In April 1995, Vol. 1 Issue 1 of LubesnGreases rolled off the press and into subscribers hands (no inboxes or iPads back in those days). So were now solidly into our 20th year of publication. What a treat it is to page through those early issues.
The industrys red-hot concerns included APIs brand new Engine Oil Licensing & Certification System, launched after years of contentious debate (anyone remember ESCS, OLAP, NALSAS?); the delayed rollout of GF-2 passenger car engine oil specifications; struggles to advance PC-7 heavy-duty diesel oils. Tote bins were catching on for lubricant shipping. Automakers were at last giving cautious nods to rerefined oils. And metalworking fluids were in the UAWs crosshairs, with concerns about cancers and other health risks making headlines.
But the real walk down memory lane is the ads in those early issues: Shell Chemical Co., Texaco Base Oils, Paramins, Keil Chemical, Witco, Texaco Additive Co., Naptec, Mayco, Valvoline Base Oils, Uniroyal, Hatco, Gateway, Ethyl and so many more gone-but-not-forgotten names. On the flip side, despite two decades of mergers and acquisitions, subtractions and additions, its amazing to see how many of our charter advertisers are still with us today: Lubrizol, Ergon, Battenfeld, R.T. Vanderbilt, Sea-Land Chemical, San Joaquin Refining, Exxon (OK, now its ExxonMobil), Chevron Oronite, Pulsair and United Color are just a few of the many stalwarts advertising in our pages these many years.
We extend our thanks to all of our advertisers, without whom there could be no LubesnGreases, no hugely popular base stock guides, no must-read Lube Report (with those vital base oil price reports every week), no www.LNGSourcebook directory for the U.S. and Canadian lubes industry, nor the newest member of our family, Lube Report Asia.
As I write, Lube Report Asias qualified subscriber list has topped 4,300, and its growing by the hour. Please check out this newest member of our family at www.LubeReportAsia.com. And if the thriving Asia-Pacific lubricant market is your target, e-mail Gloria Steinberg Briskin today at gloria@LubesnGreases.com about advertising opportunities.
Nancy J. DeMarco
nancy@LubesnGreases.com