A small, North Bay company may not be well known in the city, but it is making its presence known throughout the world.
DCG Vision Marketing and Sales International has been quietly spreading its unique products in the sanitary and janitorial industry across the globe and is entering the retail market for residential consumers.
“We have offices in Saudi Arabia, India and Dubai and distribution in California, New York and New Jersey,” said president Dan George. “We have done well.”
The company sells its products across the globe.
For the past few years, the company has been busy developing new products that include a bed bug killer, animal and insect repellent garbage bags, oil stain removers, non-slip porcelain and acrylic bathtub treatment kits and sealers for driveways and indoor tiles.
George initially started with Non-Slip Safety Solutions, a company that offered a slip-resistant floor treatment for industrial and commercial customers. DCG started after meeting with international clients and finding out what janitorial and sanitation products and services they needed.
“I come up with the idea for a product and we figure out what we need,” he said. “We then work with chemists and certain fulfillment centres and come up with several samples before we get it right. We are the ones to determine when it is just right.
“All the formulas belong to us.”
With a staff of three, DCG utilizes major distributors to sell its products.
“We save on warehousing and manpower and packing, and at the end of the day, it’s the smarter thing to do because the cost of goods and warehousing is expensive,” George said.
All its money is reinvested into the company and it has never relied on government grants or funds.
After visiting India and the Middle East, DCG developed a product that would eliminate oil stains from masonry. George found it was a problem in those countries, especially where outdoor grills were used at commercial establishments.
“The oil stain remover actually sucks the oil out of the substrate and then once it dries, in about six to eight hours, a dust is left,” he said.
Other products tend to clean the surface. Renew Oil Stain Remover has no harmful ingredients, no solvent and is environmentally safe. A similar product has been developed for wood.
“It is working so well in the industrial and commercial divisions that we are turning it into a retail item,” George said.
The company has teamed up with a manufacturers’ representative in Canada and another in the U.S. and has the interest of some major hardware chains.
Its non-slip bathtub kits have been available at 1,150 Home Hardware stores across the country, and it has been featured in the chain’s national TV ads.
For its driveway sealers, the company is in negotiations with a movie studio and a major city in California in the hopes of getting a contract.
It has also developed a bed bug killer that is water based and has no odour. It leaves a 14-day residual and when it dries in about 15 minutes, pets and humans can safely touch the surface where it was applied.
“Nothing is on the shelf right now that says bed bug killer,” George said. “And it keeps all flying and crawling insects away.”
Something new to the market, and soon to be available to the public, is a travel-sized bed bug detection kit. It includes a can of the Power Shot Bed Bug Killer, gloves, a lint brush, and a lighted magnifying glass with a picture of the bug.
The kit has a map of where bed bugs can be found in a hotel room. They can hide in areas like behind the picture frames, bed boards and light switches.
“Everyone is banging my door down for this one,” he said. “No one else has this and no one else thought of it, which I find baffling.”
The company has started a bed bug-free program for the hospitality industry that includes a checklist of due diligence. Establishments that follow the program can be listed on www.bedbugfree.ca. A detection unit has been developed, that uses pheromones and C02 to mimic a sleeping human, and can easily be installed behind a bed.
As for the animal and insect repellent garbage bags, ingredients such as rosemary, lemon oil and citronella are used which make it safe.
“I am selling skids of these right now to industries and commercial establishments so we turned it into a retail product which will be available soon,” George said.
Its reddish colour is a spectrum that animals do not see very well.
“We did a lot of testing on it and it works,” he said.
George wants to get the new products on the shelves before developing any new ones.
“I have had a lot of careers before (baker, hairdresser and silk screen business owner) but I have always been an ideas guy. This has been a lot of work but it’s also been a lot of fun.”
