(Lawrenceville, GA) – Ever since Hurricane Laura damaged their plant in Louisiana last August, Bio-Lab management knew they would have a challenge on their hands – not only with replacing the supply of trichlor the plant produced, but with the added demand for chlorine products created by consumer stay-at-home megatrend.
Bio-Lab President Jon Viner says “We understand the importance of pools in people’s lives, especially as we approach summer. Pool owners count on specialty retailers within our industry to help them maintain their pools during these critical times. As a major supplier, we knew we had to step up efforts to do whatever we could to keep products on shelves and to educate both consumers and retailers on the best ways to manage the situation. It was equally important that we kept our dealers and distributors informed of our progress along the way so they could plan accordingly.”
“We are actively working to rebuild our plant, which is a $170 million investment slated to be completed in spring of 2022, which will operate at 30% greater production capacity. This means we will be well-positioned to rapidly address the shortage of pool disinfecting agents in North America. Until then, we’ve been able to secure alternate sources of raw materials and are still producing chlorine tablets that we will be supplying to our retailers throughout the season. Unfortunately, there may be times when retailers do not have adequate supply on the shelves. In those cases, we are encouraging pool owners to keep visiting their retailers for added solutions.”
Bio-Lab has increased educational efforts to consumers by issuing a press release to all major North American news media outlets. The release focuses on recognizing the challenges pool owners face and encouraging them to visit their local retailers for product solutions and expert advice. The websites of their major brands, BioGuard® and Natural Chemistry®, have been updated with information detailing alternatives and best practices to enhance the performance of chlorine-based products. They also plan on creating additional tools and events to help spread the educational message as well.
Their recommendations are to take steps to boost chlorine performance wherever possible and to protect chlorine from conditions that may impact how long it can last. The Bio-Lab team is also emphasizing that frequent testing is also needed to ensure everything is in balance so treatments are working as they should.
Retailer training has always been a critical element for the company, and it has laid some chlorine-enhancing groundwork with the “efficiency” focus during the recent product launches of BioGuard’s Pool Juice™ and Natural Chemistry’s Pool Perfect® MAX. It now plans to expand upon that education to showcase other maintenance and treatment efforts that prove valuable in enhancing chlorine effectiveness and efficacy.
Alicia Stephens, the Education Manager for Bio-Lab, says, “While the season is already well underway, we can still offer dealers, distributors and their staff ways to improve the customer experience and keep them recognized as the local experts at a time when consumers are actively looking for answers.” She adds, “We will keep finding creative ways to keep our network informed and ready to handle the ongoing challenges, so they can help everyone keep swimming this year.”
