Retail: The Holding Company

If you look at a list of the top patent awardees in Washington state, you might be surprised to find one company few people have heard of: Pacific Market International. The company has quietly established a reputation as a green, innovative business and a great place to work.

Reinvention seems built into its corporate DNA, with fresh approaches that pay off in impressive lineups of new products each year and growing market opportunities. I always wanted to have a company where people could engage, learn and grow, Rob Harris, founder and CEO, says at his Elliott Avenue headquarters in Seattle. What we have today is a highly collaborative and team-oriented culture. Its good to be part of something that you can call your own.

For Harris personally, that consideration has meant keeping PMI ownership closely held, growing the business from profits rather than by taking on debt and, at the same time, grabbing new opportunities.

Since purchasing two iconic American brands, Stanley and Aladdin, about 10 years ago, PMI has been turning out nearly 100 new products in the food and beverage container category every yearfrom collapsible snack containers to blank canvas insulated mugs that can show off a childs artwork. Many of these products go from concept to retail store shelf in as few as 15 months.

Harris launched Pacific Market International in 1983 with a $1,200 investment and the idea that American importers could use some help finding reliable and responsible factories in Southeast Asia. The business grew steadily. But after a decade, Harris realized greater success would come only from original product development.

We went from doing anything for everyone to making products where we owned the intellectual property, he says. Unless we knew everything about the item, we wouldnt do it.

PMI hired product developers and design engineers and collaborated with businesses like Nike, Sunbeam, Eddie Bauer and L.L. Bean. At one point, PMI invested in and now owns one of the worlds largest injection-molding plants in China.

We were the guys in the background doing the design, getting it to the factories and delivered on time, Harris explains.

In partnership with Starbucks, PMI developed and made a new line of stylish drink cups and travel mugs. That business continues to provide an underpinning for product sales growth. In 1999, PMI developed the private-label MiGo beverage container line as a way to broaden customer base and apply its technology to other PMI products. Factories were humming in China, Thailand and South Korea.

The company now holds more than 130 patents for its diverse and eco-friendly inventions. A key strategy has been to bring an environmental consciousness to all product development, Harris says. We have the same approach at our manufacturing sites, something we dont necessarily get credit for in the retail market.

With the 2002 acquisition of Aladdin and Stanley, brands that date to 1907 and 1915, respectively, PMI set out to reinvent the at-work and at-school lunch experience. Both brands are indelibe parts of United States historythe Stanley vacuum bottle went to war with American pilots in the 1940s, and Aladdins first character-licensed lunchbox featuring TVs Hopalong Cassidy sold 600,000 units in 1950. But the brands, Harris says, were in need of updating. Weve worked really hard to create products that are convenient, fun and recyclable.

Products are manufactured using post-consumer and post-industrial content. PMI factories reduce their carbon footprints, for instance, by recycling water. Were doing all this in China, Harris adds. It costs more, but the investment is in line with our environmental mission, which is part of everything we do.

Lately, Harris has been most pleased with three new PMI product lines:

Aladdin adult lunch containers that are Earth friendly and fully recyclable when discarded. Designed to avoid food leaks, the lunch containers have double walls so users dont burn their fingers when warming food in a microwave. PMI researchers use what they call anthropology-based product development that comes from observing how people actually use PMI products. Better ideaseverything from colors and textures to materials, lids and handlesresult from the research.

Aladdin food containers for kids that are designed to hold heat longer, all the way to lunchtime. Made from plastic and high-tech fabric, the containers fit small hands, making the items easier to open.

An Adventure line of Stanley products that includes a collapsible water bottle and two-stage cooking vessels.

How does PMI keep the development pipeline full?

Good ideas come from brainstorming and team collaboration, Harris says. The strategy is to vet all ideas and engage the team, but theres a caveat, he notes. Once the planning and communications are done, it becomes autocratic in execution. Thats been the hardest part of our managerial team leadership training … to be able to lead and know when the vetting process has progressed enough.

After nearly 30 years of reinventing and building his business, Harris, 56, continues to be confident of the future. PMI expanded its global workforce from 163 to 185 in the past 18 months. Many of those jobs were in Seattle and across several departments: engineering, marketing, customer service and sales. Last year, Outside magazine named PMI one of the 50 Best Places to Work in the United States for allowing its employees to balance productivity with an active and socially and ecologically conscious lifestyle. Revenues in 2012 are projected to grow 5 to 6 percent to about $121 million, with a stronger outlook for 2013, Harris believes.

Emerging marketsIndia, China and the Middle Eastoffer new business opportunities. And with shifting currency rates and offshore manufacturing costs rising, Harris says PMI is considering putting a manufacturing operation in the United States. Were evaluating this option and would likely announce a decision by fall and be up and running within 12 to 18 months. We talk a lot about where we want to go and how well get there.