Amway Makes Consumer Safety & Sustainability Gains
Amway works hard to keep its customers satisfied. The 52-year-old company, headquartered in Ada, Michigan, has more than 14,000 global employees in more than 80 countries and territories, with more than three million distributors worldwide. Quality and service keep demand high for the company’s 450 products designed for home care, personal care, beauty and nutrition. As a good business practice and to safeguard consumers, Amway conducts routine microbiological screening of its products. Like many companies, Amway was following traditional methods that date back more than 100 years.
Product samples were mixed with growth media and incubated for several days, then looked at regularly to see if colonies of bacteria, yeast or mould had formed.
“Microbiology testing tends to be lengthy,” admits Steve Allard, senior group leader, Quality Services and Microbiology at Amway. “We needed to incubate samples for three to five days, so we were holding up products while waiting for test results.”
The lab’s problems were magnified whenever one of the autoclave units went down for maintenance. Traditional methods generate a significant
amount of material that must be disposed of or decontaminated, but a single autoclave could not keep up with the cleaning, so more of the materials had to be thrown away.
At the same time, Amway’s Sustainability Program Manager, Rick VanDellen, was leading a company- wide initiative. “Like many progressive companies, Amway wants to reduce risk and waste, including the waste coming out of the laboratory,” he explained. “We have a recycling goal of 95 percent, but it’s hard to figure out how to recycle waste from a microbiology lab.”
Amway purchased a Celsis Rapid Detection system and has been relying on it increasingly over the past two years. At first, the company was hesitant about committing the time to validate the rapid method for final product release.
“If you move away from the recommended regulatory methods, there’s a validation qualification process you go through,” explained Allard. “We did that very collaboratively with Celsis. They have a lot of great regulatory support on their side, and their technology is already well accepted in the industry; that was a selling point for us.”
Celsis Rapid Detection using Celsis AKuScreen™ is a system for faster and reliable testing of raw materials, work-in-process and finished goods. It leverages an adenylate kinase (AK) reaction to amplify ATP bioluminescence, making it the fastest rapid detection method for use in high-volume manufacturing environments.
The system includes the Celsis Advance®, a bench-top instrument for measuring luminescence or light emissions. If microorganisms are present
in combination with specialized Celsis AKuScreen reagents, then an enzyme reaction is activated and produces light. The Advance.im software automates the assay, captures and records the testing data, and provides clear, non-subjective results in a color-coded display. The Celsis system detects the presence — and confirms the absence — of bacteria, yeasts and moulds within 24 hours.
As part of a system purchase, Celsis includes three days of on-site training including the start of validation. “The implementation was smooth,” said Steve Allard. “Celsis has a ‘tried and true’ validation process and they provided us with a lot of technical support and guidance, including technical reports they had done for others in the industry with similar products.”
Today, more than 60 percent of the company’s products are currently being tested with the Celsis method, with more being validated regularly.
“With the Celsis system, we were able to bring that three-to-five days of delay down to about a day,” said Allard. “We save at least two days of cycle time on each test. From a supply chain optimization standpoint, the reduced cycle time and inventory savings are important, and the Celsis system delivered.”
There were additional, unforeseen results from implementing the technology: increased lab efficiency and environmental benefits.
At Amway, the task of media preparation was extensive. Quality control procedures were lengthy. “After that,” said Allard, “there’s a significant amount of material you have to decontaminate with traditional methods. Celsis has improved our processes on all those fronts, and reduced the amount of waste.”
“Having less lab waste to recycle is a big savings,” confirmed VanDellen. “It also reduces costs on our janitorial side. They don’t have to manage as much waste.”
VanDellen’s seen the environmental benefits of the Celsis system in other areas of the lab as well. There’s the ongoing issue of the autoclave. “We were down an autoclave for a while, and having Celsis was a big help,” he said. “We use less electricity, less steam. Our water needs are reduced.”
To quantify their savings, Amway is working with Celsis on an Environmental Impact Assessment that captures reductions in solid and liquid waste, as well as savings from reduced water and energy consumption. The Impact Report can also project additional savings from testing more of Amway’s products with the Celsis system.
Would Allard and VanDellen recommend their Celsis system?
“You always have to consider the regulatory environment,” advises Allard.
“That’s where we had a lot of confidence in Celsis. The technology
has been out there and Celsis has done a great job improving the technology over the past few years."
“From a supply chain optimization standpoint, reducing cycle time and increasing efficiency in the lab are both very important for us,” said Allard. “The Celsis system has certainly done that. We’ve seen the results.”
VanDellen adds, “The environmental savings have been a great benefit, and one that exceeded our expectations.”
“An unforeseen benefit,” agrees Allard.
The lab’s problems were magnified whenever one of the autoclave units went down for maintenance. Traditional methods generate a significant
amount of material that must be disposed of or decontaminated, but a single autoclave could not keep up with the cleaning, so more of the materials had to be thrown away.
