I want to start a company producing liquid household cleaning products. I want to know do’s and don’ts. Should I have certain certificate and which government policies should I need to know?
As you starting a manufacturing business of producing household cleaning products, you should consider the location and market for your products.
Household cleaning products are of a specific form and nature, which require that you develop technical knowledge of formulations and quality to differentiate the products.
Depending on the scale of production, you may need to consider start-up cost involved in manufacturing of your cleaning products.
Create a budget that takes consideration of direct cost and overhead expenses.
How to start
There are a few doors that you could consider as a start up in entering this type of business. The options may be
- Purchasing the raw materials and mixing them yourself using the various standardised formulae given in order to package and sell.
- Buying heavy duty concentrates that you need only to mix in dilutions one or a few items like water/ other to create the household chemical – this option also requires mixing machinery for most chemicals but excludes major raw material mixing inaccuracies that may come to the fold in self mixes.
- Buying a distributor franchise that helps you set up a small to medium scale manufacture that can operate from a specific jurisdictional region.
The quality of your products will be determined raw materials formulae and equipment to manufacture the products.
This involves sourcing of credible material suppliers with green or earth friendly cleaning chemicals.
The Do’s
- Do the research as what household chemicals you will start off with. This need not be a large offering as you enter the market – so get a feel of what is needed and most cost effective to produce to give you initial sales and returns.
- Get the accredited training and certification – many accredited training providers will also provide access to their approved raw materials and machinery suppliers while also give you ongoing technical and business support as you set up.
- There are companies who will offer an initial starter kit and manuals that have all you need to get the first few batches off the ground depending which option you choose. This may be worthwhile as they help the start up to benchmark, label and cost the product to retail to market.
- Package and brand your product to appeal to you intended audience. Also note that customers may need labelling that have more detail than the name of chemical.
- Prepare a material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) on your products which tells on what chemical components are included in the chemicals as well as their impact to health and environment. Also included in the MSDS is how to store, dispose, dilute and use of chemical. This information can be supplied with any readymade formulation purchase or produced by a chemist.
- Market and sell your unique products and create the sales and ensure control of your quality.
The Don’ts
- Do not attempt to manufacture and retail chemicals without prior knowledge and training.
- Selling untested chemical recipes that may change along your sales path is an absolute NO – stability of your chemicals will be key and this is dependent on your formulation mixed correctly!
- Do not initially select a bouquet of chemicals to manufacture and retail that will require permits and handling licences without having undergone the accredited training, consultations and procedural process of ticking all the boxes in the legalities department for permits/ handling licences.
- Buying of some junk or pirate chemical formulae can lead to low quality product. Get those who know to assist with technical and quality control support and hold your hand going forward.
Keep these policies in mind
- There are no governmental policies to adhere to when producing entry level basic non-hazardous household chemicals except that, it may be that in some cases that you will need to adhere to local municipal bylaws that may dictate the storage and disposal of certain harsh chemicals that you use.
- Some corrosive natured chemical like Bleach will require you to obtain chemical handling license and other relevant permits where applicable.
- In starting this kind of business, you would need to protect your business and have a registered company, as well as have the necessary legal and health permits to start the business.
- If your route is to manufacture and retail your products to major retail shops that require certifications – you must comply with the relevant SABS approved standards.
- Adhere to adequate proper labelling and packaging suitable for the chemical type.
- Always be aware of the impact of your business to the people and environment.
If you acquire more information on how to start a household cleaning manufacturing business visit online at www.trimo.co.za