The global financial crisis was not the only challenge that Russian industry, including its lubricant industry, faced the past few years. The country made significant progress toward modernizing vehicular populations, as well as industrial machinery. Partly because of this, the lubes industry introduced higher quality products and extended drain intervals.
Given that the petrochemical industry is in some ways behind the times, some lube producers have been unprepared for marketing challenges that accompanied these trends. One company that seems to have successfully evolved is TNK-BP. The westernized Russo-British joint venture, which state oil giant Rosneft has agreed to purchase, made significant efforts to develop a business-to-business model for its marketing operations.
In the autumn of 2011, the com-pany finished implementing a new centralized planning system, ASPP OR-TEMS, and upgraded its lubricant production facility in Ryazan. This tripled production capacity and improved business performance. It improved the companys refining performance, increased the depth of processing and extended the petrochemicals product line, the company said last year.
During RPIs Lubricants Russia conference in November, a Rosneft official explained in detail how the business-to-business (B2B) model works for TNK Lubricants. Many key enterprises in Russia are facing a shortage or even a lack of specialists in lubricants applications, said Alexander Skobeltsin, a technical department head at TNK-BP. This led to difficulties in lubricant matching and problems in finding the specific oil change standards and consumption schedules.
Some of the first things that a lubricants producer can offer to its client are a broad product line, backed by technical service and support, including lubricant matching, help solving complex operational problems, training for the clients specialists and a call center. Over 50 percent of the oils produced in Russia are GOST [the aging national specification] standard, but the trends show that consumption of these products is decreasing, while products in the premium segment and customized products for specific operations are taking their place, Skobeltsin said.
Sales in the B2B segment are much different than those in the business-to-customer (B2C) segment, he continued. Increased [business] is possible only by solving [B2B] customers problems. It means offering custom products, and custom service support.
TNK is one of the first lubricant marketers in Russia to develop technical support at its distribution centers instead of its regional branches, as do other lube manufacturers. This so-called TechAudit tool resulted not only in widening our partnership base but increased contact with the end-users, Skobeltsin said. Working in this manner, the company succeeded in solving complex technical issues related to equipment operation. They were also able to run systematic production analysis relating to product use.
The systematic approach enabled the company to detect problem areas and make recommendations on optimizing lubricant use, Sko-beltsin said. Collecting and analyzing data on lubricant application, product line rationalization and compiling feasibility studies are some of the additional services the oil major provides in its customer support.
At present, Russias industry lacks technical support literature for lubricants, according to Skobeltsin. We are one of the first companies that started to publish an online newsletter for our clients, distributors and salesman, called TechSupport, he said. The newsletter, which the company hopes to distribute in print version soon, helps in the selection of TNKs products, gives reference information on specifications and describes typical problems and their solutions. It also explains the peculiarities on monitoring and compatibility issues of the industrial oils.
Other technical service programs from TNK include LubeScan and LubeSelect. Some Russian lube marketers perform limited oil monitoring, but TNK boasts that it is among the first companies that simultane-ously monitors more than 150 different types of products in its B2B segment. This program is aimed at defining or extending oil change intervals and predicting and preventing unscheduled shutdowns, Skobeltsin noted.
The company has a database of 35,000 products, practically all lubricants and greases used in Russia, divided into five segments that include passenger car and heavy-duty diesel motor oils. In the Russian north, 80 percent of the heavy duty vehicle park runs on engines made by Russian original equipment manufacturers Kamaz and YamMZ, according to TNK. Due to this, we have to give special recommendations for off-season engine oils and their application, developed with considerations for operation in the severe Russian climate conditions and using Euro 0 and Euro 1 emission standards, Skobeltsin said.
In the course of 2012, TNK Lubricants made a significant effort to develop its B2B model. The company merged all its support tools into a technical and information online tool called TechLibrary, Skobeltsin said. It is a lubricants database and technical information portal all in one. It contains tables, presentations and different reports where our partners and distributors can exchange information and interact.
This effort opened up extensive channels of communication between the company and its customers and extended the channels of communication between the clients themselves, the oil major said. It could be a sure formula for successful marketing for other lubricants producers in Russia and elsewhere.