Principle Business Enterprises, Inc. (PBE) celebrates 60 years of manufacturing safety and absorbent products for the healthcare industry by announcing the evolution of its Tranquility brand of incontinence products and ongoing commitment to being an employer of choice.

Since welcoming the company's third generation of family leadership with the appointment of Andrew Stocking as president and CEO, PBE has continued to focus on product innovation and its mission to uplift, enlighten, and enrich the lives of its customers and associates. 

Recently, PBE has streamlined its selection of incontinence care products to clearly differentiate them and how the company supports the market in ways no one else can.

The company unified the Tranquility Product Family, which comprises Tranquility, Select, ComfortCare, and Swimmates brands, under the Tranquility name. With this evolution, the company will introduce Tranquility Premium, Tranquility Essential, and Tranquility Specialty product lines in the coming months to serve consumers at home and in healthcare facilities. Tranquility Essential offerings will include the new "Breathable Brief," designed specifically for Medicaid and long-term care wearers with heavy incontinence needs.

"The Medicaid audience is one of our most vulnerable populations," says Angie Williams, PBE vice president of marketing. "For years, our products have been known as the premium incontinence solution. It is our vision to improve the quality of life for both wearers and caregivers who are managing the most challenging incontinence situations, and that's what drives us to serve this audience. Our team has worked diligently to provide a complete product offering from youth to bariatric, as well as resources to help navigate Medicaid incontinence coverage."

The company has also increased its ability to serve the Medicaid, long-term care, and veteran populations by forming a Clinical Care Team with a dedicated Medicaid specialist to enhance its product innovation and consultative services.

PBE also recently acquired certain assets and technologies of Near Health, a smart technology company based in Palo Alto, CA. PBE, a Near Health investor, in 2018 began manufacturing absorbent products to accompany the firm's patented SmartBrief technology.

PBE expanded its technical capabilities to integrate SmartBrief and associated technologies into Tranquility Connect, a combined high-absorbent, disposable new product with remote sensing that detects remaining capacity and body temperature, creating a more systematic and effective way to care for residents.

Unlike other smart incontinence products, Tranquility Connect's products can be worn for longer periods of time without leakage or skin breakdown. This is valuable at any time, but particularly when caregiver-to-resident ratio is low and there is a need to reduce exposure, which has been the case during the Covid-19 pandemic. Temperature sensing is also a useful tool for early indication of infection, providing caregivers with actionable information that may help residents avoid hospitalization, cognitive decline, and significant cost. Monitoring for these conditions enables the caregiver to remotely track residents' needs without waking them or disrupting their activities.

Wendy Carpenter, CEO and executive director at EdenHill Communities, has been integral to the development of both Near Health and Tranquility Connect products.

"Tranquility Connect will revolutionize care not only through improved outcomes but also through the culture shift it brings to a facility," she says. "The number of conversations at shift change clarifying who changed whom and when can slow us down, and it can become a frustrating topic. It may sound trivial, but positive, seamless interactions have a significant benefit on healthcare workers and allow us to have better quality time with our residents."

Product testing for Tranquility Connect is underway with select partners and is slated to launch commercially in late 2021.

Unique Employee Benefits and Programs

Finally, as a family-owned enterprise, PBE believes that supporting its associates and treating them as valued members of the family creates a quality workplace. Industry-leading new benefits and partnerships continue to set PBE apart from other manufacturers:

• Care.com – PBE is the first Ohio-based manufacturing company to partner with Care.com to offer its Care@Work suite of benefits for child backup care, adult backup care, and senior care planning. This benefit has provided critical support to associates as they struggle adapting to life during the pandemic. PBE is among only 6% of U.S. employers offering this type of family care benefit.
• Paid Parental Leave – The company now offers paternity, maternity, and adoption leave benefits through a six-week paid parental leave policy that coincides with standard Family and Medical Leave Act benefits.
• Access to Free Healthcare Services – The company partnered with two other local employers to offer a dedicated health clinic to its associates, which provides PBE health plan members primary care visits, over 100 of the most common medications, and laboratory testing at no out-of-pocket cost.
• Free Meals During Pandemic – PBE's staff has packed and distributed over 10,000 free meals to help nourish and aid associates' children who have been virtually attending school from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Professional Development – To encourage development of job and leadership skills, the company is providing all associates access to over 800 free courses from certified instructors.

"I am proud to carry on the tradition started by my grandparents and continued by my parents of running a highly mission-based company that values innovation for its associates and customers," says Stocking. "We are a family-owned operation making critical healthcare products in the Midwest, and we will continue to differentiate ourselves through the way we treat and support our workforce, the new technology and products we bring to the market, and the way we serve and respect all of our customers."