Q8Oils is continuing its development of soluble cutting fluids with the launch of Q8 Baroni XHS, a unique, high-performance, water-based cutting fluid that has been designed for general machining applications including deep hole drilling, boring, skiving and roller burnishing.
Being chlorine- and sulphur-free, Q8 Baroni XHS requires no environmental labelling and its excellent bio-stability provides long sump life and reduced maintenance costs. Formulated with unique water-soluble lubricity additives means that the use of Q8 Baroni XHS is not limited by water quality; and its low foaming properties also helps to minimise spillages and does not result in loss of machine pressure. The use of these latest high-performance lubricity additives also ensures excellent surface finish and extended tool life.
Commenting for Q8Oils, UK Sales Manager Mick Doxford says: “As a fully-synthetic metalworking fluid, Q8 Baroni XHS benefits from long-term stability and full tramp oil rejection and, thanks to its excellent lubricity properties, is suitable for low- to heavy-duty machining of ferrous alloys, stainless steel, high tensile steel, Inconel and other high-specification alloys.”
For further information on Q8 Baroni XHS and the Q8Oils range of industrial oils, visit www.Q8Oils.co.uk, email Marketing@Q8Oils.com or call +44 (0)113 235 0555.
Optimum Oils, Q8Oils’ Strategic Partner for the UK bus and coach market, is supplying the vast mix of buses and locomotives in Go-Ahead Group’s UK operations with Q8 lubricants and Optimum antifreeze.
Optimum offers a second tier management service for specialist lubricants specified primarily by OEMs during the initial bus and locomotive warranty periods.
Q8Oils and Optimum closely monitor the requirements for performance lubricants, which are driven by OEM’s specifications to ensure that where possible, Q8Oils’ grades not only meet but exceed the specification. The benefit to Go-Ahead is the “One Stop Shop Approach” that helps to reduce the number of suppliers Go-Ahead has to deal with, which in turn, makes Go-Ahead more efficient.
Frank Darch, Technical Support Manager for Go-Ahead London stresses the importance of not merely supplying lubricants and antifreeze at the right cost; but also ensuring that lubricant grades comply with the latest edition of the ever changing OEM specifications. He adds that drain periods in particular, are monitored closely in London’s aggressive transport environment where operational hours are predominant rather than kilometres travelled.
Based in Go-Ahead’s Merton office, Frank says the eighteen garages in south, south west, south east, and north London are responsible for servicing over 2,000 vehicles involving all major engines, gearboxes and axles and, as part of the service, identifying reasons for failures. This involves aspects such as oil monitoring and analysis. He writes the servicing requirements for all Go-Ahead bus types, which are numerous due to mergers, takeovers and acquisitions over the years. These documents are then passed to each of the garages to ensure that every vehicle in the Go-Ahead fleet is serviced to the same high standards and is signed off on a service check sheet. The service documents record and define the length of time that oils and lubricants for engines, gearboxes and axles stay in the units between services, to ensure that Go-Ahead achieves the best possible service life.
Says Frank: “We have used other suppliers and oils over the years but for the past nine years we have been very happy with the Optimum and Q8Oils strategic partnership.”
Optimum provides the most effective Q8 oil for each application, carries out monitoring and oil analysis regularly and recommends and carries out trials on new products where appropriate. They also help to ensure that Go-Ahead maintains the prescribed oil change intervals, especially in engines where optimising oil change intervals is vital to optimising engine life. Optimum and Q8Oils also provide updates on new products and arrange trails if they believe a new product will help to improve the performance of the Go-Ahead fleet. Says Frank: “We are currently running trials of a new grease specifically designed to repel water washout during chassis washes. It is typical of the way Go-Ahead and Optimum work very well together to get the absolute best out of the Q8 oils and lubricants, and in all the years we have been using Q8Oils products we have never had an issue, despite having engines that are twelve years old. I think that proves the efficiency of the Q8Oils products.”
Oil monitoring and analysis is one of the main services Optimum undertakes for Go-Ahead and from the data received the service intervals are worked out for each bus. This is a key function in the relationship and Frank believes it results in the excellent engine life Go-Ahead achieves for its fleet. Whilst engines themselves have changed dramatically in the 25 years since Frank began his job, and modern engines are now so good, he insists that they still need the best oils to keep them operating and in the best condition. Optimum will deal with specific issues within a garage or on an individual engine, gearbox or axle and this is where their service is vital, providing expertise and oil analysis to solve problems for the eighteen Go-Ahead garages. And as Frank explains: “Whilst oil has a finite life we rely on Optimum and Q8Oils to give us the best advice and ensure that the technology within the Q8 oils we use, helps us achieve the best balance of performance and operational life.”
