What is the storage space of the tanks inside your plant? What size containers does your company fill and how fast? What blending methods and equipment are used at your plant?
These are the types of questions posed by a new Petroleum Packaging Council benchmark study that will shed light on the lubricants packaging industry and, according to PPC President John Kirk, give those regular member companies that participate comparative data on where they stand in terms of efficiency vis–vis other companies in the industry.
The first-time study, soon to be distributed to PPC members in the form of a questionnaire, will survey PPC members about key industry functions that will help assess their industry.
Its an opportunity for an organization to evaluate themselves against their peers, said Todd Coady, president of Hicks Oils and Hicksgas, Inc., located in Roberts, Ill., who worked on the committee that produced the survey. Its a chance to gain a piece of knowledge about each other and about our industry.
The four main areas where data will be collected are blending, tankage, volume and packaging lines. The survey will ask members to answer basic questions for each industry function.
It gets down to the nuts and bolts, said Grif Carnes, vice president of Third Coast Chemicals in Pearland, Texas, who also worked on the committee that developed the survey. It gets information out of people and you find out whats hot in the industry.
The idea for a focus study was originally suggested by Rick Hawley, global packaging technical manager of Shell Lubricants based in Houston.
The original concept of the PPCs benchmark study was to provide a means for lubricants companies to gain information about their supply chain operations that other benchmark studies did not fulfill, Hawley told Lube Report in an e-mail. The PPC can use the data to compare the lubricants packaging industry to other packaging industries outside of lubricants. Member companies and our industry will gain knowledge of current performance against others in order to plan for future improvements.
All PPC members had the opportunity to provide their input about the survey during group discussions at past meetings. After a consensus about what main areas the survey would tackle was reached, a committee was formed and eventually the survey was put together.
Participating in the study is optional for PPC members. Non-participation will not affect a companys membership status with PPC nor will they will be penalized as a result of their choice. All costs associated with the survey are being conducted within PPCs operating budget. There is also no cost to members for participating.
The studys final results will be tabulated by an independent third- party firm and presented at the PPCs Fall Meeting September 16-18 in Baltimore, Md. For more information about the upcoming meeting, visitwww.PPCouncil.org.