Former Crescent Oil President John Burns III said Crescent had eight employees at the time of the acquisition. The company was originally founded in 1893, according to Burns, and had moved to its Indianapolis location in the early 1930s. Crescent has moved its operations to Millers facilities.

We thought it was a good move for everybody, Burns told Lube Report. Our customers were going to be able to enjoy a wider breadth of product offerings. Miller Industrial has a more highly equipped laboratory. We were bringing valuable customers to Miller, and we got to employ most of our employees.

Among the products Crescent formulated were cutting oils, water soluble oils, synthetic coolants, grinding oils, stamping and drawing oils, synthetic drawing compounds, rust preventatives and special corrosion resistant lubricants, gear oils and hydraulic oils.

Burns said that as a compounder/blender, Crescent made products for specific applications for its customers. Some were products that we were manufacturing exclusively for particular customers, he explained. Those customers were certainly interested that those products would continue in the same manner they were provided prior to the sale, and theyre going to be. We had some unique things that are going to continue.

Crescent worked with customers in a variety of industries, he said, including automotive, truck manufacturing, exporting and metalworking.

Miller Industrial Fluids is an outgrowth of Superior Oil, which entered into business in 1932 as a fuel and lubricants jobber. In 1979, Superior formed an industrial oil division to refocus on the lubricants and metalworking market. In 1988, Superior purchased Miller Oil – an oil jobber in Columbus, Ind. – and retained the name for its industrial oil division.

Miller started formulating its own line of lubricants and metalworking fluids. In 1991, Miller purchased the land and building at its current location in Indianapolis and the company was spun off from Superior Oil to operate as a separate entity.