Go-Ahead is using Q8 T750 in most of its London garages and whilst all Go-Ahead buses are serviced every four weeks, oil change intervals for engines, gearboxes and axles/differentials are carried out to different schedules according to mileage, route, age, etc. Some gearboxes may need oil changes once or twice a year and others, especially the newer gearboxes, will have much longer intervals. But with so many different vehicles, operating schedules and routes, it is vital that schedules and the oil change intervals are strictly maintained.
In the Go-Ahead operation an annual oil change for 2,000 vehicles just isn’t an option so the service teams rely on their own experts, working with Optimum, to schedule when individual vehicles and even individual engines, gearboxes and axles, need oil changes. Because it is a partnership, Optimum and Q8Oils work closely with Go-Ahead to decide as a team when oil changes need to be carried out.
What also influences the schedules are the significant variations in the routes and mileages of vehicles. Even within individual garages in London the differences are extraordinary. Whilst this is understandable with transmissions, for engines the hours they are actually running on their routes need to be monitored as well as mileage. The impact of all these factors can be identified during oil analysis programmes and the data received definitely helps Go-Ahead to achieve the very best from the Q8 oils, from their engines and transmissions and therefore, their vehicles. And it does work. The Go-Ahead quality system can interrogate individual vehicle schedules and the figures are impressive – some of the change intervals of the Q8 oils, especially on the more modern vehicles, are running for incredible intervals between oil changes.
With new vehicles, where engine and transmission life can now reach fifteen years and more, service intervals are initially determined by the warranty, but once that expires, oil analysis is undertaken to set benchmarks for future service intervals, dependant on performance during warranty and with input from Optimum and Q8Oils.
Summing up, Frank Darch says “Everything we work on together is very focused and specific to achieving our needs, which is why the relationship with Optimum and Q8Oils is so successful and has lasted as long as it has.”
- ENDS -
For further information contact:
Naomi Holden, Q8Oils
Knowsthorpe Gate, Leeds, LS9 0NP, UK
Tel: 44 (0)113 235 0555 Fax: 44 (0)113 248 5026
E-mail: Naomi.Holden@Q8Oils.com Web: www.Q8Oils.co.uk
For press information contact:
Simon Cantillion, Cantillion King Advertising
16 The Cornhill, Stroud,Gloucestershire,GL5 2JT,UK
Tel: 44 (0)1453 755551 Fax: 44 (0)1453 751525
E-mail: simon@cka.co.uk Web: www.cka.co.uk
Note to Editors:
Q8Oils has a unique, innovative and progressive approach when it comes to producing some of the World’s finest quality lubricants. Manufactured in its plant in Leeds, Q8Oils represent the very best and latest in lubricant technology and delivers this direct to customers across the Industrial and Automotive sectors.
For Q8Oils sales phone: 44 (0)113 236 5204 or email: Marketing@Q8Oils.com
Q8 Oils offers a comprehensive lubrication solutions range in the following products:
• Passenger car engine oils
• Commercial vehicle engine oils
• Marine engine oils
• Outboard engine oils
• Motorcycle engine oils
• Automotive transmission and axle oils
• Universal transmission oils
• Gas engine oils
• Food grade lubricants and greases
• Hydraulic fluids
• Plant maintenance oils
• Demoulding oils
• Quenching oils
• Process oils
• Neat cutting oils
• Neat forming fluids
• Soluble metal working fluids
• Heat transfer fluids
• Greases
• Extensive range of ancillary products
Advanced Insulation (www.aisplc.com)
Since its formation in 2007, Advanced Insulation has become a single source provider for insulation and fire protection systems to the oil and gas industry, and represents one of the most respected and progressive names in topside and subsea insulation worldwide.
Advanced Insulation offers a wide range of products to meet the growing demand for fire protection and thermal insulation systems adaptable for elevated service temperatures and pressures.
AL-KO Kober (www.al-ko-co.uk)
Since 1931, AL-KO Kober has been manufacturing premium, high quality components used in the Automotive, Commercial and Leisure industry.
The extensive range of chassis components, premium accessories and spare parts are engineered to last, ensuring whatever product you have purchased, you will benefit from the generations of development and enjoy a lifetime of service.
Arc Energy Resources (www.arcenergy.co.uk)
Arc Energy Resources is one of the UK’s leading specialists in weld overlay cladding and fabrication for the oil & gas industry. The company’s expertise provides protection against corrosion and wear for a variety of process and pipeline equipment for use in any hostile environment.
