The New and Improved Prism

The recently completed separation of S.C. Johnson Professional as an independent operating business of S.C. Johnson Wax means significant opportunities for its pest elimination business. S.C. Johnson Professional became an independently operated company, although still owned by S.C. Johnson Wax, in June of 1997. The separation was designed to provide both businesses greater autonomy in their operations.

“For more than 100 years, S.C. Johnson Wax has been highly successful as basically a product-driven company,” says Paulo S. Bello, a 24-year company veteran. “In recent years S.C. Johnson has worked to focus on both products and services. The separation of S.C. Johnson Professional creates a much stronger service business focus than was possible before.” Bello, president of Prism Integrated Sanitation Management, S.C. Johnson Professional’s Miami, Fla.-based pest elimination business, says the company’s business strategy was formed more than a decade ago. “In the mid 1980s, Johnson Wax could see that future success meant providing clients with total solutions to their problems,” Bello said. “It really did not matter whether the solution was a product, a service or both.” To begin fulfilling the vision, S.C. Johnson Wax entered the service business by forming Prism in November 1986, after acquiring and merging “Bugs” Burger Bug Killers and the restaurant division of Safety-Kleen. In the decade since, S.C. Johnson has continued expansion of its service resources and expertise. In 1988, it acquired PCO Services, Inc., the largest pest control firm in Canada.

Prism’s Professional Kitchen Services (PKS) division traces its heritage to Safety-Kleen. Today, PKS provides a full range of sanitation products and services for any commercial facility with a kitchen. Other S.C. Johnson Wax acquisitions complement Prism services as well. Drackett, a leading manufacturer of consumer and commercial-grade cleaning products — including the well-known brands Windex, Drano and Vanish — was acquired in 1993. Puritan Sanitation Services, specialists in sanitation services for food retail chains, was acquired in 1996.

The sum of these acquisitions, Bello says, is that S.C. Johnson Professional now has the resources needed to service the needs of the restaurant, food processing, food manufacturing, hospitality, institutional and retail foodservice industries.

RENEWED EMPHASIS ON PEST ELIMINATION. Bello says it was not by chance that S.C. Johnson Wax purchased a leading pest elimination company when it first entered the service business. Pest elimination and related sanitation services are considered critical to the company’s strategic service vision. “Prism has dual missions,” Bello says. “One mission is to maintain leadership in the pest elimination industry, a heritage the company gained through ‘Bugs’ Burger Bug Killers in the United States and PCO Services in Canada.

Prism’s other mission is to provide S.C. Johnson Professional with its commercial pest elimination service component. S.C. Johnson Professional is working to surround its clients with Total Care Service. The vision behind Total Care is to take ownership of the client’s service needs. “Total Care means providing whatever service the client needs through the constellation of S.C. Johnson Professional companies. So if the customer has a pest problem, Prism’s role is to solve it. But we go beyond pest control; we work to prevent pest problems,” Bello said.

S.C. Johnson Professional’s rapid growth has meant rapid growth for Prism under the Total Care Banner. In recent years, Prism has added several high-profile nationwide retail chains as customers, with more than a thousand stores each.

“Prism has greatly expanded its client base in recent years. We’re serving more clients, are in more markets and offer a wider range of services,” Bello said. “Our challenge is to continue providing Guaranteed Pest Elimination, but also anticipate new and changing client needs. That is the mission S.C. Johnson Professional has given to all of its business units — to satisfy client needs now and tomorrow.”

The heart of Prism remains Guaranteed Pest Elimination, Bello says. Prism’s Guaranteed Pest Elimination service remains primarily a thorough, after-business-hours service with the emphasis on preventing pest problems rather than reacting to them. It also remains a premium-priced service and one with an industry-leading guarantee. “Many Prism employees helped make Guaranteed Pest Elimination the quality standard in the pest control business, and they take extreme pride in their work,” he said. “Many clients tell us they call Prism when all else fails.”

STRESSING SERVICE QUALITY. To ensure uncompromised quality, Bello says Prism has expanded its resources in recent years. Prism’s 24 branch offices in the United States, and PCO Services’ 26 branch offices in Canada, are backed by a team of nine full-time, degreed entomologists and registered sanitarians for training and technical support. The technical staff is also backed by a team of entomologists and research scientists at the S.C. Johnson Wax Urban Entomology Research Center in Racine, Wis., the largest privately owned research laboratory of its kind in the world.

Prism’s quality philosophy means that any client calling on Prism’s hotline, day or night, will talk to a Prism employee, not a recording or answering service. The company’s pursuit of quality also meant creating the Gold Medal Program for food manufacturing and processing clients. The Gold Medal Program — which is ISO-9002 certified — meets world-class standards for its quality assurance program. ISO registration is based on meeting strict guidelines and requirements and is monitored by independent auditors. Prism was the first pest control firm in North America to offer an ISO-9002 registered program and is still the only nationwide pest control company offering this kind of program throughout the U.S. “Getting and keeping Gold Medal ISO-9002 registered is very expensive and time-consuming. That is why few pest control companies have it,” said Bello. “But it can be important for food manufacturing clients, who have invested significantly to have their facilities ISO-registered, to use a pest elimination service that is ISO-registered. The quality emphasis behind our ISO-registered program serves as a component of their own quality initiative.”

TARGETING FAST GROWTH. Bello says Prism’s business goals are aggressive. Prism now offers clients Guaranteed Pest Elimination, fly control with the patented Vector Fly System, the Gold Medal Program for the food processing industry, and specialized kitchen sanitation services. This service offering means Prism can meet the pest elimination needs of any commercial client. Prism is also investigating new technologies, services and international expansion.

To facilitate rapid growth, Bello is restructuring Prism and building a new core management team in Miami. In January of 1997, Hector Ho Ken was named vice president of operations for the company’s western division, and Jay Woods vice president of operations for the eastern division. Dr. Zia Siddiqi, Prism’s technical director, has relocated to the Miami headquarters from Toronto, as has Roger Corriveau, director of the com-pany’s human resources and customer service departments. And currently Prism is hiring personnel, expanding its service fleet and looking for acquisitions that fit with the company’s business strategy.

“Prism has been too quiet in the past, but that is changing,” Bello said. “Our focus in recent years has been on expanding our services and expanding our technical expertise and customer support systems. Now we are becoming more visible within the indstry. The pest control industry is entering a new era of service and Prism sees huge opportunities ahead.”

Sidebar: PRISM AT A GLANCE

Company: Prism Integrated Sanitation Management

Businesses: Commercial pest elimination, pest control and specialized kitchen sanitation services. Industries served include food manufacturing, food processing, transportation and distribution, restaurants, food service, hospitality and institutional.

Parent Corporation: Prism is a service division of S.C. Johnson Professional and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of S.C. Johnson Wax, Racine, Wis. S.C. Johnson Professional’s North American Service Unit includes Prism Pest Elimination in Miami, Fla., serving the U.S.; Prism Professional Kitchen Services, serving the U.S. and Canada; and PCO Services, Inc., in Toronto, Canada, serving Canada.