There was great excitement, back in 1915, when Procter & Gamble selected the City of Hamilton, Ontario, as the site of its first plant outside the United States. It is said that the plant’s original 75 employees were so proud of their new company that they paraded truckloads of the first soap production through the City streets for all to see. One of those products, Ivory, soon became a household name and to this day remains Canada’s leading bar soap.

The employees’ pride and optimism were well founded. Today, P&G Canada employs about 4,000 people and has annual sales exceeding one billion dollars. It is estimated that at least one of P&G’s more than 100 high-quality consumer products can be found in every household in the country — market leaders that include Tide laundry detergent, Bounce fabric softener, Cascade dishwashing detergent, Crest toothpaste, Scope mouthwash, Pert Plus shampoo, Oil of Olay moisturizer, Pampers paper diapers, Always feminine hygiene products, Crisco shortening and Duncan Hines cake mixes. In addition, the company produces a number of products for commercial and industrial use.
 

Ivory became Canada's leading bar soap soon after its indroduction in 1915.

P&G Canada’s General Offices are located in North York, Ontario, part of Metropolitan Toronto. Its manufacturing operations have expanded to six plants, five in the province of Ontario and one in Quebec. Sales offices are located in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Calgary. The recent acquisitions of Norwich Eaton, now P&G Pharmaceuticals (in 1984), Richardson-Vicks (1985), Noxell Canada (1989), Shulton Canada (1990), Max Factor Canada (1991) and Facelle Canada (1991), have considerably expanded P&G’s presence in the health care, beauty care and paper products fields, with respected brand names such as Pepto-Bismol, Vicks, Cover Girl, Noxzema and Royale.

The Procter & Gamble Company, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, was established in 1837 when William Procter, a candlemaker, formed a partnership with his brother-in-law James Gamble, a soap maker. Neither could have foreseen that their small business, with just $7,000 in capital, would evolve into a highly respected transnational organization with annual worldwide sales of almost $30 billion and 106,000 employees in more than 50 countries. Indeed, even though they were men of vision who always had their eyes on the future, the founders would have had difficulty believing that their company would become the world’s preeminent marketer, a leading advertiser and supporter of basic research and product development in many of the countries in which P&G operates.

What is the secret of P&G’s success? Why have thousands of employees gladly spent their entire careers with the company? Why has this business grown and prospered over more than 150 years through often adverse conditions, including major wars, severe depressions, and ongoing cultural and global change?

Part of the answer lies in the operating principles instilled in the organization by the founders and reinforced by the generations of employees who succeeded them — basic principles such as a dedication to providing consumers with superior products at a fair price, and an organizational culture which fosters honesty and integrity, hard work, pride of accomplishment, being the best in what it does, and doing what is right for the long-term health of the business.

P&G’s success and growth can also be attributed to its creation of innovative new products that meet consumer needs, and its continual improvement of existing products’ performance standards. Three good examples are Tide, Crest, and Pampers. Tide, the first heavy-duty synthetic laundry detergent in Canada, was hailed as a “washday miracle” when it was introduced in 1948. Crest, the first fluoride toothpaste, was regarded as a “Triumph over tooth decay” in 1962 and the first fluoride toothpaste whose effectiveness was recognized by the Canadian Dental Association. Pampers paper diapers, introduced in 1972, greatly improved the quality of paper diapers and helped to move them into the mainstream of baby care. Over the years, each of these products, as well as the other P&G brands, have continually been improved.

Given the scope of its operations, P&G Canada affects the lives of many groups of people, including its employees, customers, suppliers, business associates, and Canadians at large. With this awareness, the company strives to balance each business decision so that it will be fair and reasonable for each group affected.
 

It is estimated that at least one of P&G's more than 100 consumer products can be found in every household in Canada.

P&G recognizes the vital importance of continuing employment and its ultimate tie with the strength and success of the business. The company seeks to employ the best people it can find without regard to race, gender or any other difference unrelated to performance, and to promote, from within the organization, on the same basis. It encourages and rewards individual innovation, personal initiative and leadership. At the same time it promotes teamwork across disciplines, divisions and geography in order to get the most effective integration of the ideas and efforts of its diverse people. The development of individuals is maximized through training and coaching, and managers are evaluated, in part, on their record in developing subordinates. P&G also strives to maintain a caring culture, one which encourages candid, two-way communication at all levels and involves employees in the decisions that affect their lives.

Procter & Gamble seeks to benefit the country and the communities in which it operates by providing financial support to leading Canadian universities in the form of capital grants, and by supporting student conferences and other endeavours. In addition, the company provides financial help to more than 200 worthwhile organizations in a variety of fields, including health care, the arts and charity.

Building environmental quality is another area where P&G makes every effort to be a responsible corporate citizen. It is widely recognized as a leader in environmental activities and is helping to lead the development of meaningful and sustainable environmental innovation.

Part of the company’s strong image stems from numerous initiatives supported by a Corporate Environmental Quality Coordination Team. Formed in 1989, the Team’s mandate is to minimize the impact of P&G’s products, packages and processes on the environment. One of the first policies it initiated involved the development of an integrated approach to solid waste management that includes, in order of priority: source reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, and as a final alternative, landfill.

Two examples of source reduction initiatives are the introduction of Enviro-pak packages and the conversion of its paper diapers from thick to thin.

Enviro-Pak is a refill pouch which encourages the reuse of conventional plastic bottles. Introduced by P&G in 1989 for Liquid Tide laundry detergent, Downy fabric softener, Ivory Liquid dishwashing detergent and Mr. Clean all-purpose cleaner, the Enviro-Pak has since been expanded to several other P&G brands. With plastic resin savings of 65 to 85 percent per refill pouch, the growing success of Enviro-Pak has provided an estimated annual reduction of more than seven million plastic bottles, representing almost 400,000 kilograms of plastic resin.

P&G was an industry pioneer in the conversion of paper diapers from thick to thin through the use of an absorbent gelling material. This move resulted in a reduction of the volume of used diapers going to landfills by 50 percent and packaging material by over 90 percent.

P&G is forging toward the next century with plans to make the company’s future even more successful than its past through a firm commitment to its values, technologies and high-quality people.