The company recently made a major investment in two new Rotating Head welding machines costing £500,000. This has increased productivity and extended the size and scope of work it can handle, which now includes complicated component geometries for the full or partial cladding and fabrication of a huge range of component sizes weighing up to 15 tonnes. The company’s in-house designed cladding workstations feature state-of-the-art control systems developed to suit its customer’s specialised engineering requirements, and can clad bores up to four metres diameter and areas of restricted access within bores as small as 20mm diameter. Arc Energy also offers in-house test weld, heat treatment, PMI and NDT facilities.
Industry certifications include ISO 9001:2008 quality management, ISO 3834-2 fusion welding of metallic materials, and the internationally renowned ASME U and R Stamps, as well as ISO 14001:2004 environment management, Investors in People and OHSAS 18001:2007 Health & Safety management system.
Curtiss-Wright Industrial Group, which includes the legacy brands of Arens Controls, Penny & Giles, PG Drives Technology and Williams Controls, is a recognized leader in providing components and sub-systems which enable customer specific solutions for on- and off-highway vehicles. These include medium- and heavy-duty trucks, buses and motor coaches, construction and agricultural vehicles, materials handling, and other specialty vehicles, as well as sophisticated wheelchairs and scooters for medical mobility.
We are a leading provider of electronic throttle controls, transmission shifters and sensors for commercial off-highway equipment and heavy trucks, so helping to address the long-term trend towards attaining higher fuel efficiency and lower emissions. We also supply operator controls and advanced motor controllers for hybrid and electric vehicles, such as buses, forklift trucks, pallet stackers, wheelchairs and rehabilitation chairs.
With a proud legacy spanning more than 85 years, Curtiss-Wright is a global innovative company that delivers highly-engineered, critical-function products and services to the commercial, industrial, defense and energy markets. Building on the heritage of Glenn Curtiss and the Wright brothers, we have a long tradition of providing reliable solutions through trusted customer relationships.
Further information is available from the Curtiss-Wright Industrial website (www.cw-industrialgroup.com) or by calling +44 (0)1202 034000.
Euchner (UK) Limited (www.euchner.co.uk)
Safety for people, machines and products has been the maxim of this family-owned company since 1953. Stefan Euchner is the third generation to take the helm.
As specialists in industrial safety engineering, Euchner develops and manufactures products and solutions tailored to the requirements of customers from a wide range of sectors. Using its guards on machines and installations helps to minimise hazards and risks, which in turn protects people and processes. For its 800 employees around the world, safety is the watchword.
Further information is available from the Euchner (UK) Limited website (www.euchner.co.uk) or by calling +44 (0)114 256 0123.
Industry Superstore (www.industrysuperstore.co.uk)
Industry Superstore is a one-stop-shop for a wealth of budget-friendly, high-quality products tailored to industry!
Further information is available from the Industry Superstore website (www.industrysuperstore.co.uk) or by calling +44 (0)1892 664499.
Exmac Automation Limited has many years experience in the design, manufacture, and installation of unit conveyors, conveyor systems and associated materials handling equipment for most industry sectors.
Exmac Automation is part of the MacDonald Humfrey group of companies and are market leaders in the supply of automated materials handling equipment to the automotive, aerospace, white goods, warehouse & distribution, nuclear, pharmaceutical and food & beverage industries.
The group supplies to most industry sectors and have over 250 employees with many years experience in the design, manufacture and installation of unit conveyors, conveyor systems and associated materials handling equipment.
Projects have ranged from individual standard conveyors and bespoke handling applications, through to complete turnkey contracts involving conceptual and process design, installation and commissioning.
We are ISO 9001 accredited and constantly strive to achieve continuous improvements in the overall quality of our products and service.
Exmac Automation has has established a reputation for supplying high quality, robust systems at competitive prices.
In-house resources enable us to provide clients with a single source for complete systems integration including simulation, engineering, machining, fabrication, assembly, controls, installation & commissioning and after sales service.
Our 70,000 sq ft facility in Worcester has extensive design, manufacturing and assembly resources. Our skilled team of customer focussed automation professionals offers a broad base of knowledge and experience in a wide variety of industries.
A large workshop enables us to carry out comprehensive pre-installation assembly and factory acceptance tests on all projects.
Fulton Limited (www.fulton.co.uk)
The Fulton name has been synonymous with steam since the company first introduced the vertical tubeless steam boiler in 1949 and Fulton was established in Bristol in 1966. Fulton is still one of the world’s leading manufacturers, producing an unrivalled range of multi-fuel steam boilers. But increasingly these are ordered by customers as part of bespoke turnkey systems designed to meet exacting specifications.
