Today we launch a News Letter from Abundant Labs to help provide information about the science and industry. In this spot, we will share about us. And why we exist in this industry many have labeled the wild west.
We started the organization with the intent to combat the lack of Quality Standards in Hemp Derivatives. There are multiple studies that show more than half of the products you find on the shelf do not properly identify what is in their products. There are a number of reasons for this, the most obvious is the lack of resources for many of the smaller operations who are making products. Not to mention we are dealing with an organic material which is grown with over 400 genetics thus producing profiles that are all over the board.
We met with a group of investors almost two years ago and discussed the issues. We knew the ask for capital would be big and the standard we wanted to set would be difficult to attain. We had no idea how true the second part would be. The good news, it wasn’t hard to get a commitment for the plan. Next, we had to find a location, design a facility, and find a team to bring it all together.
We were fortunate to find 25,000sqft with the utility requirement in a community that was eager to help us get launched. The design came on the heels of helping others with our resources over the years develop out their own systems. Relying on their experience on a smaller scale we bench tested systems and scaled them up to a point we were confident they would work. Then to get to the volume we wanted we simply duplicated to create redundancy.
Saving the best for last we assembled our core team from the ground up. Operationally we found someone with a background in Electrical Engineering who coincidentally had developed a business in hydroponic towers growing vegetables for local restaurants. His knowledge increased our depth with growers on many fronts. Gary Hughes not only guided us through construction and he also methodically assembled all of the equipment. Realizing the value he brings to the organization we asked him to be our COO managing the day to day operations of the facility.
Next, we went in search of someone who had a scientific background but wasn’t already in the industry. We knew our operation was doing something unique in the industry due to our scale and requirement for the highest quality. As fate would have it we stumbled upon Stephen Nerlick, he had all of the acronyms we were looking for behind his name and he had the goods to back it up. He formerly managed operations in a high volume blood lab, utilizing some of the most precise analytical equipment available. More importantly, he was willing to take the basic information from our friends in the west and use his mad scientist skills to make our operation the most efficient in the industry labeled the “Wild West”.
With this stellar team, we were able to launch an operation that would not only give the consumer confidence in products we supply derivative too. In addition, we have set the standard by focusing our operation on the “Science of Quality”. In future posts, it is our goal to educate and provide information on how Abundant Labs is bringing a new standard of quality to the industry.