The Great Diaper Battle

U.S. businessmen collect and collate countless minor statistics--not the least of which is the fact that American mothers change their babies' diapers about 25 billion times a year. While pondering that vital information 13 years ago, executives of Cincinnati's Procter & Gamble Co. decided that there was money to be made in diapers. That was the genesis of what has become one of the best-selling new consumer products in years.

In 1966 P. & G. was ready to introduce a disposable diaper called Pampers. Since then, sales have climbed to more than $30 million a year, and the company has been unable to keep up with demand. It operates two Pampers factories and will add a third this year. For lack of manufacturing capacity, it has not even begun to sell the diapers in the South or Far West.

Enter the Engineers. The effort that went into the Pampers' development was worthy of the creation of a new line of automobiles. Product designers created the company's first disposable diaper in the late 1950s, but it flunked its market tests because the retail price of 10 -c- was simply too high for mothers --who make an average of eight diaper changes a day. The problem was then turned over to production engineers, who devised a high-speed, block-long assembly line that brought the price down to 5 1/2-c-. That is considerably more than the cost of buying and home-laundering a standard cloth diaper--which works out to an average 1 1/2-c- per change --but within competitive range of the 310 or so typically charged by pick-up-and-delivery diaper services.

The toughest task was to develop a throwaway that was soft yet strong and moistureproof. For that, the engineers came up with a three-part design consisting of a quick-drying inner lining of soft rayon-like material, a middle layer of absorbent tissue wadding, and an outer sheet of waterproof polyethylene. By way of acknowledging that babies differ widely, the designers made Pampers in three sizes--"newborn," "daytime" and "extra strength" for overnight.

Competition in the disposables field is becoming fierce, but P. & G. commands at least three-quarters of the market. Among other throwaways, Johnson & Johnson's Chux is a distant second. Playtex and Borden Co. have similar products. Scott Paper is testing its "babyScotts," a two-part assembly consisting of a permanent outer panty into which fits a disposable diaper. Kimberly-Clark, maker of Kleenex, is test-marketing Kimbies, which differ from Pampers and Chux in that they have adhesive tabs that do away with the need for safety pins. Officers of Kimberly-Clark estimate that the total diaper market is now $1 billion a year, and they predict that disposables will eventually win half of it.

Nothing Like Fear. Disposables already worry operators of the nation's 400 diaper services, which have an $85 million-a-year share of the market. Such services spare mothers from having to launder diapers, but throwaways have the extra advantage of eliminating malodorous diaper containers. Inevitably, there is a Diaper Service Industry Association, based in Philadelphia. Its executive vice president, John A. Shiffert, says: "I would be less than honest if I told you that the association is not concerned about the competition presented by disposable diapers."

Not surprisingly, Shiffert turns up his nose at Pampers. He points out that the plastic outer covers have to be removed before the paper filler is flushed down a toilet, and that it sometimes clogs up plumbing. P. & G. executives contend that clogging seldom if ever occurs. Some time ago, Shiffert's group hired a Manhattan market-research firm, Drake Sheehan/Stewart Dougall, which concluded that the No. 1 need of the diaper service is to develop an odor-free container. That task has been entrusted to the Arthur D. Little Inc., a management-consultant firm, and Shiffert claims that such a container is "about a year away." At the very least, the threat of disposables has inspired the diaper-service industry to seek improvement. As Shiffert says: "There is nothing like fear to motivate a businessman."

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