Warren Oil Co. on Friday said it will begin using tracers in several of its lube oils as early as September, after learning that some bulk distributors had commingled its lubricants with others.
The purpose of this program is to control quality, to determine whose oil is in a customers tank and to deter commingling, the company stated. We have recently become aware that our Warren, Coastal and Lubriguard products are in some instances being commingled at distributor plants with other brands of oils, therefore compromising our products overall quality, physical characteristics and integrity. Therefore, a tracer will be added to Warren, Coastal and Lubriguard bulk products prior to shipping.
The company said samples from any specific tank at any location can be tested on site through the use of a hand held meter. This test will detect if the entire product in that tank was produced by Warren or has been commingled with another brand, the company continued. The instrument can also determine the percentage of another commingled product contained in the tank.
I, and I am sure there are others, feel we have two issues concerning bulk oil sales, said Irvin Warren, president and CEO of Dunn, N.C.-based Warren Oil. He said one is that lesser quality bulk products may be commingled into a customers tank by suppliers who do not adhere to quality standards. Obviously, if a failure was to occur, then we could be blamed for a failure of another oil, Warren continued. That has happened to us before. After a failure, we were sent a sample of the oil, and it was not our product.
Warren said the other issue is that the company believes its bulk products have also been sold as or substituted for a major brand. We know our quality is equal to or exceeds the majors, so we do not worry of a failure and neither should the majors, he stated. We are concerned for the majors that not all independents produce product equal to ours, and could cause grave problems if commingled with a major. We are also concerned that the consumer is paying a higher price than necessary when the product has been commingled.
He emphasized it is the distributors responsibility to make certain it supplies its customers with an identifiable product meeting OEM requirements. Neither consumer nor distributor should purchase for resale a house brand, fighting grade brand or generic brand unless the physical characteristics of the oil are presented and proven that they will meet OEM specifications, Warren added.
Warren Oil manufactures a variety of lubricants, including motor oils, transmission fluids, gear oils, and hydraulic fluids.