Warsaw Chemical sees surge in demand
WARSAW, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Production has ramped up at one Kosciusko County business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Warsaw Chemicals says some of its products recently received approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help in the fight against the disease. The company produces a variety of disinfectants, sanitizers and other cleansers used in different industries.
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Chief Executive Officer Troy Gamble said the demand came quickly.
“As this rolled out about three weeks ago, people didn’t really know what to do. They knew that this was being classified as a pandemic. They knew that they needed to react. But there wasn’t a playbook, if you will, (for) businesses of any kind, whether you were a production company like Warsaw Chemical or an end user that was trying to clean a school or an office building or a manufacturing facility. There just wasn’t the playbook as to how do we react? What do we do?”
Gamble says the company worked to let customers know the products were available. But he says they were not prepared for the strong response.
“We kind of had to learn as we went along. We did forecast some higher demand, so we ordered raw materials, especially the active ingredients, to bolster our ability to make the final product. We’ve extended hours for our staff. We’ve looked to hire some additional personnel and we are in the process of adding a second shift with which we could make some specific products, mainly these disinfectants.”
Gamble says the company has a high level responsibility as the nation continues to fight COVID-19.
“That responsibility’s heavy. We need to be able to produce this project, work as hard as we can to meet the client demands and make sure our quality stays strong with what we’re producing. We also (have) this responsibility of making decisions to also help protect our people and their families. That weighs in on the decisions as an executive team that we’re trying to make. Yes, we want to from a business standpoint, produce our products and sell them, but also how can we produce those as efficiently as possible to help fulfill the needs that our communities have and also the importance of making sure that we do things in a way that keep our employees healthy.”
In many ways, Gamble says, the ability to help is rewarding for the company, but his team hasn’t slowed down and plans to continue producing as many products as possible.