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Stone Soap Company
Moves Forward Into The Future

By Maureen McDonald

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Steve, Jon and Ken Stone

S

tone Soap Company is going to
the birds, and that’s a good thing.
The second- and third-gen-
eration owners of Stone Soap
Company Inc., an 85-year-old Sylvan
Lake-based detergent, shampoo and spe-
cialty chemical manufacturing business,
are determined to move forward into
the future. In order to grow and prosper
into the 21st century, they have invested
heavily in a new venture: liquid EPA-
registered bird repellents.
This new venture, started in 2010,
addresses a multi-billion-dollar-plus
annual problem afflicting crops, air-
ports, landfills, commercial buildings
and lakefront property owners, among
others. Nearly one-quarter of the com-
pany’s manufacturing has now been
transformed into these non-toxic bird
repellents as the company’s older line of
detergent manufacturing has become
more competitive.
This is one more venture in a company
that keeps innovating to meet the mar-
ketplace.
“My father was an enterprising man
and we’ve kept honoring his legacy,” said
Steve Stone, executive vice president and

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head chemist. “Any Michigan company
that’s content to do business today the
same as it did five years ago is on a path
to the grave.”
The company founded in 1932 by
Ralph Stone, who turned fats and grease
into soap, is now run by three members
of the Stone family, including Ken Stone,
president, accountant and general man-
ager, and Jon Stone, lawyer and president
of the Avian Enterprises, LLC division
and son of Steve Stone. Steve is executive
vice president of both companies, head
chemist and company historian.
During the Great Depression, patri-
arch Ralph Stone, one of nine children,
drove a truck and picked up animal fat
(tallow) from butcher shops and restau-
rants for processing by rendering plants
where it could be turned into soap for
industrial markets. The company that
Ralph worked for as a truck driver went
out of business. Because he came from a
family with nine kids and couldn’t afford
to sit idle, he started his own business
making soap for the industrial market on
a rapid growth track. Then World War II
started.
As World War II began, Ralph enlisted
in the U.S. Navy. Upon his return, he
cleaned up on new opportunities. With
the opening of Paul’s Car Wash on
Detroit’s Fort Street shortly after the war,
Ralph saw a burgeoning market for spe-
cial detergents, liquid waxes and polish-
ing compounds designed exclusively for
car washes.
Most of the early commercial car wash
products in widespread distribution
washes were invented by Stone Soap,
and the family could have profited tre-

mendously, but they didn’t apply for pat-
ents in those days on those innovative
products. The company made money,
but could have made billions with pat-
ents.
Brothers Ken and Steve Stone took
over the business in the 1980s. They
promptly invented Sport Mate Body &
Hair Shampoo, the first commercial liq-
uid soap for tennis clubs, racquet clubs,
gyms as well as other sporting facilities
because bar soup was messy and carried
too many germs for public use. Since
their products weren’t patented, other
companies “borrowed” their idea over
time.
Profits began bubbling for the com-
pany in the car wash industry during
the 1980s and early 1990s, as Stone Soap
became the exclusive manufacturer of
car wash products for Shell gas station
car washes across North America. The
company established the world’s first
Car Wash Training Academy, featuring
a fully appointed conveyor car wash to
teach Shell personnel how to operate
and maintain their car washes across the
country. But the company got out of the
market, cancelled its contract and left
Stone Soap in a lurch.
The sudden unexpected loss was a
wake-up call for Stone Soap. Around that
time, one of their existing customers in
the landfill industry asked the Stones to
help them solve their bird problem. The
Stones’ entrepreneurial mindset again
kicked in, and they went to work invent-
ing a highly effective bird repellent.
In 2005, third-generation Stone entre-
preneur, Jon Stone, also an attorney,
entered the business. From there, the

company set about applying for a patent
for their bird repellent. Working with a
nationally renowned Washington lobby-
ist, they winged their way through the
expensive and laborious EPA govern-
ment regulatory process and now have
five separate EPA registrations for liquid
bird repellents that are sold worldwide.
The flagship product, Avian Control® Bird
Repellent, is used by tens of thousands
of American farmers as up to 15 percent
of U.S. crop production is lost to hungry
birds that routinely feast on crops as
they ripen in the orchards and fields.
Reflecting on eight decades of product
innovation, Steve Stone smiles broadly.
“We’ve revolutionized whole industries,
and we aren’t done yet,” he says. With
that he showcased a new car polish,
Gloss Boss 365, soon to be introduced
on Amazon.com, that promises to repel
dirt and maintain a shine on cars for up
to a year.
How does the firm weather such
changes? Steve Stone has his own sug-
gestion: Only the Paranoid Survive, by
Andrew S. Grove. Crisis points and
change may challenge any business but
Stone Soap Company, Avian Enterprises
and the Stone family are able to forge
ahead with new ideas for products and
services. Y

Stone Soap Company

2000 Pontiac Drive, Sylvan Lake
(248) 706-1000
www.stonesoap.com
www.aviancontrol.com
www.glossboss365.com

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July 18 • 2017

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