Agar celebrates 50 years

For commercial cleaning chemical manufacturer Agar Cleaning Systems 2018 marks an important year in the company’s timeline as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Growing the business from humble beginnings, Ross Agar, founder of the family-owned and operated company, started out making a small range of chemicals in his suburban Melbourne garage.

Utilising his extensive career as a qualified industrial chemist, Ross put his knowledge to work developing floor wax emulsions, floor cleaners and general detergents. Each chemical was formulated in close conjunction with cleaning operators and Ross developed a reputation for working ‘on-the-job’ with them, tailoring products to suit their needs and improve their productivity.

From left Steve Agar, Paul Agar and Adrian Hocking

According to Paul Agar, Ross’s son, and joint managing director along with his brother Steve, Ross started small and made the batches himself, then went out on the road to work with cleaning contractors to test and improve the product formulations. As the business grew, Ross moved the operation into a factory in West Heidelberg and later added an office in Carlton. Ross, a father of four, wore many hats in the early days, acting as chemist, salesman, marketing manager and operations manager, he worked hard to ensure the success of the business to provide for his family.

“He was a big-picture person who had big goals and never stopped working on reaching them. He was also a family man,” said Paul.

His efforts paid off as Agar grew and gained some highly regarded customers in the early years including The Royal Children’s Hospital, Myer and Arnott’s. In the early 1970’s Ross was among the first to develop acrylic polymer floor sealers, new at the time, the technology is still one of the most effective solutions for protecting stone and vinyl floors today.

From left: Paul Agar, Steve Agar and Brian Bridges

Those were the years when mechanised automatic scrubbing was first introduced for cleaning large floor areas. Agar played a major role in the introduction of the new machines and chemicals for this innovative cleaning method which revolutionised cleaning supermarkets, hospitals and airports. Active product research and the continued introduction of new products saw the company steadily expand.

In 1975, Ross’s eldest son Paul Agar joined the business. Also a qualified chemist, he worked his way up through the business, completing many different roles from truck driver to batch maker before becoming part-time chemist. Paul went on to develop hundreds of products for Agar and now holds the position of head chemist.

The 80’s saw the business expand geographically, establishing offices in Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane, repositioning Agar as a national supplier with key distributors in Perth and later Hobart. Long standing employee, Adrian Hocking, together with the support of Ross and other staff members, sacrificed family life in Melbourne to travel back and forth to Sydney to get the branch off the ground and build a customer base.

Ross’s younger son, Stephen Agar joined the business in 1988. A qualified mechanical engineer, he took over management of production and distribution as well as the office functions. In what is a very convenient split as joint managing directors, Steve oversees the sales, marketing, branch operations and administration within the business, while Paul oversees research and development, compliance, production and inventory.

50 years in business demonstrates our ability to change with the times.”

A few years after Steve joined the business, the brothers’ sister Sue Hodgson, previously a primary school teacher, came on board to run the office and the financial side of the business, later becoming the director of the company in the mid 90’s.

Many additions to the product range have occurred over the years including the development of carpet cleaning products in response to carpet replacing hard floors in the late 70’s. Food service and laundry products were added to the catalogue in the early 90’s to include pubs, hotels and restaurants. The Colour Coded Cleaning System was introduced in the 90’s, which still to this day remains a highly regarded product identification system throughout the industry.

From left: Paul Agar and Ros Agar in the lab July 2002

The years have brought many challenges including the passing of Ross in 2006 and the loss of Sue in 2016, both battling illnesses but continuing to support the business until the end. A testament to the hard working nature of the Agar family and the business, which continues to provide an environment that fosters long term relationships with its staff. Today, the business remains a family affair, with Paul and Steve at the helm. They are joined by some of the next generation, along with its staff who together, continue to endeavour to provide performance-based products efficiently.

“We respect our customers who have a hard job to do and we aim to give them the best tools we can get to tackle those jobs. Generally, people under estimate the knowledge cleaners need to have to do their job successfully,” said Paul. Now with a range spanning numerous categories, Agar has grown to be one of the leading Australian made and owned commercial cleaning product manufacturers. “The 50th anniversary of the company is very gratifying for us. It is very pleasing that customers value our products which have been formulated to be the best you can make while still being commercially competitive in price,” said Paul.

From Steve’s point of view, the company needs to remain relevant and continue to adapt to a rapidly changing market. “50 years in business demonstrates our ability to change with the times.” www.agar.com.au