At the same time, Amway’s Sustainability Program Manager, Rick VanDellen, was leading a company- wide initiative. “Like many progressive companies, Amway wants to reduce risk and waste, including the waste coming out of the laboratory,” he explained. “We have a recycling goal of 95 percent, but it’s hard to figure out how to recycle waste from a microbiology lab.”
Product samples were mixed with growth media and incubated for several days, then looked at regularly to see if colonies of bacteria, yeast or mould had formed.
“Microbiology testing tends to be lengthy,” admits Steve Allard, senior group leader, Quality Services and Microbiology at Amway. “We needed to incubate samples for three to five days, so we were holding up products while waiting for test results.”
The lab’s problems were magnified whenever one of the autoclave units went down for maintenance. Traditional methods generate a significant
amount of material that must be disposed of or decontaminated, but a single autoclave could not keep up with the cleaning, so more of the materials had to be thrown away.
At the same time, Amway’s Sustainability Program Manager, Rick VanDellen, was leading a company- wide initiative. “Like many progressive companies, Amway wants to reduce risk and waste, including the waste coming out of the laboratory,” he explained. “We have a recycling goal of 95 percent, but it’s hard to figure out how to recycle waste from a microbiology lab.”
Amway purchased a Celsis Rapid Detection system and has been relying on it increasingly over the past two years. At first, the company was hesitant about committing the time to validate the rapid method for final product release.
“If you move away from the recommended regulatory methods, there’s a validation qualification process you go through,” explained Allard. “We did that very collaboratively with Celsis. They have a lot of great regulatory support on their side, and their technology is already well accepted in the industry; that was a selling point for us.”
Celsis Rapid Detection using Celsis AKuScreen™ is a system for faster and reliable testing of raw materials, work-in-process and finished goods. It leverages an adenylate kinase (AK) reaction to amplify ATP bioluminescence, making it the fastest rapid detection method for use in high-volume manufacturing environments.
The system includes the Celsis Advance®, a bench-top instrument for measuring luminescence or light emissions. If microorganisms are present
in combination with specialized Celsis AKuScreen reagents, then an enzyme reaction is activated and produces light. The Advance.im software automates the assay, captures and records the testing data, and provides clear, non-subjective results in a color-coded display. The Celsis system detects the presence — and confirms the absence — of bacteria, yeasts and moulds within 24 hours.
As part of a system purchase, Celsis includes three days of on-site training including the start of validation. “The implementation was smooth,” said Steve Allard. “Celsis has a ‘tried and true’ validation process and they provided us with a lot of technical support and guidance, including technical reports they had done for others in the industry with similar products.”
Today, more than 60 percent of the company’s products are currently being tested with the Celsis method, with more being validated regularly.
“With the Celsis system, we were able to bring that three-to-five days of delay down to about a day,” said Allard. “We save at least two days of cycle time on each test. From a supply chain optimization standpoint, the reduced cycle time and inventory savings are important, and the Celsis system delivered.”
There were additional, unforeseen results from implementing the technology: increased lab efficiency and environmental benefits.
At Amway, the task of media preparation was extensive. Quality control procedures were lengthy. “After that,” said Allard, “there’s a significant amount of material you have to decontaminate with traditional methods. Celsis has improved our processes on all those fronts, and reduced the amount of waste.”
“Having less lab waste to recycle is a big savings,” confirmed VanDellen. “It also reduces costs on our janitorial side. They don’t have to manage as much waste.”
VanDellen’s seen the environmental benefits of the Celsis system in other areas of the lab as well. There’s the ongoing issue of the autoclave. “We were down an autoclave for a while, and having Celsis was a big help,” he said. “We use less electricity, less steam. Our water needs are reduced.”
To quantify their savings, Amway is working with Celsis on an Environmental Impact Assessment that captures reductions in solid and liquid waste, as well as savings from reduced water and energy consumption. The Impact Report can also project additional savings from testing more of Amway’s products with the Celsis system.
Would Allard and VanDellen recommend their Celsis system?
“You always have to consider the regulatory environment,” advises Allard.
“That’s where we had a lot of confidence in Celsis. The technology
has been out there and Celsis has done a great job improving the technology over the past few years."
“From a supply chain optimization standpoint, reducing cycle time and increasing efficiency in the lab are both very important for us,” said Allard. “The Celsis system has certainly done that. We’ve seen the results.”
VanDellen adds, “The environmental savings have been a great benefit, and one that exceeded our expectations.”
“An unforeseen benefit,” agrees Allard.
The lab’s problems were magnified whenever one of the autoclave units went down for maintenance. Traditional methods generate a significant
amount of material that must be disposed of or decontaminated, but a single autoclave could not keep up with the cleaning, so more of the materials had to be thrown away.
At the same time, Amway’s Sustainability Program Manager, Rick VanDellen, was leading a company- wide initiative. “Like many progressive companies, Amway wants to reduce risk and waste, including the waste coming out of the laboratory,” he explained. “We have a recycling goal of 95 percent, but it’s hard to figure out how to recycle waste from a microbiology lab.”