The award-winning UK-based manufacturer of a wide variety of lubricants set up shop in India four years ago in view of the growing demand for its products.

As is always the case with foreign manufacturers introducing new products and technologies in the Indian market, there were a whole lot of apprehensions. Would the demand justify the sales, and eventually, manufacturing operations? Would the products be duplicated and sold in the grey market? Would it be easy to convince Indian industry to switch over to a better grade of lubricants keeping in mind long-term and environmental benefits? The team of Metalube®, a UK-based company, had all such fears and more. Nevertheless, in 2011, after gauging the response and feedback at certain trade shows, the company set up a sales office in Mumbai. Four years down the line, there is no reason to complain but every reason to celebrate. “It has been a wonderful experience so far,” admits the company’s commercial director, Douglas Hunt.

Metalube was established in 1989 to produce specialist industrial lubricants for the UK market. Now, it exports to over 80 countries worldwide. At its Manchester UK headquarters, the company has a fully integrated lubricant manufacturing facility, including brand new state-of-the-art laboratories. Initially targeting the nonferrous wire and tube manufacturers, today it also offers a range of lubricants for metal process and protection. These include protective greases for overhead line conductors, metal forming fluids, rust preventatives, wire rope lubricants and chain oils as well as a range of maintenance lubricants.

Elaborating about the product portfolio, Amit Gupte, General Manager, Metalube India, says: Our key products are lubricants specifically designed for use in drawing nonferrous tubes used for ACR, sanitary and engineering applications. Synthetic and semi-synthetic technology is employed to meet the demanding specifications of users and their customers’ requirements. In case of copper and other tubes, our core product, Tubol, offers optimum lubricating properties to ensure long tool life and enhanced surface finish of the drawn tube along with excellent bright annealing characteristics in heat treatment processes with inert, dry atmospheres. We have a comprehensive range of tube mill lubricants for spinner blocks, bull blocks, draw benches, cascade lines, Pilger mills, extrusion presses and cast and roll applications.”

Metal components are another area where the company has met with success. “We have a product called Meta-Shield that is a rust preventive designed for the protection of metallic parts. This range of preventatives is based on a unique blend of high-quality corrosion inhibitors, oils and waxes and safeguards the quality of metal components during storage and transport. The Meta-Shield range was developed to improve operator safety by offering products using additives with low VOC contents or using water-based technology. Traditional solvent-based products are also available using a premium quality solvent. We also offer metal forming fluids, which is a range of lubricants and rust preventatives for roll forming, cutting and pressing of metallic parts,” Gupte elaborates.

Metalube’s clients in India now include Sterlite, Finolex, Havells and Polycab. “Such has been the growing demand for quality lubricants around the world that our 2,300 sq.m space in UK, which has both a fluid division that produces oil, solvents and water-based products as well as a grease division and houses seven 36,000 litre bulk oil storage tanks that are fully bunded to international standards along with automated blend filling, is now exporting up to 95 per cent of the production to about 80 countries,” says Hunt. Along with the India office, Metalube has sales offices at Shanghai and Dong Guang in China, San Paolo in Brazil and Dubai in the UAE.

So what is it that has helped Metalube establish such a wide footprint? Says the company’s technical director, Chris Nettleship, “Research and development is at the core of our business with over 20 per cent of the workforce dedicated to science. The Metalube team of chemists is committed to solving the toughest technical challenges – always striving to achieve the optimum results for customers, and consequently, its products’ performance repeatedly outstrips that of its rivals. We take immense pride in formulating all of our own lubricants and greases from a purpose-built laboratory, which opened in 2015. It is fully equipped for both quality control and research and development.”

In fact, product innovation is the key to the company’s success across the globe. For instance, the company recently announced a new range of fully synthetic chain oils, Metachain™. The products use the latest synthetic base oils, anti-oxidants and anti-wear additives that meet the demands of specific chain applications for use in ovens where conventional oils cannot function properly. Elaborates Nettleship: “Our long-term plan is to widen our specialist lubricants into new market sectors and we are delighted to introduce our first superior performance range of high-temperature chain oils.”

Metachain™ products are highly resistant to carbonisation, which leads to a reduction in the amount of oil applied over a defined period. They have a lower level of evaporation and carbon build-up on the chain system and internal surfaces of the oven. The unique combination of anti-wear additives reduces friction and metal-to-metal contact on the chain system, which leads to longer chain life and improved consumption of the chain oil. The Metalube range includes products ideal for ovens within the bakery, car plant paint, ceramic and porcelain curing industries as well as glass-wool roof insulation, plasterboard and plastic film stretching, textile stenters, and wood-based panel sectors.

For the steel wire rope industry, the company has introduced a biodegradable lubricant. Rope-Tek™ WRD, a new range of biodegradable, high-performance lubricants, is specifically designed to protect steel wire ropes. Each product is formulated from high-performance base oils and thickeners, and contains an advanced additive system that minimises friction and wear, delivering outstanding corrosion protection. Commenting on the new range, Hunt says: “Steel wire ropes are complex in construction and are often subject to arduous operating conditions. Movement, such as loading and unloading of the rope, bending and flexing over sheaves and pulleys, creates high load points where wires and strands cross over each other. This can result in fretting wear and corrosion – reducing the life of the rope. The high load-carrying solids contained in Rope-Tek form a low friction barrier between the metal surfaces, minimising frictional contact and wear.”

Further, Metalube has been recognised for its commitment to sustainable business practices and awarded the ISO 14001 certification. ISO 14001 is the international standard for environmental management systems (EMS) and the most widely used in the world. Commenting on this latest development, Nettleship says, “We are extremely proud to have achieved certification. As a business, we are committed to reducing our impact on the environment and having an environmental management system in place is not only helping us to do this, it’s also allowing us to make continuous improvements to our systems and procedures. And improving our performance doesn’t just benefit us, it benefits our customers too.”

The company is also the proud winner of two highly prestigious Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. The first, for international trade in 2013 and the second, for innovation in 2014, when the company invented a new type of synthetic grease, ‘OCG 6000’, which protects overhead electrical conductors. Looking ahead at what 2016 may have to offer, Hunt says, “We have seen excellent growth in 2015 and our India operations have performed particularly well, growing by nearly 40 per cent. There are global challenges predicted for 2016, particularly in China. Our priority is for our products to out-strip our competitors ensuring that customers who require quality will always be assured of excellence if they buy from Metalube.”

He adds, “The outlook for the global wire and cable market is still generally positive. However, there is significant over-capacity in some markets such as China and this will affect the overall global market. However, we expect to increase our sales and market share during the forthcoming financial year.” What will also help, Doug feels, is the value-addition that the company offers. “We carry out oil testing wherein working closely with customers we thoroughly test samples of products in our laboratories to determine their stability and suitability for further operations. This service is available at our UK, India and China laboratories. We also carry out plant surveys. Our experienced technical staff work with engineering teams to survey lubrication requirements and will recommend suitable products. An audit of the existing range of in-service lubricants can often highlight areas for improvement and bring about beneficial changes to current working practices,” Doug concludes.

– Huned Contractor