Outstanding Polish cleaning products LAKMA

OUTSTANDING POLISH CLEANING PRODUCTS

LAKMA Group comprises a number of companies which together form one of the largest Polish manufacturers of building and household chemical products. LAKMA Strefa Ltd specialises in the production of leading household cleaning products, which include renowned brands such as SIDOLUX, SOLLUX organic cleaning products and a range of Perła laundry hybrid capsules. Piotr Sadowski reports.

Mr Maciej Paluch Vice-president of the Board.

The leading company in the group, LAKMA, was founded in 1988 and has since become one of the leaders on the Polish and European market for household and professional detergents, as well as other products, including construction chemicals. The company’s focus is to continuously develop new technologies and products, while at the same time caring for the environment and consumers. With 28 years of experience, LAKMA has developed many innovative and renowned product lines, including the famous SIDOLUX range of household detergents, organic cleaning products under the SOLLUX brand, and Perlux, a hybrid laundry product combining washing powder and gel in a single dissolvable capsule.

Maciej Paluch, vice-president and chairman of the board of LAKMA, gives a short overview of the history of the company, including the key milestone of the introduction of the SIDOLUX brand in the 1990s. “This marked the important step away from construction chemicals towards household detergents,” says Mr Paluch. “In 1999 we built a brand new factory in the Katowice Special Economic Zone and a year later LAKMA Strefa was focusing only on the production of household cleaning products and detergents. The new owner of the company put a strong emphasis on ensuring its products were based on safe ingredients and water, thus minimising any negative impact on the environment and the health and safety of users.”

Thus, SIDOLUX turned out to be the most successful invention for cleaning, including renovation of floors, in both Poland and subsequently in many markets abroad. Then in 2010 the company introduced a brand new eco-friendly line of products called Green Vision, which uses biodegradable ingredients and is certified with the EU ‘ECO-LABEL’ mark.

Developing Perlux and SOLLUX

LAKMA continued to research the market in order to develop ever-more innovative domestic cleaning solutions. One finding of this research, which was not just limited to Poland but can be seen in dozens of other markets, were that by far the most widely used domestic cleaning product is washing powder. “However, washing powder on its own has inherent faults, not least in the fact that it is very often overdosed: consumers think that the more powder they use, the better the washing result will be, which is completely untrue – not to mention the increased negative impact on the environment and actual damage to clothing,” explains Mr Paluch.

“The answer to this problem came in 2013 in the form of hybrid washing powder and gel capsules, contained in a water-dissolvable film, which we called Perlux. This was the first such product in the world, followed in 2015 by a competitive solution from Germany.

However, various tests have proven that Perlux Compact White and other capsules in the range are still the best and most effective for cleaning all types of stains on all kinds of clothing.”

Every Perlux capsule contains two pouches, one with 6.5g of gel and the second with 17g of powder. This is it: there are no other additives and one capsule is sufficient to wash 4kg of medium dirty fabrics in medium hard water, at 40°C. Prior to the development of Perlux capsules, in order to achieve the same washing result a consumer would need to use 130g of washing powder. In the case of heavier stains, the temperature can be raised to 60°C and two capsules are used – still significantly less than when using ordinary powder.

The focus on reducing the environmental impact of products as well as making them as safe as possible for users, including those suffering from allergies, has also led the company to further develop its Green Vision range. With the introduction of SOLLUX Organic Clean, LAKMA has created a range of domestic cleaning products based solely on natural organic ingredients, mostly derived from plants and completely free of synthetic ingredients. The products are non-toxic and fully biodegradable, and, importantly harmless to water-living organisms. Within the SOLLUX Organic Clean brand, consumers can choose from products for dishwashing, cleaning of floors and surfaces, kitchens, bathrooms, as well as for washing fruit and vegetables, and disinfecting baby feeding bottles and dummies.

Strong in Poland and abroad

The largest percentage of LAKMA’s products are still sold on the Polish market. Nonetheless, for its Perlux line, LAKMA is opening offices in Germany, Russia, Belarus, Czech Republic and Slovakia. In addition, for other product ranges such as, for example, SIDOLUX, the company works with local distributors across eastern markets and also increasingly in the west, including Austria, France, Spain and the UK.

“The most important focus for development is the further expansion of sales both in Poland and across export markets,” adds Mr Paluch. “We are present in both the traditional and modern distribution market in Poland as well as abroad. We cooperate with leading suppliers who are regularly checked and audited for quality, thus ensuring the highest standards for our products. We are also in the process of securing the BRC certificate which is crucial for export distribution.” Furthermore, it is important to note that LAKMA works together with leading research institutes that independently check the quality and safety of its products.

In terms of future growth, the focus is very much on continued organic growth and on exports, particularly on developing cooperation with trading across the globe when it comes to the Perlux line. “We are also looking to invest in improving our technological back-up, further increasing efficiency and safety and improving the working conditions for our employees, which, needless to say, are already some of the most staff-friendly amongst our competitors,” concludes Mr Paluch. n