[SPONSORED CONTENT] Join Seth Jones, editorial director of Landscape Management, as he visits PBI-Gordon’s headquarters to chat with Dale Sanson, Ph.D., senior director of formulation development in compliance chemistry, about the importance of shaking well before using PBI-Gordon products.
Sanson explains how their advanced formulations, including products with up to five active ingredients, require a good shake to ensure optimal performance and consistent results for lawn care professionals.
Transcription:
SJ: Seth Jones
DS: Dr. Dale Sanson
SJ: Hey everybody. It’s Seth Jones, editorial director of Landscape Management magazine. I’m out here at PBI-Gordon’s beautiful headquarters in Shawnee, Kan., being joined by Dr. Dale Sanson. Dr. Dale, great to see you.
DS: It’s always good to be with you, Seth.
SJ: First time I haven’t seen your lab coat in a long time. So you guys got this place all landscaped, looking nice. DS: Natural setting.
SJ: We want to talk today to you about this whole “shake well” idea that PBI-Gordon really wanted to make sure their customers know about. What are you telling your clients, your customers?
DS: PBI products are known for our quality and our good stewardship, and for over 75 years, that product and quality has been at the heart of everything we do, and we want to focus in on the fact that on several of our labels, it actually has “shake well prior to using”. That’s just to maintain that quality and that product stewardship we’ve been known for for quite some time. The formulation expertise that we bring to our products over this long period of time has brought them to a superior status. We want to maintain that by that “shake well”, that’s on that label. That goes for these containers, as well as the smaller containers that we may have offering as well.
SJ: How many different products can you put in one container to control a variety of problems?
DS: It used to be three active ingredients was the mainstay. We came up with trimech, we were the first company that had three active ingredients. Our end users, our professional folks, are wanting to broaden the control with one application. So hence there’s four active ingredients. And now we are about to introduce a five active ingredient product. That’s a challenge putting five active ingredients in one container and now in a water based product, that formulation expertise is there to make sure that that product is homogenous most of the time when it’s on the shelf. But however, gravity will play its role, begin to pull, separate. Hence we like to enhance and emphasize that “shake well prior to use”.
SJ: And I think most people can relate to this because I’m a stickler for when I’m at the house and we’re having breakfast, I tell my kids, you gotta shake that orange juice up good. I want everything mixed up, right? And it’s the same thing with this. You’ve got five different things going on in here. I know you guys have to test it at different temperatures.
DS: Correct.
SJ: What all goes into figuring out how this stuff is going to get along?
DS: We do stress testing. We want to mimic exactly what’s going to happen out in the marketplace, how it’s stored, how it’s manufactured, what happens when it’s stored in a non temperature controlled shed. We go low temperature, we go high temperature. We really stress our products before we introduce them. Formulation sciences enhance that ability to make the product what we call more robust. But we still want to emphasize a good product should be shaken well. Good household examples that you touched on, orange juice, cereal. I read my boxes in the morning and I flip over and I see cereal says, settling is natural, potato chips, salad dressing. The paint industry for years has adopted to “shake well”, so we just want to emphasize “shake well”.
SJ: Okay, so for a lawn care operator, what’s you know, not to not be negative, but I know they all have expectations for what a product is going to do. If they don’t get that proper shake, what kind of consequences could they see?
DS: Oh, you could see some, some minor lack of control. When we say “shake well”, it’s not dramatic in terms of separation, but we want to make sure that we’re ensuring the product quality, so just give her a shake.
SJ: Okay, I like it. Appreciate what you telling our readers, and they’re gonna get the best use out of their products.
DS: Thank you, Seth.
SJ: Everybody. This is Dr. Dale. I’m Seth Jones. Thanks for watching us here on Landscape Management TV.
