Ultraviolet sterilization firm targets consumer markets

Brad Hollander has made a decent living for 34 years manufacturing ultraviolet sterilization units that he sold to the food-processing industry, waste treatment plants, water gardens and the like.

Now Hollander's Minden-based UVC Manufacturing & Consulting Inc. is looking to extend its reach into consumer markets where the company is little known.

The company this month began offering consumer-sized UVC Germicidal Systems at the company's cost to individuals with health risks as well as locations such as day-care facilities where germs spread.

After a test of the program in northern Nevada, UVC Manufacturing is about to roll it out nationally.

The local test generated some inquiries from people who wanted to learn more, as well as a handful of sales, and Hollander suspects the region's high jobless rate dampened sales.

He has some time to be patient with the consumer initiative.

"We've ridden these economic times very well," says Hollander, who created the patented ultraviolet system that's the heart of UVC Manufacturing's products in the mid-1970s.

The recession has claimed several competitors worldwide, Hollander says, but UVC Manufacturing came into the downturn with an exceptionally lean cost structure.

It's lean enough, in fact, that Hollander doesn't have big concerns that his company can be undercut by competitors who've moved manufacturing offshore.

More than 20 years ago, long before "outsourcing" entered the dictionary, Hollander began contracting with outside firms to handle everything but core functions for his company. Today, a cadre of four people oversee the company's headquarters operations.

Assembly of UVC Manufacturing products is handled by PRIDE Industries, a Sacramento organization that employs people with physical and mental disabilities.

Within the already small cadre of makers of ultraviolet germicidal systems, UVC Manufacturing as further carved a niche as the company in the western hemisphere that custom-designs ultraviolet system, using off-the-shelve components such as light bulbs and power supplies. That, Hollander says, has proven to be a key advantage in winning contracts from food-processing companies.

Selling the systems to consumers requires a different approach.

For one, Hollander acknowledges that the use of ultraviolet lighting as a germ-fighting strategy isn't well-known. The company notes that the Centers for Disease Control has recommended use of ultraviolet systems in public buildings such as hospitals and homeless shelters to slow the spread of disease-causing germs.

The company's systems typically are installed inside metal heating and air conditioning ducts, where their ultraviolet light kills germs, mold and airborne pathogens.

Hollander's offer to sell systems at cost to high-risk groups includes people such as pregnant women, diabetics, asthma sufferers and transplant patients.

He's also making the at-cost offer to facilities such as homeless shelters, churches and senior centers.

With a price tag running from $62 to $75 for the units themselves, along with another $100 or so for installation, Hollander thinks the price point under $200 should prove attractive.

"I want to grow the entire industry with a product that the average Joe can afford," he says.

Ever mindful of the costs of adding more staff, the company is selling the systems only through its Web site, uvc1.com.

As he looks to get national attention for his product, Hollander is positioning his at-cost offer as a reaction to Wall Street excesses.

"All we have heard about in 2009 is the greed of corporate America, and I just can't take it any more," Hollander says in a company press release. "UVC has been supported by its community for almost 34 years, and it's time to give back in this time of need."

The company has said it also will donate a portion of sales to selected nonprofit groups.