Valvolines first-quarter operating income increased 10 percent, to $11 million, parent company Ashland Inc. reported last week. Income from the Marathon-Ashland Petroleum joint venture dropped sharply, however, due to falling demand for oil products. Officials said Valvoline performed well in thethree monthsended Dec. 31 (the company’s fiscal year begins Oct. 1), despite a softening economy. Profits increased from nearly every Valvoline business unit, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer P...

Shifting from a tier-two to a tier-one supplier, Dow Chemical Co. announced a deal to become the direct and sole source of brake fluid for all of General Motors North American assembly plants. Dow officials declined to disclose financial terms or the volume of fluid covered by the contract, but GM produced 2.4 million cars and 2.7 million trucks on the continent last year. Dow already produced the brake fluid for GMs North American plants at its facility in Crosby, Tex., but the fluid was then s...

As president of an engineering firm that offers predictive maintenance services, Bill Marscher is a staunch proponent of condition monitoring. But he is also quick to point out its shortcomings – its inability to precisely diagnose problems or to predict when a machine will fail. Plus, he says, thorough condition monitoring systems cost a lot. Yet hope looms for plant and maintenance supervisors who want more from oil monitoring and vibration analysis. In a preview of an address that he wi...

Pennzoil-Quaker State Co. warned that it will declare a pre-tax charge of up to $20 million for the fourth quarter of 2001 due to the bankruptcy of Kmart and currency devaluation in Argentina. The company indicated that most of the charge was due to the write-off of receivables from Kmart, the second-largest U.S. discount retailer, which is trying to reorganize after filing for bankruptcy protection Jan. 22. A spokesman emphasized that charge may ultimately end up being less, if Pennzoil-Quaker ...