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R&D Highlights
We get a lot of questions about the science behind our products.
Here are some interesting facts about how they're developed and
tested.
Burnin' for You!
We use precise testing procedures to measure the effectiveness of
our Kingsford® charcoal. Using a state-of-the-art computerized
system, we evaluate how quickly charcoal turns into ash and also
measure how long the charcoal stays hot. To guarantee our charcoal
is always the best, we burn more than 24,000 pounds (12 tons) of
charcoal each year. We call this our "burn lab."
Dirty Laundry
Every day, SAM is busy making a mess. No, SAM is not a 3-year-old
toddler; it's a machine in Clorox's laundry labs called "Stain
Application Machine." SAM is a fully automated, computerized
machine designed by Clorox engineers in 1989 to squirt spaghetti
sauce, lipstick and 40 other stains onto thousands of square test
fabrics. Then, we wash the swatches under a variety of conditions—for
example, in hot or cold water, with or without Clorox® laundry
products. Laundered swatches are evaluated for cleaning difference.
The data helps us determine precisely how well our products cleaned.
We've designed all of our laundry testing to stay as close to consumer
conditions as possible:
- We use cotton for most of our experiments, since it's the most
widely used fabric in America. But we also test polyester, acrylic,
nylon and blends.
- When we test colored fabric, we choose the most popular dyes.
- The stains we treat are the most common to American households;
in fact, we often ask coworkers for their families' dirty clothes!
- Even the detergents we use are purchased from local grocery
stores.
The Bleach Equation
Ever wondered how Clorox® bleach is made?
- The bleach cycle starts with salt water, which is broken down
by electric current into sodium hydroxide, hydrogen and chlorine.
- The sodium hydroxide is mixed with water. Next, chlorine is
added to form sodium hypochlorite, the active ingredient in liquid
bleach. The bleach is bottled and shipped to retailers.
- Consumers use bleach in washing machines or on household surfaces.
As bleach reacts with stains and soils, it begins to break down.
The cleaning process turns nearly all of the bleach back into
salt water.
- Any remaining bleach is completely deactivated at a municipal
treatment facility or in a septic system through biodegradation.
Shake It Up
There's a whole lotta shakin' going on in our Product Dynamics Lab.
Also a lot of crushing, dropping, smashing and compressing. Clorox
has more product dynamics equipment than any other company in our
industry. Why? Because if we can't break it, then it's more likely
to get to our customers in perfect order.
Every Clorox product—from Fresh Step® cat litter to GladWare®
containers—is evaluated in the Product Dynamics Lab, which
we developed to ensure that the product package will survive the
trip from our manufacturing plants to your local store. The lab
operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and simulates real-life
scenarios of what a product may go through on a typical journey
from our plants to store shelves.
For instance, our rail car simulator doesn't look like a train
car, but it acts just like one. We can place two loads weighing
up to 2,000 pounds each on the sled, program the computer, and watch
it slam into the base at speeds of up to 6 miles per hour. Then
we evaluate the damage to our product, turn it 90 degrees and do
it again.
Helpful Machines
Otto is Clorox's most tireless worker. Otto is a machine that calculates,
measures and mixes formulas—such as our Pine-Sol® cleaner—24
hours a day, seven days a week with precise accuracy. Otto can mix
and analyze three times the number of samples humans could produce
in a single shift. Without Otto, our scientists would have to weigh
and mix ingredients themselves (and you can imagine how boring that
would become after a while).
About Our Team
The men and women behind our research and development efforts have
a variety of educational backgrounds, including chemistry, molecular
biology, toxicology, food science and engineering. About one-third
have advanced degrees, mainly in chemistry and chemical engineering.
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