[aoredo]

Thanks a lot @Arturo777 for your feedback

[aoredo]

@Gunther - Thanks a lot for this. Much appreciated. We will try thin in our labs and let you know how it goes. Thanks a lot once again.

[aoredo]

@Belassi - LOL… If I could siphon transformer oil, I won’t be using it for soap

@Gunther - DFA costs about 75% cheaper than PKO. So we normally use 80% PKO and 20% DFA to drive down cost. We have tried higher % of DFA in the past but the outcome was not nice.

[aoredo]

@Belassi - Thank you so much for the feedback. Your suggestions really does make sense. I am guessing we have to explore the cost cutting exercise somewhere else in our operations and probably start exploring the idea of mid-premium products. 

@Gunther - Thanks. Please see below
1. The pH is between 9 and 11
2. We use Palm Kernel Distilled Fatty Acid - DFA

3. They are all using Soap Noodles but they can’t seem to get their products to foam in hard water like ours because most of the Soap Noodles they using are imported. However, they are cutting in our customer base that are more interested in costs - i.e. customers that wants cheaper products 
4. We are located in West African and do have access locally to Palm Kernel Oil locally. We have explored the idea of importing the PKO from Malaysia but it works out more expensive.

Please do you have any suggestions?

Thanks a lot once again

[aoredo]

Thank you so much for the feedback. 

Let me add some background for context. Most of our customers use our soap because is foams very well in hard water and it is really cheap. Also, it is quite multipurpose as we found out that our customers can use a bar of soap take their bath, wash their clothes and even for fishing. I am not a chemist, but I have been advised that these advantages come from the percentage of PKO, Caustic Soda and Water. 

We have tried to explore the idea of using soap noodles but we can’t seem to find the right soap noodles or formulation to replicate our current quality. This is why someone advised that we go down the route of working with a formulation Lab as there may be some safe and cheaper unique synthetic ingredients out there that we may use to boost our output.

Hence my initial question. 

I like the idea of a consultant that would work with us but we have tried different consultants and we did not really get anything new out of it. We have a in-house lab, but they are telling me it is not possible.

So, am I looking for a unicorn or is this achievable. If it is achievable, what is the best way for me to reach out to the formulation lab in order to maximise what we are paying for and not get ripped off.

Thanks a lot once again.

[aoredo]

Thank you all for the feedback. Much appreciated.
At the moment, we use Crude Palm Kernel Oil, Distilled Fatty Acid, Caustic Soda and Soda Ash. Most of the cost is the Crude Palm Kernel Oil. Are there any Oils cheaper than the Crude Palm Kernel Oil? We have explored the idea of Tallow and Palm Stearin but they seem more expensive.