Texaco Lubricants, Mining Q&A - Part Two

Providing ongoing support to customers past the purchase point is a huge part of the Texaco offer. We provide a highly comprehensive technical training for our inhouse sales teams, our distributor networks and in many cases, even the customers themselves.

Not only is the initial product selection so key, but also the ongoing technical support required to help optimise equipment life and performance. Our company approach is based on what we call a Best-in-Class Assessment.  This covers everything from product requirements to site locations, as well as areas such as the customers current maintenance provisions.  Our goal is to look at the complete package from a total cost of ownership standpoint and ensure that we provide practical and beneficial guidance.  We understand that lubricants, greases, and coolants are business-critical products and should be treated as such.

We also take pride in forming fully collaborative partnership with our customers. Apart from regularly undertaking site visits to understand and monitor equipment requirements, we are always looking for more ways to value add.  One such approach is to invite our customers from Europe, central Asia, and Africa to visit mines in other regions.  In the past we’ve taken groups to Colorado and Mississippi in the United States to share best practice from those regions. While operating conditions and raw products may differ, we feel it’s of great value to share knowledge, particularly from established markets, to those who may be relatively new to the sector.

The key purpose of LubeWatch is to help increase equipment longevity, extend drain intervals and anticipate any equipment issues before a failure occurs.

Using a programme such as LubeWatch allows fast turnaround results and access to laboratories all over the world.  One of our most remote customers in Central Asia found oil analysis to play such a significant role in the maintenance and optimisation of their equipment, that they decided to add a laboratory to their site. They turned to us for assistance, and we provided guidance, advice, and onsite support throughout the project.

It’s not about just one element or the value of specific products, we look at every customer’s needs holistically and focus on the total cost of ownership.

Using our Reliability Based Lubrication (RbL) programme, we look at factors such as equipment uptime, accessibility to maintenance, fuel efficiency, component service life and fluid and filter usage.  Once we’ve analysed those key factors, we turn to product selection, optimised lubrication intervals, inventory management and product integrity.  Putting all this information together allows us to present clear product and maintenance proposals, all of which can be tracked and measured against key performance indicators.

The value of quality and reliability in products, combined with accessible technical service in isolated locations cannot be underestimated.  For us it’s all about the complete package and our customers.