Representatives of Brita and Clorox are meeting with Sealaska Corp.’s board today to review the recent launch of a new Brita filtered water bottle manufactured by a Sealaska subsidiary.
“I’m really thrilled about the launch,” said Kate Barkelew, senior sourcing manager for The Clorox Co., which owns Brita.
Representatives of the three companies met with reporters Thursday at Sealaska’s corporate headquarters to explain how the deal came about and what they hope the relationship can become.
Brita is selling a new water bottle containing a charcoal filter. It’s designed to remove the chlorine taste from water and “makes tap water taste great anywhere,” Brita says.
Since it was launched on Valentine’s Day, it has captured 70 percent of the filtered water bottle market, said Tad Kittredge, brand manager for Brita.
Brita though, sees its competition not as other filtration systems, but bottled water itself.
It’s pitching both the lower cost and the environmental benefits of using its filtration system.
Each charcoal filter cartridge can be used to make numerous bottles of filtered water, though it is not clear how many. Kittredge said each filter handled 300 bottles worth, but the bottle’s label itself says 128 bottles and 150 bottles in different places.
Regardless of the number, “that’s a lot of savings, along with a lot of bottles taken out of the landfill that would normally end up there,” Kittredge said.
Manufacturing the bottle is Nypro Kánaak, a Sealaska subsidiary that does injection molding of plastics. The company outsources the soft plastic bottle and buys the charcoal, and manufactures the hard plastic pieces of the cartridge, bottle top and mouthpiece and assembles the final product.
Nypro Kánaak’s Ed Rivera, director of marketing development, called the Brita business “one of the bigger successes we’ve had.”
Demand for the new filter bottle greatly exceeded Brita’s sales projections and Nypro Kánaak’s production capabilities, Rivera said.
“We immediately proceeded to build duplicate toolings with much greater capacity and even with that capacity our manufacturing has been taxed,” Rivera said.
The Sealaska subsidiary didn’t just happen to get the Brita business, it was sought out by Clorox because of its Native ownership, Barkelew said.
Nypro Kánaak, by virtue of its 51 percent Sealaska ownership, has Minority Business Enterprise certification.
Clorox has a corporate goal of using its sourcing decisions to help out minority and disadvantaged businesses, and hopes small changes to its operations like steering business to an MBE such as Nypro Kánaak will bring bigger benefits if the help those companies succeed.
“That’s really the core of our diversity program,” she said.
Earlier in the week the Brita and Clorox representatives visited Hoonah, to learn more about where their new business partners come from.
It’s “for us to really experience what Sealaska is about and how the shareholders contribute to the success of this product,” Kittredge said.
The company representatives from Sealaska, Brita and Clorox all declined to talk specifics about how manufacturing the bottles would benefit Sealaska, but presumably Nypro Kánaak profits would help the Sealaska bottom line.
Also unclear is who really benefits from the Nypro Kánaak MBE designation. The company has plants in Iowa, Alabama and Guadalajara, Mexico.
The Brita bottle is being manufactured in Mexico.
Rivera declined to say what labor costs were there, but acknowledged that played a role in Nypro Kánaak’s winning the business.
“What they wanted to do was avail themselves with the low cost structure of our Mexican plant,” he said.
Nypro Kánaak plants already make hard plastic bottle caps for products such as Tide, and do business with big consumer products companies such as Kraft and Proctor & Gamble.
The Brita bottle’s multiple pieces are the kind of thing Nypro Kánaak seeks out for the Mexico plant.
“In Guadalajara we do a lot of assembly,” Rivera said.
Barkelew said she hoped that Clorox’ first time doing business with Nypro Kánaak would lead to more business in the future for the Native–owned company.
She described it as “crawling before you walk,” but said Clorox hoped it would develop into a longer-term relationship.
• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 523-2250 or at patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.
Comments (20)
Add commentMove to Mexico???
Working hard to provide employment and success for Alaskans. Anyone want to work in a polluting sweatshop in Guadalajara?
Sealaska Corporation can't
Sealaska Corporation can't seem to get anything right, invest in a foreign country? How does that create jobs for my people in Ketchikan? Sealaska was suppose create jobs for its shareholders...least I have relatives in Iowa...
You can sell Sealaska's Board of Directors anything...if you grease their palms...sad. They are as bad as white people butchering our forest, our minerals. I am glad not to part of that.
I want to sell my shares? I wonder what they are worth? Crooks.
This is my own opinion on this matter.
Ripping off the US taxpayers to make jobs in Mexico !
Special 8(a) contracting rip off of taxpayers so Sealaska can transfer the bennies to a foreign nation.
Sleezlaksa is more like it. All this C while our nation gets ready to financially default because of debt run up by scams and corruption like this.
Agree with good, I caught that too....
Partner with a special 8(a) company - get special deals and pay even less taxes than the historic low rates not seen since the 50's. Use that benefit to send jobs to Mexico. Pocket the rest for your tax-free private jet to fly to your second home in the Dominican Republic.
Yeah, we're really cookin' on providing U.S. jobs now! :(
Board of Directors
Not need to bring color or race into anything. It's time to adapt to the western culture and accept it. The only thing we can do now is educate our youth and hope they will have the strength to lead us in the right direction.
Leading up to my main concern is the Board of Directors. Your right, you can sell them anything, this is why we need to limit the amount of re-elections and give our youth a chance to update the board and put in their knowledge.
Sealaska does it again
Mexico? Really? What about employing your shareholders in the state of Alaska? My husband is a Sealaska shareholder and we find this absolutely disheartening. How embarassing for Sealaska to create products in another country when they should be creating jobs and opportunity in Alaska. I'm disgusted and will not be buying these products and I will tell as many people as I possibly can to not buy this product. Sealaska, pull your head out!
