Ann-who was born the same year her father founded Hangsterfers Laboratories-proudly boasts that she still has candles made from the paraffin wax the Hangsterfer family began selling in 1896, standing as straight as the day they were made.

Working in the family firm is a rite of passage for the Jones family. You just assume that everyones going to be in the business, Anns daughter, Beth Ann Jones, told LubesnGreases during a visit to the facility in late January.

Beth Ann started with the company when she was a teenager. She now serves as legal counsel, and became president of the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association in October.

Beth Anns siblings tell a similar story. Leslie also served as ILMA president from 1999-2000, and Beth Ann jokes that they are the first sister presidents of the trade group. Their brother Bill jumped into the family business in 1972 and is now vice president, while Edward Jones, the fourth sibling, is COO and technical director. Bills own son, Andrew, is carrying the family tradition into the fourth generation by helping out with invoices and preparations for trade shows. Even Bills wife, Sharon, has joined the companys office.

The Hangsterfers site includes a blending facility, labs, an office building and several storage sheds. Outdoor storage tanks, some of which are steam heated for more viscous fluids, hold between 100,000 and 180,000 gallons of base oil and additives. These days, Beth Ann notes, regulations make it easier to add on to what they already have rather than build new structures.

The first metalworking fluids were made from whale lard, Ann related. Most modern fluids are based on naphthenic oils, or paraffinic oils for machine lubrication. Today, Hangsterfers focuses on research, development and blending of emulsifiable oils, synthetic and semi-synthetic fluids, straight cutting oils, drawing and forming oils, EDM (dielectric) fluid, and coolant-compatible machine lubricants such as slideway oil, spindle oil and hydraulic oil.

Hangsterfers top customers are in the aerospace industry, where severe operations demand specialized lubricants. Our products work better in high performance, Bill beamed. Thats where we shine. The medical and electronics industries are also major consumers, as well as some automotive and oilfield applications.

Relationships Breed Success

Despite what might be expected of a family business based in the United States, the Asia-Pacific region is one of Hangsterfers largest markets. This has been the case since William Hangsterfers trips around the world in the 1950s, stopping in Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and the Philippines long before other companies established business relationships in the region. With most of the Asian companies, you need to have history for a fruitful relationship, Beth Ann noted.

The family views their distributors-selling Hangsterfers products on every inhabited continent except Australia-as important partners and key to their success. We can make all the oil we want, but if we dont have the network to sell and distribute it, we cant keep growing, Beth Ann stated. The company also emphasizes the importance of quality suppliers.

Hangsterfers leans heavily on trade shows for its marketing efforts, where family members maintain the relationships that William Hangsterfer established and forge new connections. Trade associations are also helpful in maintaining business contacts. In addition to ILMA, the company is a member of the Association for Manu­facturing Technology.

The other piece of their longevity is internal. Hangsterfers maintains great retention of employees, Ann said proudly. Most have been with the company for 15 to 20 years, Bill points out that most people work their way from the bottom up-just like he did.

Know Your Strengths

Even with a global presence, Hangsterfers focus has always been on higher value lubes. Were not trying to hit all the markets. Were trying to keep to our niche markets, explained Beth Ann. To defend their market share, the company must constantly adapt to changes in metalworking technology. We know that continued improvement is necessary. As you continue to develop, you need new products that can meet the needs of machines and alloys.

The company has sidestepped supply upheavals, such as the discontinuation of Invistas Corfree M1 corrosion inhibitor and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys protracted threat to limit or ban chlorinated paraffins. However, Beth Ann keeps abreast of such challenges in the industry, noting that as ILMA president she is concerned about the impact such changes have on other independent lubricant manufacturers.

Hangsterfers greatest challenge, she continued, has been the growth in competition. Consolidated companies often try to undersell their competitors to gain market share. Regulatory hurdles, mostly related to environmental and human resources concerns, can also be difficult to clear.

While its literature lists about 100 lubricants and related offerings, Hangsterfers claims to produce more than 300 products. Many of these are customized versions of existing offerings, Bill elaborated. The company feels that it is best known around the world for its Hard Cut series of straight cutting oils.

In addition to the lubricants themselves, the company offers products that improve fluid performance: oil-based rust inhibitors, aqueous cleaners and additives such as liquid calcium acetate for reducing the foaming tendencies of coolants mixed with water that is too soft. Through its Total System Partnership division, Hangsterfers also offers equipment, such as fluid filters, to extend the life of its metalworking fluids.

To ensure her grandfathers company sustains its reputation for quality lubricants, Beth Ann helped to initiate participation in the ISO 9001 certification program as an external assurance of quality processes. The update from ISO 9001:2008 to ISO 9001:2015 began in March and should be complete by the end of the year.

Hangsterfers newest product is the microemulsion coolant S-787. The company says the vegetable oil based product can reduce lubricant consumption by more than 20 percent compared to other coolants by reducing the amount of lubricant lost to drag-out by chips, the workpiece, evaporation and exhaust air. Demand for such high-performance fluids is growing along with the use of titanium and other exotic alloys in aerospace and medical machining, Bill says.

The oldest listing in the catalogue is the S-500 emulsifiable oil for general machining, which the company says has demonstrated particularly good performance on nickel alloys, stainless steels and aluminum alloys. The Boeing-approved fluid also comes in a chlorine-free version. Beth Ann points to this product as an example of the companys commitment to green products: It was first made environmentally friendly, its stayed environmentally friendly, and its still environmentally friendly.

The theme of environmentalism echoes throughout the business. Weve concentrated on health, safety and the environment from day one, said Bill.

All of Hangsterfers products are compliant with Europes REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals), and it offers four cutting oils sporting the U.S. Department of Agricultures BioPreferred label.

In most cases, the choice of a BioPreferred product is based on customer preference rather than the demands of a particular application, commented Beth Ann. Standard products based on naphthenic oils can be just as environmentally friendly as biobased products. The difference, she emphasized, is in the types of additives used. Weve chosen to always select the greenest of the options, she said in a matter-of-fact tone. You cant be making something thats not good for the environment because we all live here.

She means that literally. All of Anns children and grandchildren-except Leslie, who recently moved to Florida-live on the property that houses Hangsterfers operations. The pastoral spread of forest and fields is also home to cows, donkeys, cats and wild turkeys, which Ann delights in caring for.

Beth Ann estimates that about 10 percent of family-run companies retain ownership through the third generation; only 6 percent make it to the fourth. Despite the consolidation swirling around them, keeping the business in the family has always been the goal at Hangsterfers. Why wouldnt you? exclaimed Ann. I never thought otherwise.

Weve grown up running and playing in these woods. Its who we are, Beth Ann concluded.