Very soon, when you go to the store, you will find Pine-Sol manufactured in Windsor on the shelves.
Dimachem plans to start making the household cleaner for Clorox with $850,000 investment from the provincial government.
The company, founded in 1972, made industrial chemicals for the auto industry before the pandemic and quickly pivoted to make disinfectants for its manufacturing customers last year. Vice President Andrew Conway said it also supplied the greenhouse industry with a product to protect workers.
Now it will manufacture 12-million bottles of the iconic brand every year.
"We are investing in state-of-the-art, high-speed equipment," said Conway describing the new line that will not only make cleaner but the bottles.
The Ontario government said bringing manufacturing and packaging in-house at the facility in Windsor will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by shortening the supply chain.
Not surprisingly, sales for cleaning products spiked at the beginning of the pandemic, and Clorox Canada General Manager and President David Iacobelli said his company struggled to keep up with demand. Clorox looked at partnering with several Ontario companies but was wooed by Dimachem.
"Their facility is very clean. How they operated is very efficient -- they really wanted to partner with us," said Iacobelli. "That's not always the case. Usually, it can be going both ways. So, it was just a really good partnership from the beginning."
Dimachem has also maintained full employment over the past year, but the new partnership will create an additional 14 jobs.
The funding comes from the Ontario Together Fund, which supported companies looking to pivot production to supply ventilators and personal protective equipment in Ontario. It started with a $50-million investment, but Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli told reporters another $50-million has been added.
"As of today, 74 per cent of the government's PPE procurement will be with Ontario or Canadian-based manufacturers," said Fedeli. "Think about the beginning of the pandemic. Almost all of our PPE was purchased off-shore."
So far, the government has partnered with 27 companies and eight organizations manufacturing 74 per cent of all PPE used in Ontario.