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Part 1 - Where it all starts Did you know that Ovoline Lubricants has been blending and supplying oils and greases in one form or another for over 125 years in the UK? Or that it is the fourth largest independent blender of these products in this country and operates to the strictest quality standards as befits its ISO 9002 status? Neither did we, but since were searching for good value, high quality products for our new online store we headed up the A1 to Ovoline’s plant on the banks of the Tyne to find out more. Ovoline is one of a number of brands under the wing of Brett Oil Ltd. Brett Oil was founded in 1877 by Richard Freeman Brett and initially the business concentrated on supplying and servicing the needs of oil lighting, for even then electric lighting was unheard of and gas considered a luxury. Deliveries were made from a warehouse across the River Tyne at Pipewellgate, Gateshead, where there was an adjoining stable to house the transport fleet; a horse and cart!
It has to be wondered if Richard Brett ever imagined that a hundred and twenty five years later Pipewellgate and his direct descendants would still be at the heart of the Brett family business. On arriving at Pipewellgate, we were met by Tony Brett, Marketing Development Director for the business. Tony explained the background to the company and how it had achieved its success by careful and prudent investment (so customers aren’t paying for ornamental fountains in the car park!!) and a reputation for consistently high quality products. This was just the sort of thing we wanted to hear but we wanted to see what this meant in practise so Tony willingly invited us to tour the production facilities and laboratories. We were surprised to learn that blending oils and lubricants is basically like cooking a recipe but on a grand scale. Just like cooking too the quality of the final result depends on:
The ability of the chef, or in this case the Production Manager and the Chief Chemical Engineer, to carefully control the whole process from start to finish Our tour enabled us to look at these critical points in more detail.
The quality of the ingredients At one end of the plant are delivered the basic ingredients whether they be highly refined base oils (synthetic and ordinary mineral), the specialised additives that go with them or simply just the containers and drums that will house the finished product. As each ingredient arrives a sample is despatched upstairs to the laboratories where it is tested to ensure that it conforms to Ovoline’s rigorous quality standards. If the lab gives the OK the batch is accepted and stored in controlled conditions until it is required for production. If ever a sample fails testing then the entire batch is rejected and sent back to the supplier. Needless to say Ovoline makes sure that the suppliers it selects very seldom give cause for it to reject their products!
The cleanliness of the kitchen On the outside, oil-blending plants are not the most attractive pieces of machinery and inevitably the smell of various oils permeates the production area. If you thought EP90 gear oil had a strong smell you should sniff the pure additives that go to make it when they’re heated during the blending process! On the inside however cleanliness is next to godliness in the lubricants business and the production process and staff involved go to great lengths to ensure that the only things to be included in Ovoline’s finished products are the ones in the Chief Chemical Engineer’s recipe. This means that before and after each batch is made, the plant is purged of any residues from the previous mix. In addition the production plant itself is sealed against ingress of dirt or contaminants of any kind. There’s a good reason for this, contaminated oil will simply not work the way it should. The end result will be excessive wear or even catastrophic failure of your engine or gearbox. A sobering thought when you consider how some garages store oil in open containers or leave funnels lying around for dirt and dust to cling to.
The recipe and cooking time Ovoline has a team of Chemical Engineer’s that work constantly to ensure its products meet the latest standards for performance in both modern and classic engines. Behind this team there stands the expertise of the highly specialised chemical company that supplies Ovoline and major lubricant manufacturers across the globe with the critically important additives for its various products. This supplier works with all the major vehicle and plant manufacturers, from Ford through to Caterpillar, to constantly keep pace with the latest developments in engine and transmission technology. Amongst other things the additives it supplies are vital to:
Nowadays we expect our vehicles to cover hundreds of thousands of miles before major mechanical rebuilds are required. Improvements in fuels and engines all play their part but the biggest single factor affecting the life of a well built and well designed engine or gearbox is the quality of the lubricant used within. The ability of the chef, or in this case the Production Manager and the Chief Chemical Engineer, to carefully control the whole process from start to finish Getting the recipe right is only half the solution. It is also vital to make sure that only the exact amount of each ingredient is used and that each is added at the correct time during the process. On top of this, the blend as it is called, has to be mixed for exactly the right time at exactly the right temperature and speed to ensure that all the chemicals and the base oils react together to produce an exceptionally high quality product.
At Ovoline, the measuring out of ingredients is carefully done using a calibrated device called a Loadcell. This machine is pre programmed with the exact amounts each blend requires and it automatically measures these into the mixing chamber, as each is needed. The heated chamber then mixes the blend until a complex series of chemical and physical changes have occurred to produce the finished lubricant. As if all this wasn’t enough, Ovoline’s quality standards mean that every completed lubricant is sampled again in the laboratories before it leaves the mixing chamber. Only when the production staff and Chemical Engineers are satisfied with the final product does it leave the blending plant for dispensing into its final packaging be it 200 Litre drums or 5 Litre cartons. Having seen the production process from start to finish we were then invited to see the work of the laboratories at first hand. Here we found an array of scientific instruments designed to measure both the chemical and physical properties of any lubricant you care to think of. The measurement methods used included:
Unless you are a physicist or chemical engineer you won’t have clue what these are but in short they add up to a comprehensive armoury of tools to ensure that Ovoline Lubricants are consistently of the highest quality.
Perhaps even more interesting to us was the discovery that these very instruments can also be used to detect problems in used lubricants. This doesn’t just mean telling whether an oil change is required; it can actually give a full health check on the condition of an engine or gearbox. Some of the many things this health check can detect are:
All this can be detected from a single eggcup full of used oil and without the need for an expensive and time consuming strip down of the engine or gearbox. Food for thought if you’ve just purchased a vehicle under warranty or have a suspected fault but aren’t sure what it is. Complimenting the labs is an exhaustive database of just about every piece of plant, machinery and vehicle that’s ever been made. If you want to know what grade of oil goes into a motorcycle made for a mongoose, Ovoline could probably tell you! More seriously, this database can identify the correct lubricant for every application and operating environment in a fraction of a second. Very useful where dealer or manufacturer support doesn’t exist or when specifications and comparisons from other sources need to be confirmed. All in all we were very impressed with our day at Ovoline, we found the people we met to be enthusiastic, open and keen to show us what they did and how they did it. We were welcomed into every part of the facility and we liked what we saw. You won’t find Ovoline spending millions on flashy TV adverts, but then again you won’t be paying for these when you buy its products either. At Ovoline the money is spent on ensuring that its lubricants can cope with the toughest of tests at a price that represents excellent value for your hard earned cash, that was good enough for us!
Part 1 - Where it all starts |
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