteners and presoaking solutions,he said.

Mandry said that coordinationamong surfactant companies,detergent makers and appliancedesigners should continue becausechanges cannot be made "in a blackbox. Consumers' need to gel a cleanlaundry conveniently will nOIchange."

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SurfactantsProviding detergent manufacturerswith surfactants for the 21st centuryis a priority for the surfactant indus-try, Ron Lewis of Huntsman said.Combinations of surfactants appearto offer the best approach, he said.The combinations wi11 have to below-foaming, but Lewis said heanticipates no major problemsbecause of the industry's experiencewith low-foaming automatic dish-washing detergents.

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Easy rinsability in lower waterlevels is another goal for surfactantproducers, Lewis said.

New equipment to test detergencyand detergent performance has beendeveloped for use in horizontal-axismachines, Lewis said. Using the newequipment. "we've found some com-binations of surfactants that builddetergents thai work well in horizon-tal-axis machines:' Lewis said.

Shell Chemical's Kirk Raneysaid, "We are now trying to under-stand at the laboratory level theimpact of machine design on oursurfactarus.

He agreed with previous speak-ers that solubility properties of sur-Factants are key because of antici-pated lower water levels and temper-atures in future machines. He alsosaid that interactions of surfactantswith other detergent ingredientsneed to be studied to develop theproper ratio of builder to surfactams.

"As surfactant suppliers, we needto develop realistic and reliablescreening tests for solubility, foam-ing. (and) cleaning to use beforestarting full-scale machine tests,"Raney said.

Current test equipment and meth-ods were reviewed by Jack Ander-son of Scientific Services, a consult-ing firm. Anderson said that testmethods will have to be modifiedfor the new conditions and describedefforts to simulate agitation of wash-ing machines. Anderson, who serveson several standardized methodolo-gy committees. said ISO standardsmay prove useful in developingdetergency test procedures andequipment.

"Detergency and machine testingmust be developed, validated andcorrelated, and now is the time 10address future test methods," hesaid.

Detergency test results from someof Argeo's screening programs werereviewed by George Feighner ofArgeo Inc., who described soils usedin the firm's testing. Performance ofthe best detergents and the worstdetergents remained consistent oneach type of soil. but for the mid-range detergents, results varied sig-nificantly, Feighner said.

INFORM, Vol. 6, no. 7 (July 1995)

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~ Charles B. Strauss, president and~ chief executive officer of Lever

Brothers Company. pauses beforehis talk at the AOCS Surfactants andDetergents Division lunch on organizationalstrategies for international firms.

Strauss: for Lever,decentralization is bestLever Brothers' chief executive offi-cer Charles Strauss explained tothose attending the AOCS Surfac-tants and Detergents Division'sAnnual Meeting & Expo luncheonmeeting why Lever Brothers favors adecentralized management approachfor its global business involvements.

During the luncheon, the divisionalso presented two awards andapproved the reports from ChairpersonPaul Sosis. Treasurer Michael Cox andSecretary Ammanuel Mehreteab.

GlobalizationIn the soap and detergent industry, asin other major industries with largecorporations and international busi-ness concerns, a continuing debatefocuses on how to become a globalmarketer. Strauss, president andchief executive officer of LeverBrothers Co. in New York City,explained his company's preference.

Noting that any company'sapproach to globalization depends onits business lines, vision, strategyand corporate culture, Strauss sum-marized the history and current prod-ucts of Unilever, Lever Brothers'parent corporation.

Unilever was formed 62 years agoby the merger of a British companyand a Dutch company. Strauss saidthat the national culture of each part-ner helped solidify the merged busi-ness.

"Both countries had a strong his-tory of commerce and were usuallyallies through the centuries. There-

fore, international cooperation was,and is, a natural part of the corporateculture," he said.

Lever Brothers is Unilever's U.S.unit, manufacturing and sellingsoaps and detergents, beverages andfoods, personal hygiene products,and fragrances. Lever Brothers iscelebrating its IOOthanniversary inthe United States during 1995, hav-ing been established by the BritishLever organization prior to the 1933establishment of Unilever.

Strauss reviewed the advantagesand disadvantages of both central-ized and decentralized managementfor global businesses. For example, acompany with strong central man-agement has strong control by uppermanagement, can act speedily andgenerally enjoys lower costs, he said.Products are structured and harmo-nized for global marketing.

However, decentralized compa-nies can pay more attention to localdifferences in markets around theworld and can be more innovative innew product development, Strausssaid. Local management can be moreentrepreneurial, creative and moti-vated to take initiative, he said.Decentralized companies generallyneed to spend more time and moneyon organizational strategy, communi-cations and training.

"Our (Unilever) tradition isdecentralized management, givinglocal company authorities theresponsibility for formulation ofproducts, packaging, positioning,

advertising, packaging size andproduct price, merchandising andpromotion:' Strauss said.

Product development is also alocal activity because "differences inculture and language may seem obvi-ous, but they are also profound,especially for food products,"Strauss said. In addition, trends intrade and competitive structure varyfrom market to market, even in thesame region, as do government regu-lations and business practices.

"We compete with local sellersand often have been the first multi-national company to sell in somecountries," Strauss said.

Lever's international brandsinclude Lipton Tea, Omo detergentsand Lifebuoy soap.

