Potz blitz!

The washing powder Ohä and the cleaning agent Potz were the first soap products manufactured by Migros. In 1933, Gottlieb Duttweiler founded the subsidiary GIFA AG, based in Basel, especially for the production of soaps and washing powders.

Soap is one of the first six products in the Migros AG sales vans’ range in 1925. And it is with soap that the company begins producing its own brand products in the non-food sector. Dr. Paul Lanz, the new company chemist, develops both the washing powder Ohä in 1931 and the cleaning agent Päng, which is later renamed Potz. In 1955, in this long-standing employee’s obituary, Gottlieb Duttweiler described these two products as “revolutionary developments”. Lanz’s greatest talent was his ability “to create quality products with little money, old machines and the simplest methods”.
The soap production facilities are transferred from Meilen and Zurich to Basel in 1933. And a new company is founded, GIFA AG. Paul Lanz goes into business on his own and establishes himself as an entrepreneur in Milan. But, in 1952, he returns to Migros where he becomes the scientific head of production operations. Following a study trip to the USA, he installs a new soap production facility in Basel and launches the washing powders Poly and Pourtout.
In 1980, production and management are transferred to Frenkendorf in canton Basel under the new company name MIFA. Total, which is manufactured there, is currently the top-selling washing powder brand in Switzerland.