That spirit has been a staple of Viscosity Oil since its founding in 1892, when five former employees of Vacuum Oil (a predecessor of Mobil Oil) became disenchanted by their big oil environment and wanted to start out on their own, as Hoch told LubesnGreases during a visit to the company in September.

Viscosity Oil has adapted to the changing landscape of the oil industry for 125 years. Parent company and Malaysian state-owned oil giant Petronas plans to continue doing so with a multi-year investment to renovate the facility, starting with an expanded research laboratory that was completed in October.

The new lab is outfitted with thermal analysis devices and the latest tribological test equipment, both of which will be dedicated to hydraulic transmission fluid development for tractors and other off-road equipment, and can run the standard ASTM International test methods for heavy-duty engine oils, hydraulic fluids and gear oils, said Morey Najman, who at the time was technical head for Petronas Americas region.

He also noted that customers often have specific requirements for these types of oils, saddling Viscosity Oil with the task of making the formulations function in both agricultural and construction applications while keeping on top of varying rules governing the markets where it supplies products.

Along with the laboratory, Petronas has invested in upgrading Viscosity Oils existing office space for its 35 employees, as well as revamping the firms logo and website. Though the company didnt quantify the capital investment, Hoch said that its the largest thats been undertaken at the company in terms of scope.

Viscosity Oils annual sales volume is approximately 40 million liters (around 10.6 million gallons). Its primary customer is CNH Industrial, the conglomerate that encompasses agricultural and construction equipment manufacturing companies such as Case Construction, Case IH and New Holland, which at one point were also Viscosity Oil customers in their own right.

Because it does not have a production facility, Viscosity Oil has toll-blending contracts with CHS in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, D-A Lubricant in Lebanon, Indiana, and Omaha, Nebraska-based Warren Distribution, among others. All products are supplied directly to customers from the toll blending facility, as Viscosity Oil does not work through distributors. CNH Industrial, for instance, has roughly 2,400 dealer locations that supply Viscosity Oil-branded products.

Most of the companys sales (around 74 percent) are in the United States, with 16 percent of products sold to Canada. Oils are also sold in Mexico, Australia, China and parts of Europe. We do export products [for CNH Industrial] to various places around the world, but almost all of that goes through our North American [toll-facilities], Hoch clarified.

As part of Petronas, Hoch says, Viscosity Oil represents a small portion of the Malaysian oil majors overall lubes business. Here were focused on just the off-road market, he asserted. Were not limited, but it would take a compelling business case for us to branch out beyond that market today.

Ingenuity Helps Stay the Course

The timing of the companys founding coincided with an industrial boom all over the United States and particularly nearby Chicago, which had a thriving rail industry and steadily expanding fleets of automobiles and trucks.

In the beginning, when Viscosity Oil was headquartered in the Back of the Yards industrial neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, lard from animals butchered at the Union Stock Yards meatpacking district was commonly used as lubricating oil to keep rails from deteriorating, Hoch narrated.

As the years went on, the company used more sophisticated oil formulations. In the 1950s, a working relationship was established with lubricant supplier Master Oil Co., which was owned and operated by Hochs parents, Woodrow and Margaret Hoch. Master Oil provided grease to Viscosity Oil, while the latter did some blending for the former.

In 1957, Hochs parents purchased Viscosity Oil as it was going through financial trouble, and the focus shifted from railway lubes to products for agricultural equipment.

Hochs father established business relationships with engineers from International Harvester, to which Viscosity Oil supplied lubes for engine tests at its plant in Melrose Park, Illinois. When International Harvester started reporting failures on its 460 and 560 tractor models, Hochs father stepped in to solve the problem.

Up until then, [International Harvester] was buying lubricants from big oil companies for their tractors, and the failure of these two tractor models incented them to come up with their specifications and their own products, Hoch said.

His father took this information and ran with it, working for two years until finally perfecting what is now called Hy-Tran Ultraction, Viscosity Oils signature formulation. Next year it is slated to surpass 500 million gallons sold since its introduction, Hoch boasted.

Hy-Tran has been the primary fluid of International Harvester and their successor companies in agricultural equipment since 1963, he enthused. Its evolved since then, but that original formulation solved International Harvesters transmission issues and became the benchmark in the agricultural industry for hydraulic transmission brake and final drive applications.