"Lifebuoy is second only to Lux(another Lever product) in worldsales. It (Lifebuoy) is sold in 30countries and on all continents. It isthe most popular brand in India. Itwas the first deodorant soap in theUnited States," Strauss said.

In India there are large signsadvertising the Lifebuoy brand,"even in the remotest villages ofIndia, and there are more than800,000 villages there," Strauss said."We marketed Lifebuoy as a healthproduct; in India, the carbolic fra-grance is Important."

Lifebuoy was successful in devel-oping markets despite conventionalmarketing wisdom that consumersthere would not pay for deodorantqualities in bar soap, Strauss said.

INFORM. Vol. 6. no. 7 (July 1995)

In the United States, the Lifebuoybrand has been replaced by Lever2()()(). Strauss said that althoughLipton Tea is sold worldwide, its for-mulation differs from country tocountry and even from region toregion within one country: "Tasteand pocketbooks require differ-ences."

In the United States, most tea isserved over ice with sugar andlemon. In other countries, iced tea isalmost unheard of. Packaging-inbags or jars. in bulk containers forconsumers to select their own quan-tity, in shreds or in powders-allvary to meet local market prefer-ences.

Leaders within industries, andexecutives within Unilever and itscompanies continue to debate cen-tralization vs. decentralization in theworldwide conduct of business.Strauss said there is no single correctapproach. He has chosen decentral-ization for Lever Brothers because"international brands, such as Dovesoap, started up through local inno-vations. J don't know of any innova-tive product created at a centralheadquarters."

He said that, worldwide, there areproduct categories and markets thatcentralized management cannot dealwith as quickly and expertly as localmanagement, which has more expe-rience and motivation.

In a decentralized company suchas Unilever, top management's pri-mary job is to establish corpo-ratewide values, capital investmentand acquisition strategies, and tosupport large and active researchprograms driven by technical inno-vation responding to local markets.

"Top management selects the keyexecutives in every operating compa-ny and develops international man-agers," Strauss said. "This is the gluethat keeps Unilever companies boundtogether." The key executives sharecommon Unilever values that includethe need to understand the interdepen-dence of all the corporation's operat-ing companies, the need for rapid andcontinuous information and access toit. and an entrepreneurial spirit thatkeeps the companies close to con-sumers and enables the appropriate

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775

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Dennis Orie.log (left) of The Soap andOetergent Association (SOA) presents the

SOA Award to Mikael Jansson, while AOeSSurfactant and Detergent Division chairper-son Paul Sosls presents Dinesh Shah with

his CQpy. Not present were co-authorsIrene Bluta and Seong-Geun on.

response to consumer needs andexpectations, he said.

AwardsThe Soap and Detergent Associationannual award for the best technicalpaper on surfactants in detergents inthe Journal of the American OilChemists' Society was won by fourauthors: Irene Blute, Mikael Jansson,Seong-Geun Dh and Dinesh Shah.Their paper, "The Molecular Mecha-nism for Destabilization of Foams byOrganic Ions," was published in theJanuary 1994 issue of JAOes. DennisGriesing, public affairs director forThe Soap and Detergent Associationin New York, presented the award.

The section bestowed its Distin-guished Service Award on DavidScharer, who has served AOCS andthe S&D Division in a variety of lead-ership roles and was the general chair-person of the 3rd World Conferenceon Detergents: Global Perspectives,held in 1993. Scharer, of Shell Chemi-cal, was in England at the lime of thesection luncheon.

ReportsDivision Chairperson Paul Sosis ofWitco told the approximately 260 per-sons at the luncheon that the group hasachieved a 300% increase in member-ship since its inception in 1990. As ofMay 1995, there were 730 membersfrom 57 countries. Upcoming meetingsinclude the New Horizons DetergentIndustry Conference in September 1995in upstate New York and a 1997 sym-posium. to be held at the InternationalSociety of Far Research Conference inKuala Lumpur, Malaysia, organized inconjunction with the Japan OilChemists' Society.

Treasurer Michael Cox of VistaChemical Co. reported a total of$20.138 in the division's treasury.

In addition to division officers. boardmembers include: John Sea mehorn ofthe University of Oklahoma; MiltonRosen of Brooklyn College; Jerr-yCollins of Procter & Gamble; Rick Cof-fey of Jefferson, Pennsylvania: andJudith Zweig of Werner-Gershon Asso-ciates. Past Chairperson is Arno Cahn ofArno Cahn Consulting Services.

Gist-brocades sellsindustrial enzyme lineRoyal Gist-brocades N. V. signed anagreement to sell its industrialenzymes business to Genencor Inter-national, Inc. The agreementincludes Gist-brocades' enzyme fac-tory in Bruges. Belgium; marketing,sates and research activities in Delft,The Netherlands: Seclin, France: andCharlotte, North Carolina (USA).and related research and administra-tion activities. The final agreementwas expected in June.

Gist-brocades intends (Q focusits enzyme activities in the foodindustry and in the animal feedsbusiness. Genencor will focus onenzymes for cleaning products.starch processing, textile, animalfeeds, and the pulp and paperindustries. Genencor had acquiredGist-brocades' beverage-industryenzymes in 1993, and the currentacquisition will strengthen irs Euro-pean business position, a newsrelease on the sale said. •

Add to Your Library ...Proceedings of the World ConferenceonLauric Oils: Sources, Processing and Applications

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INFORM, VOl. 6. no. 7 (July 1995)