To understand the success of Wallover Oil, one need look no further than the principles of hard work and customer service laid down by its founder P.M. Wallover and his great-grandson James Zack Wallover. These men imbued the company with a spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation that enabled it to grow from a small regional oil company into one of the oldest independent manufacturers of lubricants in the U.S.
A biographical sketch of P.M. Wallover published in 1899 describes him as an industrious worker, full of curiosity. Trained as a machinist in Philadelphia, his knowledge of mechanics proved useful in the oil business. In 1860, Wallover moved to western Pennsylvania and purchased property near Smiths Ferry. He struck a five-barrel well on March 1, then leased more property and struck a well that produced $60,000 worth of oil. In all, Wallover drilled and operated 28 wells.
Wallover started a refinery in 1863 and immediately began to experiment with different kinds of oils. He made the first signal oil used on the Ohio River, developed the first brand of wool oil used in woolen mills, and formulated several brands of fine machinery oil. The company eventually relocated to East Liverpool, Ohio, where it manufactured pottery and mold release oils to serve the pottery industry in that area, as well as a line of hydraulic oils.
Pottery to Steel
Zack Wallover, three generations later, entered the picture in 1952 when he noticed a sign on the side of a dilapidated building in East Liverpool that read Wallover Oil Co. According to a family history, He thought, The happiest men I see are the men that own their own businesses. So he borrowed money from his father, bought the property from his aunt, and set about rebuilding the companys fortunes.
Zack Wallover knew very little about the oil industry but learned everything he could from other companies salesmen in his customers waiting rooms. His big break came when Crucible Steel Co. asked if he could supply lanolin, which was nearly impossible to find because it was on allocation during the Korean War. Unaware of the shortage, Zack called suppliers all over the country and chanced upon a company that could supply about 10 drums per month. This began a long and profitable relationship with Crucible Steel that grew to include other companies in the region.
The company suffered a setback in the late 1950s and early 1960s when the regions pottery industry was hurt by less expensive imports. However, Wallover overcame these difficulties by developing an exclusive line of rolling oils for the expanding stainless steel market. These oils have been used in this important niche market ever since.
Wallover also began to supply mill lubricants, hydraulic oils, and gear oils to the steel industry in the Ohio River Valley. The company has expanded from there to develop a premium line of metalworking fluids, coolants and industrial oils.
The values of entrepreneurship and customer service continue to guide the company today under the leadership of Zack Wallovers sons-in-law, President George Hub Marquis and Executive Vice President Bill Cutri. Service is an important ingredient in our success, says Marquis. Were used to getting calls at two or three oclock in morning saying, Our mill is down and were shut down until we get new product. We can usually have that mill up and running in 10 or 12 hours.
Cutri adds, We recently received a call at noon on a Thursday from a stainless steel customer with water in the rolling oil. By Sunday afternoon, we had moved 80,000 gallons of fluid (40,000 in and 40,000 out) to get them up and running.
Broader Options
Stainless steel rolling oils remain one of Wallovers more important products, and most of the stainless steel produced in the United States is rolled using Wocorol brand oils, according to Marquis. These ils are specially formulated for specific rolling mills because each mill has unique requirements, often controlled by the finish required, he says. We custom formulate to meet those needs.
Wallover also supplies a broad line of metalworking lubricants and coolants, including drawing compounds, quench oils, rust preventatives, cleaners and cutting oils. Marquis claims the company has more cutting oil options than any other supplier. In addition, the company formulates industrial lubricants such as hydraulic oils, gear oils, and way oils. In the past 15 years,
Wallover has invested extensively in research and development to reformulate its products and move into synthetics and water-based coolants, in addition to straight oils. During the midnineties, says Marquis, we moved heavily into waterbased fluids to fill out the product line. We now supply the full range of metalworkingfluid formulations.
Wallovers newest waterbased fluids are microemulsions that provide excellent performance on hard-tomachine materials. These products include WS 6610, a biostable fluid for heavy-duty machining of ferrous and nonferrous alloys; WS 8035, a general-duty, oil-rejecting synthetic fluid for ferrous metals; and WS 8065, a premium synthetic fluid for stainless steels and hard-to-machine alloys.
According to Eric Kielts, vice president laboratory services, These products produce absolutely no foam and have excellent bioresistance. They just dont grow bacteria. In addition, he notes, We overformulate our oils to avoid problems in the field. This approach has proved very appealing both to our customers and distributors.
Another advantage of microemulsions, says Kielts, is that they do not absorb tramp oil. Instead, tramp oil floats on top of the fluid, making it easier to remove from the system. In addition, says Bill Pearcy, vice president sales and marketing, These products actually clean up deposits left by other metalworking fluids, especially synthetics, which often leave a hard, sticky residue in the system.
As a result, the fluids provide long sump life and require little maintenance while also resisting rust formation. Kielts adds, In todays high-pressure, high-speed and high-heat-generating machining, these products increase tool life by two to three times on hard-to-machine alloys, compared to conventional chlorinated soluble oils.
Internal Growth
Wallovers growth has primarily been organic through investment in new product development. The companys major acquisitions were National Oil of Hamilton, Ohio, in 1993 and W.A. Wood of Boston in 1999. The company subsequently sold W.A. Wood in 2004. In 1989, Wallover established Environmental Control Laboratories, which it sold in 2000. Finally, in 2004, Wallover entered a joint venture with Solvite Co., a supplier of rust preventives and cleaners. These ventures served to expand the companys line of industrial products and services.
Today, Wallover operates three facilities, in Strongsville, East Liverpool, and Hamilton, Ohio. All three plants manufacture oil-based products, while synthetic products are produced only in Strongsville.
Looking Ahead
According to Pearcy, Our strategy for the last few years has been to grow through distributors. Our regional sales managers work closely with our distributors, making sales calls and product recommendations, and supporting them technically in the field. Wallover employs eight direct sales people, and all are responsible for assisting distributors in their regions.
According to Pearcy, the primary challenge facing Wallover is the same one facing all suppliers to the manufacturing sector: the movement of businesses offshore. We have to follow our customers, so were setting up distributors in Taiwan, mainland China, Southeast Asia, Mexico, and South America.
This strategy has helped Wallover grow from a regional business, serving mainly Ohio and western Pennsylvania, into an international business. Distributors appreciate the fact that we can offer a broad product line that includes semisynthetic, synthetic and oil-based products, says Pearcy
Kielts adds, Customers are also operating leaner, so they rely on us more than ever to perform oil analysis or make product recommendations. We monitor fluids in the field to give customers guidance on how to make them work better.
Wallover maintains a full-service laboratory that runs hundreds of oil samples per month for its customers. The lab is outfitted with state-of-the-art instrumentation including gas chromatographs, mass spectrometers, Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction and a full complement of wet chemistry testing.
Wallover also trains its sales force to be more technically informed than ever before, so they can be a resource for customers to help solve problems. Says Pearcy, We hold technical training sessions five times a year to keep our sales force up-to-date about critical technical issues.
Despite the eroding manufacturing base in the U.S., Wallover has been able to grow by expanding product lines, markets, and geographic coverage. Despite all the doom and gloom you hear about manufacturing in the U.S., Kielts says, there is still a lot of manufacturing going on here. Pearcy adds, With our strategy of adding product lines and expanding geographically, weve been able to grow in an environment where the customer base is not growing.