Publisher’s Note

Developing markets like India and China are expected to lead future demand growth in the lubricant industry which has become a story of shrinking margins due to declining demand growth of automotive lubricants and the struggling manufacturing industry. There has been increasing competition on account of large number of players, increase in raw material costs and marketing expenditure that are leading to declining margins in the lubricant industry. The increase in competition in the Indian subcontinent is also due to the entry of several foreign players which has seen a shift in the customer preferences owing to brand name, price accessibility and services offered. With slower growth rate in the lubricant sector, the industry will see more consolidations among some of the big players while the smaller manufacturers will have to work harder to retain their market share.

With all the cost cutting and shrinking margins, it becomes even more important to reemphasize the need for training to save money in the long run. Recently Lubrication Institute, India hosted their second series of trainings in Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai which were a resounding success. The training was on Fundamentals of Machinery Lubrication at Kolkata and Delhi and Practical oil analysis at Mumbai. The training program was followed by ICML (International Council for Machinery Lubrication) certification examinations. We look forward to sharing the 2014 training calendar with our readers soon.

Our cover story, “Extending Oil Change Intervals” discusses the wisdom of oil change frequency in our mobile equipments. Oil chemistry and engine technology have evolved tremendously thereby making frequent oil changes a thing of the past. In fact, there is a movement underway especially by European auto manufacturers to eliminate the need to change engine oil. With use, oil quality degrades making it important to dump the contaminants which have deposited in the oil and also restore the additive packages that have been depleted. Modern synthetic oils however degrade much slower than their mineral oil counterparts which helps in extending the oil change intervals.

Besides the section on extending oil change intervals, we have an article from Bennet Fitch which discusses the anatomy of an oil filter. This is the second part of a series of “anatomy” lessons within Machinery Lubrication. In this issue, the oil filter has been examined to uncover its functional and performance characteristics.

The first issue of Machinery Lubrication India, was published a year back (Sep-Oct 2012). We have completed one year and have come a long way since. In our continued effort in spreading education we would request you to refer Machinery Lubrication India to those you may feel will benefit from it. We have been receiving requests to make the print version available in neighboring countries and are working on making the same possible. We attribute our success to our readers and support from Noria Corporation, USA.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish our readers and advertisers a very Happy Durga Pooja and Diwali.

Warm Regards,
Udey Dhir