Nypro
is a fully fledged subsidiary of Sealaska and has been around for over 10 years, in fact, even before NAFTA all you trolls.
I'm not one who usually defends corporate management, but don't start trashing the company if you aren't informed.
They bought a plastics company (well before the 8(a) bonanza) that was based in the Lower 48 that had a plant in Mexico, so stop complaining.
If a subsidiary makes money, the profits eventually wend there way back to the shareholders.
What is new about Nypro folks, is that it is starting to make money after more than a decade of losses, but it's more fun, isn't it to just complain ignorantly.
Open plant here
There's nothing stopping Nypro from opening an injection molding plant here. The caps and plastics are light weigh and small--easily shipped by air or barge. Just do it!!
Baseball cap?
Sealaska,
What kind of people wear baseball caps to a professional meeting?
Very disturbing IMO .... Do we (I am Sealaska OS) hire people like this to represent our business around the world?
Or does this person hold Sealaska with such disregard that he does not think enough to represent himself better?
Baseball cap?
Edit
JNUFFWC,
I agree whole heartedly. I don't care if you are from Alaska, if you are representing a company and in turn representing shareholders, dress the part, be professional. Probably wearing Xtratuffs as well. Please represent Sealaska with class and style, we know you can afford the clothes.
Nypro
Bet you Sealaska shareholders will not be griping about this when our dividends go up a few bucks.
To the rest of you, you have some legitimate gripes, but seadog explained that to you.
And Donnie down in Tennessee, can you get over the "white man" schtick? We all have to make money some way, and natural resources are are the way to go.
(Go Pebble)
I agree with Seadog.
I agree with Seadog.
Sealaska takes a beating for being a one-dimensional Timber corporation and not diversifying but when it does, people still criticize with uninformed rants. Clorox is working with our corporation and Sealaska vice versa with them- its a mutually beneficial business deal, as such partnerships are a new paradigm for investment strategies.
Yes, Seadog is right-the profits come back to shareholders, increase assets for employment and scholarships, internships, and staff wages- all of which gets spent in the communities in which shareholders and descendants reside, thus stimulating the economy-thats the BIG PICTURE here that the uninformed TROLLS fail to even attempt to comprehend.
Although Seadog criticizes Sealaska, seadog at least has objective criticism and bases his/her criticism on facts; not emotions and biased hatred, and looks at the long term, big picture.
I would dare people who post regularly on here to even try to be half as objective and fair towards an organization that injects tens of millions into the economy every year, provides cultural, educational, professional development, and leadership opportunities for its people.
The cynical uninformed trolls ranting about Sealaska is absurd.
Seadog, gunalcheesh for your wise and objective post
Reply to Snagger
You have a good point. I am not a Sealaska shareholder.
I have visited their plastic plant in Guadalajara, and of course all the workers were Mexican. But what if Sealaska were to develop an industry right here in Southeast where all the employees would be local residents? It would require a great deal of knowledge, experience in business, innovation and creativity to do so.
If the executives and board of directors of Sealaska are being paid a good salary to be business executives they need to demonstrate that they are doing so, hire others who have these qualifications, or make sure their scholarship recipients are educated and trained to come home and develop local industry.
Its just an outsider's opinion.
Good for Sealaska...
The more ways they can find other than cutting the heart out of the Tongass the better.
Vallbay
With the amount of monies flowing through Sealaska plaza I would like much more return. The "bonus" management culture there is getting ridiculous. So dividends going up a few bucks does not work for me.
A majority of dividend payments comes from the 7i payments of the other ANCSA corporations. This has got to stop.
Oh yeah....
PEBBLE ROCKS!!!!!! oh yes this will happen and I can't wait.
Vallbay
With the amount of monies flowing through Sealaska plaza I would like much more return. The "bonus" management culture there is getting ridiculous. So dividends going up a few bucks does not work for me.
A majority of dividend payments comes from the 7i payments of the other ANCSA corporations. This has got to stop.
Oh yeah....
PEBBLE ROCKS!!!!!! oh yes this will happen and I can't wait.
Vallbay
With the amount of monies flowing through Sealaska plaza I would like much more return. The "bonus" management culture there is getting ridiculous. So dividends going up a few bucks does not work for me.
A majority of dividend payments comes from the 7i payments of the other ANCSA corporations. This has got to stop.
Oh yeah....
PEBBLE ROCKS!!!!!! oh yes this will happen and I can't wait.
When ANCSA shareholders get dividends they spend them locally
I never see any non-natives complain about dividend payouts received by Sealaska & village corporation shareholders who spend it in Juneau (or the nearest town like Sitka, Petersburg, or Ketchikan), that creates local jobs and keeps local small businesses going. Instead, I've heard non-natives make whispered snide remarks about how the natives can't save any money even though there is high unemployment in the villages and poverty. SSU is correct, corporate management gets a disproportionate cut off the top and have little to no accountability to the shareholders, but there are those out there who do try to change the status quo.
Build a plastics plant in SE, do you have any idea how much a large plastic injection plant costs, the logistics involved in shipping in the raw materials and shipping the finished product out? It would have to go by barge or air freight, it would be cost prohibitive -- there is a reason there is no manufacturing is pretty much the entire State of Alaska.
Being Alaska Native and
Being Alaska Native and living outside Alaska, (SW Missouri right now), I think the language resources offered are a priceless tool to help keep my culture alive for my 6 year old son while we are outside of Alaska. It keeps Sitka, Alaska, AND our people alive to us until we can return home. Many many thanks to you all at SHI.
Roth IRA