Shaklee
Award-Winning Pest Control for a Leader in Health and Wellness
Shaklee Corporation, founded in 1956, is a leading health and wellness company with a long history of pioneering advances in nutritional science. Shaklee products are designed to support and improve their customer's health, as well as the environment, with fully offset carbon emissions.
The facility, located in Columbus, Ohio, prides itself on providing a superior product to its customers, and a strong Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program supports that goal. Orkin’s team of Commercial Pest Specialists works diligently with the staff at Shaklee to maintain the highest levels of efficiency and maintenance. Because of their commitment to IPM, Shaklee earned an IPM Partner Award, presented by Orkin, the IPM Institute of North America and NSF International.
To learn more about the success of Shaklee’s pest management program, we spoke with Scott Hansan, Senior Quality Assurance Specialist. Here is an edited transcript of that interview.
Why is Integrated Pest Management (IPM) so critical to your business?
As a distribution center, with varied product lines including food, dietary supplements, household products and personal care products, we have three main areas of potential concern: product adulteration, sanitation, and traceability. Our commitment to understanding and mitigating these risks, along with our partnership with Orkin, helps ensure that we have a sustainable business that can provide safe products to our customers on a consistent basis.
Why do you continue to work with Orkin?
The partnership with Orkin is one of mutual respect, understanding, and learning. Orkin works hard to accommodate our needs, and we work hard to implement recommendations from Orkin, with the respect and understanding that they are the pest control expert. Our Orkin Pro and service manager are both very knowledgeable and effective communicators. Whenever we have questions or need assistance, they respond very quickly. Shaklee’s Quality and Maintenance departments perform inspections throughout the facility on a consistent basis to identify any areas of potential concern for pest harborage, interior access, or other potential product adulteration. The results of these inspections are shared with Orkin on an as-needed basis. We will discuss the issue, and Orkin will have it addressed as needed. The partnership includes learning on both sides.
What results have you seen from your partnership with Orkin?
When we switched to using Orkin, we moved from monthly pest control inspections to bi-monthly inspections. This conscious decision was made to ensure that we are on top of any issues that may arise, rather than having issues go unidentified or not addressed for a month. This level of verification, paired with the additional inspections multiple times a year by Orkin provide us with the knowledge that our facility is surpassing industry standards. The personal relationships formed between us, our customers and our Orkin representatives guarantee successful implementation of the IPM partnership.