Today Fulton Limited is an important design and manufacturing base in Fulton’s global network that also includes production facilities in the USA and China. The company’s UK facility makes it possible to manufacture products more efficiently and assemble completed units for whenever and wherever they are needed throughout the UK and in export markets.
Once just a steam boiler manufacturer, Fulton now specialises in ready-to-ship skid mounted and fully packaged boiler plant rooms to meet the current demand for off-site fabrication. The company puts great emphasis in providing sales and application advice and a full commissioning and after sales service to a growing customer base in hospital and healthcare facilities, food and beverage processing, laundries and other applications.
Design and manufacturing resources are shared and coordinated around the world, but no matter where your product originates, it will always be produced to the highest quality in a facility that is wholly owned and managed by the Fulton Group, which remains a privately owned family business.
Fulton’s heating and hot water systems can be delivered as fully prefabricated plant rooms or complete skid-mounted units, built to fit a prepared location and connect direct to your services.
Using the latest CAD equipment its design team can accommodate the most sophisticated engineering specifications in surprisingly compact spaces, locating components in the best possible position to suit the installation.
In every sense, today’s Fulton boiler systems are solutions that fit the requirements of the modern age of steam.
Gast Group (www.gastmfg.com / www.jun-air.com)
Since 1921, Gast Manufacturing, Inc. has been designing and manufacturing quality air-moving products. Our vacuum pumps, compressors, air motors, gear motors, vacuum generators, regenerative blowers and Smart Air technology meet the many challenging applications of OEMs and end-users worldwide.
For industrial manufacturing, health care lab, or environmental cleanup applications, Gast provides a full range of ideally suited and cost-effective solutions to any pneumatic problem.
Monodraught (www.monodraught.com)
In the current climate of soaring energy prices and the fear of global warming, increasing attention is being focused on Monodraught’s range of energy-free products.
Monodraught has always sought to invent, explore and develop innovative technologies that harness the wind and sun. Products include Windcatchers, Sunpipes, Suncatchers, Sola-vents, Sola-boosts and Cool-phase.
Nexen Lift Trucks (www.nexenlifttrucks.com)
Disillusioned with the ever-increasing complexity of new forklift trucks and the failure of the major manufacturers to provide a high level of support to their dealer networks, the decision was taken to develop its own range of forklifts.
In 2003 Nexen Lift Trucks was established with the vision to design and manufacture its own range with a combined 70 years experience of the lift truck rental industry. Nexen's ultimate goal is to build worldwide brand recognition based on its product's design and build quality as well as outstanding reliability at competitive prices.
In 2007 Nexen completed the purchase of the second largest lift truck manufacturer in Taiwan, creating the Nexen Motor Corporation. Initially the existing models were improved whilst a European based design team was established to develop a completely new range of trucks from the ground up to meet Nexen's standards.
Q8Oils (www.Q8Oils.co.uk / @Q8OilsUK)
Q8Oils has become a major player in the global lubricants market. Our success is founded on significant corporate resources, a commitment to product development and uncompromising standards of quality and service.
Q8Oils has a unique and innovative approach producing some of the world´s finest quality lubricants. Manufactured in its state of the art plant at Leeds, West Yorkshire, Q8Oils represent the very best and latest in lubricant technology. With over 1000 grades of finished lubricants, base oils, process oils, extracts and waxes.
We are dedicated to serving the needs of our customers by striving to understand, anticipate and satisfy their needs faster and better than our competitors. To achieve this our objective is to develop and supply products and services which reflect customer demands in each of our market sectors.
TLV Euro Engineering (www.tlv.co.uk)
TLV Euro Engineering UK is part of TLV, an internationally-established designer, manufacturer and provider of steam traps, condensate recovery pumps, pressure reducing valves and other specialist steam solutions. The company plays a leading role in the promotion of efficient energy systems and increased environmental conservation on a worldwide scale through its products and consulting and engineering services.
Rockatek (www.rockatek.com)
Cheltenham-based Rockatek Ltd is an engineering consultancy that offers design, analysis and physical testing services that set it apart from others. Its directors have over 40 years’ experience in complex engineering product optimisation and development; and its engineers specialise in engineering solutions for harsh environments and value improving reliability and performance.
Verco (www.ver.co.uk)
Founded in 1965, Verco quickly built a reputation for supplying quality refrigerated glass door and open chill cabinets to supermarkets, convenience and forecourt stores. Verco is now a leading supplier of retail refrigeration and the largest UK manufacturer of glass door cabinets.
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