Company History
The Beginning of a
Company
On a Saturday morning in February of 1999 Mr.
Kreutz met with the school board and presented his
outline. He would bring the most comprehensive real
world experience to his students and do this by
creating a fully functional business from an idea.
The plan he presented explained that the business
would focus on industrial cleaners.
The Outline of BHS
Chemicals
The class would first get samples from our
maintenance group, analyze them using wet chemistry
and analytical test methods. They would then locate
raw material vendors and order samples along with
technical data sheets, certificates of analysis,
and material safety data sheets. The next step
would be educating the class about the raw
material, including answering the questions: What
are the materials used for? What percentages are
used in a formulation and why? They would then move
into the formulation process and develop a line of
products that are competitive to the industry's
current standards. The newly formed products would
have to be tested using ASTM or modified ASTM
tests. These products will be tested against the
current competitors' samples to assure quality,
dependability and performance. The student would
then be versed on material safety data sheet
requirements as controlled by the Federal
Government. Mr. Kreutz would enhance their
knowledge by adding instruction on the importance
of product packaging, product labeling, technical
data sheets, certificates of analysis, web page
design, product catalogue development, and
certified quality engineering guidelines. With all
of these requirements in place, the next step is
teaching the importance of being knowledgeable,
courteous sales persons. The sales personnel will
have complete knowledge of their product line. They
will be able to tell a customer which product will
work for an application. They will also be able to
suggest what concentration will give the customer
the greatest performance at the best price. Sales
personnel will ask the customers meaningful
questions that generate a complete understanding of
the working process. This information will be
translated back to the classroom in the form of a
complete written report. All reports will be
discussed and a direction will be established for
the completion of any projects that may be
generated from this report. The customer will then
be notified of the outcomes through a follow-up
sales call. Finally the students will be introduced
to cost analysis. This will involve the
understanding of salaries, insurances, consumable
materials, capital purchases, building costs,
manufacturing costs, production costs, sales and
marketing costs, and how all of these factors
impact the final product price. In addition to the
actual creation of a complete functioning company,
the students will tour many area businesses and
attend seminars on business practices from local
professionals. Some of these highlights will
include: Abbott Laboratories, S.C. Johnson Wax,
Rustoleum Cooperation, Jelly Belly Distribution
Center, and Bank One Small Business Loan Seminar.
Summer of 2001
In June of 2001 Tom Grego, Kelly Urness, and Mr.
Kreutz began to discus the scope of the course. Tom
would be the group leader overseeing the analytical
testing and Kelly would concentrate on using ASTM
test methods for raw material and finished product
quality control testing. The company would be
called BHS Chemicals! For the next 3 months this
group would meet 2 to 3 times a week and slowly
learn their jobs. Mr. Kreutz was impressed with his
choice of managers; they showed up everyday and
embraced the vision of building a company from
absolutely nothing. What was really impressive is
that neither individual received any compensation
to their grades or pocketbooks. Their rewards were
simply knowledge, wisdom, and the excitement of a
new form of education. The end result would foster
two group leaders that had the skill and knowledge
to train new employees-or the students. The
commitment that Kelly and Tom gave to Mr. Kreutz
showed their willingness to learn new complex
ideas, and in return, they were both treated as
colleagues.
Generating Revenue
One of the major goals of the 2002 summer was to
generate revenue that would support the purchases
of equipment and raw materials. Working in
conjunction with the Burlington Area School
District, Mr. Kreutz was able to get a commitment
for a trial on a new all-purpose cleaner the group
called “SHINE.” Shine was developed by analyzing
competitors' samples. The group received a
competitors' sample from the Burlington High School
maintenance engineers and began to tear down the
product into its basic components. With the use of
an Abbott Laboratory- donated, High Performance
Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC) the group would be able
to find the different building blocks that made up
the cleaner. The next step was finding a supplier
that shared the excitement and vision. That
supplier was Barton Solvents located in West Bend.
The name of the sales representative was Dillon
Thomas. Mr. Thomas was as excited about the program
as the class was. He made it his obligation to
assist us with samples, pricing, and technical
information. While other suppliers avoided the
company because of its size and avoided their
requests, Dillon would deliver the next day if the
company asked him to do so.
Developing Shine
Using the analytical and wet testing information
from the laboratory and an understanding of the
common raw materials currently used in cleaner
formulations, the class began to make samples of
all-purpose cleaners. Many samples were generated
and tested. Some samples did not pass the company's
strict guidelines for stability, appearance, and
cleaning ability. When they finally agreed on the
formulation that would become their first cleaner,
it was time to develop material safety data sheets,
technical data sheets, and choose a name for the
cleaner. Mr. Kreutz suggested, “Shine” as the name
for their first product because that was how the
surfaces looked after they tested the cleaner on
them. Kelly and Tom agreed and they set out to test
Shine against the competition.
Competitor Testing
Shine, at various dilutions, has proven to clean
just about anything. It had no problem
out-performing the product Burlington School
District was currently purchasing. Many members of
the maintenance crew went out of their way to let
Mr. Kreutz know that the Shine product made their
job easier. This type of customer field information
is better than any lab test results we could have
generated. However, this product's performance
praise came as no surprise to Mr. Kreutz, Tom or
Kelly. They knew before the test samples went out
that Shine cleaner would be successful!
Pilot Batch
With all of the raw materials located and tested,
and the successful completion of the company's
cleaning trials, it was time to create a small
pilot batch of Shine. Using a 95-gallon kettle and
a Lightning mixer purchased from Abbott
Laboratories, Mr. Kreutz and Tom set out to scale
up the production of the Shine cleaner. This would
be their first batch over one gallon. It was a very
exciting day but there was also some nervousness.
What if they produced a batch that was not stable
or maybe out of quality control specification? What
would they do with all of that waste? These are the
times that planning, experience, and repetition pay
off. The batch was a complete success and testing
fell well within the quality control guidelines
setup by their laboratory sample testing.
Packaging and Labels
It is very important to use quality-approved
packaging and labels when selling any products.
There are times when you need to get technical
advising from people who know their business. This
is exactly what Mr. Kreutz did when it came to the
packaging and labeling aspect of the company. Using
W.B. Bottle located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mr.
Kreutz was able to receive the consumer-approved
bottles that are required for the class's type of
applications. When it comes to labels, cheaper is
not always better.