"We have no competition," says Josep Maria Lloreda, father of KH-7, inventor of the degreaser category on supermarket shelves. It's his way of saying that they have no direct competitors, that "multinationals have not entered this segment because we had already eaten up the market. There is only some white label: but we offer a better product." It started in Les Franqueses and now this family company, which is about to turn 75, is present in 15 countries around the world.
Josep Maria, who is 70 years old, says that he no longer goes to the company every day; now he dedicates himself to traveling and living: but every morning when he wakes up, whether he is accompanying a rally in the desert or in the Dakar, cycling on a route or crossing mountains, or visiting any city in the world, he controls everything from the dashboard he has set up. "José Maria sees everything and is connected in one way or another," his team says.
"From what I've read, I identify with a starter: I start projects, I'm an encourager, I give confidence and help people do things." He is, above all, a brave man. It was in 1994, 30 years ago, when Lloreda "invented" KH-7. "My father died and I took over the company. We were in the jewelry sector, in the coating process; it coincided with a market crisis and we ran out of clients." And by chance, one day he saw his mother cleaning the kitchen hood with the product they used in the factory to clean metals. "And I saw an opportunity."
"We decided to dress the bottle, and we sent a salesperson to distribute a box of product in every grocery store he found from Vic to Barcelona, and a gift bottle for the owner. We left it for free, and they would pay us if they sold everything and repeated the order." It didn't take long for them to enter distribution, first in CoAliment and immediately also in Carrefour.
Josep Maria Lloreda, a chemist by training, explains that "I have never gone to sell, I have always had an operations role, in the factory, and helping in marketing, especially on the image issue." His team knows that when he sees something, he is very clear about whether he will like it or not. But he is also very clear that he is obsessed with engineering and the technological improvement of the product: "I don't let the marketing people design anything! We made the bottle in engineering, starting from the pallet, from the pallet to the box... But I am only in the design phase, when a new idea is proposed. Then I leave them to it." On the other hand, with sales and finance, he assures that he doesn't get involved. "I don't like them."
His team knows that when he sees something, he is very clear about whether he will like it or notThe company culture is not written on a website, it is made daily in the factory. "We have always worked on improving processes and not pressuring suppliers; we have been and are a profitable company, and this allows us to permanently reinvest in improvement." With Josep Maria's obsession, KH-7 puts the same focus on the container as on the content: "We have always sought to have the best spray gun on the market. You cannot lose the feeling that it works. When you clean, it is as important that the liquid removes the stain as the comfort of applying the product." And since the important things are those that don't seem to be, Josep Maria becomes obsessed: "Our bottle is the lightest on the market: the 750cc one weighs 28 gr, and this means reduction in plastic, in material, in logistics.""I am proud because 90% of the technology we have is Catalan: most suppliers are less than 50 km away, except for the spray guns, which we haven't found any here and have to be made in Germany. Even if we do merchandising, we try to have the t-shirts made here. Industrials must help each other: it's the way to make the country grow."
Lloreda now has a consolidated project: in 2023 the company invoiced 58 million euros, this year it expects to reach 65 million euros, and has a team of almost 80 people. Along the way, it has also gone through crises, of course. But he says that economic crises have benefited them, "we have grown a lot in sales, our product is good and lasts longer." And they have also made many mistakes. "A mistake is when something doesn't work and costs money. But they are also tests that haven't worked, and I want everyone to research and try, even if it doesn't work the first time." Everyone means everyone: in the laboratory, in marketing, IT, logistics. "Now we have incorporated artificial intelligence (our own closed system, not open internet) into finance. Letting people innovate is one of the secrets to success. If people research, everything moves forward. If not, we will go back to writing with pencil and paper." Nothing happens when they have made a mistake in their expansion strategy in new countries and have had to backtrack. "The philosophy is to find a good distributor. If it adapts, then we both grow." They have already reached the United States, where the degreaser category did not yet exist.
"A mistake is when something doesn't work and costs money. But they are also tests that haven't worked, and I want everyone to research and try, even if it doesn't work the first time"Another secret of KH-7 could be that they have been very daring in marketing. "We are not afraid to talk about real stains: blood is red, not blue as shown in many ads."They have not been ashamed to say that the blood that stains the most is period blood ---it must be the largest market, if we take into account the affected population---.They have made advertisements with Bigas Luna or Julio Medem. "We do honest, daring, and close communication with consumers." And they have put a lot of emphasis on sports sponsorships: "It gives us prestige," Josep Maria is quick to point out. "And notoriety too. But it works because there's a good product behind it, because we invest in making our product the best on the market."
Josep Maria Lloreda has been thinking about the future for a long time, about his own and that of the company. On the one hand, he says he started delegating a long time ago. "But the company's executives have made me suffer a lot. In fact, in recent years I have changed the entire management committee team twice." He recently created a team of three co-CEOs, and a whole new "boss-less" structure. All his life he has sought a way to implement this culture of his in team management.
Now he has gone a step further and has turned the company into a neural network: "If you have an idea, why should I cut it off? If the team is strong, you don't need bosses. Like in the brain: there are specialist neurons that work in a network: when there's a project, the experts get together ---marketing, finance, logistics, purchasing, packaging…---. And no one's authorization is needed, they must agree for it to work. This provides a lot of agility." With this philosophy, they are currently redefining all the company's processes, and there is senior talent that guarantees "that no one gets sidetracked or quarrels." "Leadership doesn't have to be vertical, there are area managers, but the bosses are experts who help, they don't clip wings." And they assure that it works for them.
On the other hand, as the sole owner he is (he bought his sister's share at the time), now "I am starting to prepare for when I am no longer here, I have been thinking about the role of the family, of the grandchildren, for a long time." One daughter is a cardiologist, the other had worked in the company for a while. He has asked them to guarantee its continuity and tries to transmit enthusiasm to them. "I have to make the company a legacy, not a burden. They will inherit a business that works, with a future, well organized and profitable." He has created a family council (with the two daughters and trusted experts) which, together with the co-CEOs, guarantees the management of the company.
Meanwhile, Josep Maria is awaiting the colors proposed for a new bottle design, or ensuring that the Christmas gift won't come in a cardboard box that ends up in the trash but will have some other use. Or he is promoting a project to select and train young people in Industry 4.0. He doesn't miss a thing. "The figure of the starter exists in many companies, but it's very hard to find," he admits. And he's fine with that. "I've lost count of the number of proposals I've received to buy the company. But it would be like taking a toy away from a child. I don't need more money than I have."