St. Paul, MN
www.ecolab.com
Sales: $5.5 billion
Note: $5.5 billion (estimated) for I&I cleaning products. Corporate sales: $14.9 billion

Key personnel: Douglas M. Baker, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer; Christophe Beck, president and chief operating officer; Daniel J. Schmechel, chief financial officer; Nicholas Alfano, executive vice president and general manager, global food & beverage; Dr. Larry Berger, executive vice president and chief technical officer; Darrell Brown, executive vice president and president, global industrial; Angela Busch, executive vice president, corporate strategy and business development; Greg Cook, senior vice president and general manager, global pest; Timothy Mulhere, executive vice president and president, global institutional & specialty services; Gail Peterson, senior vice president, global marketing and communications; Jill Wyant, executive vice president, innovation and transformation

Major products: Cleaning and sanitizing products and services for the industrial and institutional markets

New products: CID Lines (acquisition), EcoSure and Lobster Ink programs

Comments: Few companies in Happi’s Top 50 are more essential than Ecolab, the world’s largest maker of industrial and institutional cleaning products. In fact, in May, four Ecolab solutions were featured in Newsweek’s inaugural Best Health Care series, which highlighted the best infection products. The solutions recognized included Ecolab’s Hand Hygiene Compliance Monitoring System, which accurately records hand hygiene events by healthcare workers; the others were in the environmental disinfectant products category and include: Ecolab Operating Room Program; Ecolab Patient Room Program; and Bioquell BQ-50, which uses hydrogen peroxide vapor to eliminate pathogens from operating rooms, patient rooms and critical care areas.

In April, Ecolab launched EcoSure and Lobster Ink, two programs designed to help customers battle COVID-19 and accelerate their return to safe and profitable operations. Ecolab acquired Lobster Ink, a leading provider of online customer training solutions, in 2019.

In addition to Ecolab’s industry-leading cleaning and disinfecting, hygiene and warewashing programs, EcoSure’s experts developed the Coronavirus Training and Assessment Program to help prepare and protect frontline employees. The program includes a COVID-19 response readiness assessment of risks and best practices and onsite training that provides practical guidance for COVID-19 prevention and remediation.

To help reduce onsite assessment time and maintain a laser focus on critical areas, EcoSure also introduced the High-Risk Assessment Program, a program to reinforce best practices, mitigate food safety and public health risks, and protect employees and guests. For areas where onsite assessment is not feasible at this time, EcoSure also provides a Virtual Training and Assessment solution, which is guided remotely by an EcoSure food safety and public health expert.

As restaurants adapt to new ways of serving guests, they also face a new set of challenges and standard operating procedures. In response, EcoSure’s has offered the Takeout & Delivery Assessment Program, which is focused on all aspects of takeout and delivery, including cleaning and sanitation, food integrity, packing and storage and third-party delivery.

“As leaders in food safety and public health, we are committed to providing our customers with the expertise to help ensure safe and profitable operations,” said Bob Sherwood,, EVP-food safety and public health. “These training and assessment solutions will help food service operators proactively manage their current operational challenges while preparing for the future.”

In addition to EcoSure’s program offerings, Ecolab’s Lobster Ink business is offering the Essential Rebound Training Program, which provides concise online training for line-level staff and managers, including hand hygiene, sanitizing and disinfecting, time and temperature control and protocols to prevent cross-contamination.

“While 2020 will be a year of unprecedented disruptions, our mission—to make the world cleaner, safer and healthier—will be even more important to our customers and society going forward,” said CEO Doug Baker in discussing Q1 2020 results.

For the first quarter, corporate sales rose 3% to $3.6 billion, but the company warned that sales will fall in Q2 due to lower volume in restaurant and hotels, and channel destocking. In Q1, global institutional sales rose 5%.

In 2019, corporate sales rose 2% to $14.9 billion. Global institutional sales rose 3% to about $5.3 billion, but Ecolab also has sales from laundry care, too. Ecolab noted that global lodging demand showed modest growth, but full-service restaurant traffic remained soft. Healthcare sales rose 1%. During the past year, Ecolab began a reorganization to focus on three mega-markets: North America, Western Europe and China. As a result, the company will operate in three groups: industrial, institutional, and global healthcare and life sciences. Tim Mulhere leads the institutional group. Last month, Ecolab’s AdvaCare disinfectant received the first approval given by the US EPA for a laundry disinfectant and oxidizer emerging viral pathogen claim for use against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

“AdvaCare Disinfectant delivers the highest level of cleanliness for reusable textiles, and this emerging viral pathogen claim will provide additional assurance to commercial laundries and the customers they serve,” said Greg Thorsen, SVP/GM, textile care North America.