After Hy-Tran was developed, the Hochs cast their eyes to the wider lubes market. Hy-Tran and the business with International Harvester provided my parents with the resources necessary to expand the business into those types of markets that you wouldnt expect, Hoch remembered.

In the late 1960s, Viscosity Oils technicians worked on a corrosion preventative to protect post-tensioned steel tendons of nuclear containment vessels, and the product was used in 29 nuclear power plants around the world.

The firm even wheedled its way into supplying grease for small appliances and power tools. After noticing a grease spot left by an Oster food mixer as his mother made cake batter, Woodrow Hoch drove to Osters headquarters and explained to company officials that the wrong grade of grease was being used, causing a bleed problem. Consequently, Oster hired Viscosity Oil to handle all its grease needs.

He figured, if [Oster] is having that problem, maybe some other small-appliance people are having that problem, Hoch said. So Woodrow Hoch went to a local hardware store and noticed grease stains covering boxes of Skil Power Tools and Black & Decker products, and got in touch with both companies.

Between the 60s and 80s, Viscosity Oil had grease supply agreements with all three companies, but those dissolved by the time Woodrow retired in the late 80s. A new relationship was formed in 1988, however, when Viscosity Oil developed coatings used in fiber optic cables for AT&T.

For nearly half a decade, the lube company held roughly 90 percent of the fiber optic coatings market, but this business was later sold because of a lack of funds for further investment. Hoch described this as a lucky turn of events, because demand for fiber optics dropped significantly soon after.

Changing Riders

Hoch has been a first-hand witness to the changes in ownership since 1985, when Tenneco bought the agricultural business of International Harvester and proceeded to purchase Viscosity Oil to shore up its supply of tractor lubricants.

There were some very fortunate circumstances that allowed us to get off to a good start, with Tenneco, Hoch recalled. Crude oil prices crashed as Tenneco was closing the purchase, which caused trouble for the Houston-based oil major but made raw material and production costs go down for independents like Viscosity Oil. We made a lot more money in the first six months than Tenneco had projected we would make in the first two years, Hoch grinned.

From 1987 until 1995, Viscosity Oil was under Tennecos Case IH division, formed from its acquisitions of off-road equipment manufacturer J.I. Case and International Harvester, until Pennzoil took over in a $33.6 million deal.

When Case sold us to Pennzoil in 1995, they sold us with a contract to supply Case with lubricants going forward, Hoch added. That contract is also a key part of whats allowed us to survive all these changes.

The company was passed around four more times in the early 2000s, by which time revenues had passed the $69 million mark. It bounced between FL Selenia (the lubricants division spun off Italian automaker Fiat) and three private equity groups until 2007, when Petronas took the reins.

Through the twists and turns of ownership, Hoch said that both the conditions of the market and respect for the companys integrity helped Viscosity Oil flourish. Weve been very fortunate to have owners who have recognized our strengths and weaknesses, he explained. Were not trying to be everything to everyone in the lubricants market. We have our niches, and they have allowed us to focus on those niches.

Adjusting the Saddle

As agricultural practices change and more sophisticated equipment reduces operating hours, the off-road heavy-duty lubes segment continues challenging formulators from both a technological and volumetric standpoint, Hoch mused. The combination of the change in farming practices and the increased drain intervals has put a lot of pressure on suppliers to this market, because theres not as much demand as there used to be.

Though high-viscosity engine oils still dominate the off-road market, the trend is markedly shifting to lower viscosity oils to meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys Tier 4B standards, which call for reductions of nitrous oxide and particulate emissions from off-road diesel engines. Hoch mentioned that tractors from CNH Industrial are now increasingly equipped with continuously variable transmissions, which required a complete reformulation of Hy-Tran in 2013.

Because the off-road market is smaller, it doesnt receive the attention its due for the level of sophistication thats required to lubricate the components, Hoch pointed out. Our technical capability to meet those requirements is what allows us to survive.

With rapid shifts in the lubes market, formulators have to be one step ahead of the game. The challenge, as its always been, will be to stay ahead of the curve from a technology standpoint and to strive to exceed our customers expectations, Hoch proclaimed.