The U.S. quick lube industry is already known as a crowded market. Now it is swelling further with the addition of a new category of participants– car dealers with stand-alone oil change centers. A growing number of auto manufacturers have developed programs aimed at putting quick lubes on their dealers lots.Oil changesmay not be whatdealers are ultimately after -they may see that service as a hook to other business. But that doesnt change the fact that their entry means more competition ...

Alaska Airlines filed court documents Monday admitting liability for the January 2000 crash of its Flight 261, an accident that was caused by inadequate lubrication of a tail-wing assembly. Eighty-eight passengers and crew members died when the plane fell into the Pacific off the coast of California. Seattle-based Alaska Airlines made the filings in U.S. District Court in San Francisco as part of a wrongful death civil suit brought by relatives of individuals who died in the accident. The Boeing...

Estech GmbH & Co. and Hatco Corp. announced last week that they have acquired ExxonMobil Oil Corp.s refrigeration lubricants business. Financial details were not disclosed. The transaction includes formulations and accounts for synthetic polyol ester based refrigeration lubricants that ExxonMobil Chemical has marketed under the EAL Arctic trademark. The products will now be manufactured and marketed in the Americas by Hatco and in Europe by Estech, a joint venture formed last year by Hatco a...

Dow Corning Corp. and Wacker Chemie GmbH announced last week that they plan to form an alliance in Asia to manufacture silicone intermediates and fumed silica. The materials are used in greases and specialty lubricants and a wide variety of other consumer and industrial products. The companies, among a diminishing number of silicone producers, would independently develop and operate their own manufacturing facilities for finished products at the same site and would continue to compete and operat...