GREAT NEWS...
Enzymes secret to
company's success
A local company's products could be
at stores soon
Last Edited: Sunday, 04 Jan 2009, 11:41 AM EST
Created On: Friday, 02 Jan 2009, 4:38 PM EST
Matt McCutcheon
FORT WAYNE, IND. (WANE) - Despite tough economic times, a Fort Wayne company is reporting record success. It involves one main ingredient found in virtually all of its products, but it's an ingredient that's not widely known.
This story took Newschannel 15 to an area hog farm. While it may be one of the cleanest, the smell is a different story and that's where local entrepreneur Jared Hochstedler comes to the rescue.
"Even though the economy is down for the most part, our sales and orders have been much higher than what we ever anticipated," Hochstedler said.
Hochstedler's Fort Wayne company, Enzyme Consultants, has developed a way to remove the stench from manure; something that's mandated in parts of Asia, where it's estimated there are more hogs than people.
"They passed this law back in February of 2005. In the process of them passing the law, we started to do some tests in South Korea and was able to develop this product," Hochstedler told Newschannel 15's Matt McCutcheon.
While there's not much competition for the company overseas, it's a different scenario here in the U. S. Increasing expenses squeeze into farmers' profits, and with little money left over, it's unlikely they'll voluntarily invest in odor-removing products.
Despite some difficulty appealing to U. S. farmers, Enzyme Consultants has other products in the United States. In the Spring of 2009, a company will take Enzyme Consultant's nearly three-dozen household cleaning products nationwide; and they all use enzymes as the main ingredient.
"What enzymes do is attack food fats, food oils, and food greases. And our product works well in those environments," said Gene Sherrill of Enzyme Consultants.
Enzymes are also safer is most cases. A dictionary offers this definition of an enzyme: "a protein that helps other organic molecules enter into chemical reactions with one another."
A simple test, like with the company's enzyme-based stain-removing pen, shows just how effective enzymes can be. But while the products work and can be safer than other cleaners, company officials say their biggest challenge is changing public perception of harsher cleaners.
"It's kind of like taking medicine. If it doesn't taste bad, then it doesn't work. If this cleaner doesn't stink like pine, or smell like chlorine or whatever, it doesn't work," said Bill White, Enzyme Consultant's VP of Sales.
"Say, I have a flyswatter in my left hand and a baseball bat in my right hand. Both of those can kill a fly. But this is an overkill with the baseball bat, and it's a danger to the person who's using that bat for that purpose. And it's a danger in that environment he's using it to kill a fly," further explained Sherrill.
"Everyone is using these products now; we're just going to give you an alternative that is safer," said White.
Enzyme Consultants projects total sales of $8 million in 2008, and nearly five times that in 2009. Enzyme Consultants employs about ten people in Fort Wayne, which is expected to grow as more of their products take off.
To find out more about Enzyme Consultants, click here .
