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Bloomberg Businessweek November 23, 2020OO
ne of America’s most recognizable icons of
fresh-scentedcleanlinesscomesfromNewJersey.No
matterwhereU.S.shoppersareluckyenoughtospot
cansofLysol,thesanitizingspraywasalmostcer-
tainlyproducedatthesamesprawling,tan-coloredfac-
tory,ina suburbanhour’sdrivefromNewYorkCity.Over
thenoisyplant’sconcretefloors,a steadystreamofempty
cansclinkthroughanassemblyline,waitingtobefilled.On
theline,a machinepacksthemallwitha blendofethanol,
anotherdisinfectingchemicalcalleda quaternarylanammo-
niumcompound,orquat,andsomescent.Employeescall
themixturetheJuice.
A machinecalleda Filtecscanseachcantomakesureit
gotexactly 19 ounces,thena devicecalleda crimperadds
themetaltopthatwillspraytheLysolthroughtheattached
plasticstraw.Ina separateroom,anothermachineusesthe
strawtoinjectthebutanethatpropelsthespray;thenthe
cangetsa bathina poolof140Fwatersurroundedbya half-
inchofballisticglass.Thismakesit almostimpossibleforthe
toptoburstlater,unlesssomebodythrowsoneintoa bon-
fire.“Ifit’sgoingtoexplode,it willblowhere,”saysShahzeb
Malik,thesitedirector.“Notontheshelfofa Walmart.”Other
machinespushontheplasticnozzle,wrapontheLysollabel,
andadda capuptop.Thecansarebundledintocasesand
pallets,whichareplacedontodistributiontrucksbyforklift,
whilenew,emptycansarrivefroma supplierinPennsylvania.
Thepacehasbeenquickerthroughoutthepandemic,
becausetheplanthasbeenrunningaroundtheclock,except-
ingthedowntimeforshiftchanges.Everydaythefactoryuses
upatleastthreetankercarsofethanolthatarrivebytrain,
eachcarryingabout30,000gallons.Theplantcanproduce
700 to 800 cansofLysola minute,allofthemquicklybought
andused,orhoarded,byAmericansdesperatetokeeptheir
stuffvirus-free.
For therecord,Lysolworks.SARS-CoV-2isanenvel-
opedvirus,a clumpofgeneticmaterialwrappedina mem-
braneoffattylipidmolecules.Lysol’sethanolandquatact
assolvents,rippingapartthelipidskinandleavingtheviral
material inert. That doesn’t mean anyone should inject it, a
treatment President Trump suggested doctors consider with
disinfectants, including bleach, earlier this year. “Under no
circumstance should our disinfectant products be adminis-
tered into the human body,” the updated Lysol website cur-
rently reads, because that’s where people are at these days.
Over the course of this maddening year, Lysol has been
one of the few products that’s steadily experienced an
unprecedented demand. It’s approached frenzy, a level of
panic-buying on par with purchases of toilet paper and rice.
In early March, when the New Jersey sales team tested the
fervor by sending one retail store in Florida 10,000 cans, they
sold out in less than two hours. Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc,
Lysol’s corporate parent, says that by yearend it’ll be produc-
ing 35 million cans of Lysol in North America each month—
more than triple its pre-Covid-19 peak and enough to put
a can in most American households before winter is over.So far, Lysol sales are up more than 70% this year, pushing
Reckitt’s market value to well over $6o billion. The company
has gained market share while rivals like Clorox Co. have
stayed flat or struggled to keep up. And yet the increased
production hasn’t been enough to keep store shelves con-
sistently stocked.
Reckitt Benckiser saw this coming, both from its corpo-
rate headquarters outside London and at one of its biggest
manufacturing hubs, located about 140 miles west of Wuhan,
China. But there was only so much the company could do to
accommodate everyone. Lysol’s parent has proven a leading
indicator at several key points in the pandemic. With winter● THE LYSOL PLANT IN NEW JERSEY CAN MAKE 700 TO 800 CANS A MINUTE