In an exclusive interview to The Textile Magazine, Roland Metelmann, Director of LUBCON Lubricant Asia Pacific, outlines the challenges in the textile industry, the importance of the Indian market and the digitalisation of lubrication and maintenance tasks.
Edited excerpts:
How is business at LUBCON globally in the first half of 2019? How was the year 2018 overall?
LUBCON business has been growing every year since its inception in 1980. The years 2018 and 2019 are no exception.
What are the key highlights of LUBCON’s performance in recent times?
Expanding the reach to potential clients globally is our key priority. We are investing in production sites in Asia (Philippines/India/ Indonesia). Philippines was chosen as our regional technical service center for Asia Pacific. Experts cover the entire region to support our customers and help to use our products in the most efficient ways possible.
Currently we have 16 LUBCON subsidiaries on all continents and five manufacturing sites worldwide. Our key priority is to be very near to our customers and provide state-of-the-art high-performance lubricants.
Which are the key markets for LUBCON globally?
LUBCON’s large product range focuses on the key markets – packaging, transportation, pharma, food & beverage, as well as textile manufacturing. We are also active in many other industrial segments such as ultra-high vacuum, oxygen and wood manufacturing. All our activities can be checked on our website: www.lubcon.com.
Within the many industry verticals that LUBCON operates, how important is the textile industry?
Traditionally the textile industry was our focus market since the very early days. Operating conditions are severe and only the best lubricants are suitable for the various processes. The greases and oils are exposed to a very hostile environment and must be engineered to withstand these conditions (such as heat, speed, chemical aggressive fumes and water).
What are the products and solutions offered by LUBCON for the textile industry?
As I mentioned before, high speeds, wide temperature ranges and chemical influences are factors that can impede an optimum manufacturing process. The LUBCON lubricants are specifically designed to withstand various loads, even at maximum machine operation. They protect friction points from wear and corrosion for a low maintenance operation over a long period.
The LUBCON lubricant assortment includes synthetic or mineral based oils and greases, needle and sinker oils, assembly pastes as well as release and cleaning agents for a wide application in textile manufacturing.
How important is the Indian market for LUBCON? What is your current presence in the Indian market?
India is an economic powerhouse in the region and in the world. LUBCON is active in the Indian market since the 1980s. Encouraged by our continuous growth in the last years, the management in Germany decided to establish LUBCON India in Bangalore in 2018. We are currently in the process of setting up a manufacturing plant and warehouse there to further consolidate our distribution network and supply our Indian customers faster and in a more cost-efficient manner.
How has LUBCON expanded its presence in the Indian textile market over the years?
One of our key strategies to reach our Indian customers in the textile industry was to work with expert distributors who are already established in India by selling technical products such as bearings or high-end needles in the knitting industry. We also participate in textile exhibitions and meet important Indian textile OEMs.
Lubricants and greases are consumables whose importance often gets ignored by customers. How do you see the awareness among textile customers on the importance of using quality/branded products for their machinery?
LUBCON is aware that many end users are not properly using the expensive special lubricants and do not strictly follow the lubrication instructions from the bearing and machine manufacturers. Much productivity is lost and valuable cost saving opportunities are wasted. LUBCON has therefore developed a new cloud-based maintenance software to help customers manage the correct use of lubricants. LUBCON Smart Task Control (STC), now available to our clients, can help them to organise and control all lubrication processes and also preventive maintenance tasks better. We help to digitalise lubrication and maintenance tasks down to the component level.
One of our reference clients in the dyeing and finishing sector has reduced his machine down-time by 90% since implementation of STC. The company could also significantly reduce the maintenance time for lubrication tasks.
Are the LUBCON products endorsed or certified as authorised lubricant/grease by major OEMs like Rieter, LMW, Saurer, Mayer & Cie or Picanol….?
We are recommended by many major textile machine manufacturers. The LUBCON product range is used by the biggest textile manufacturers in the world in Indonesia, Pakistan, China, Vietnam and Bangladesh. We claim market leadership in some Asian countries in all sectors: spinning, knitting, dyeing and finishing.
Given that the industrial lubricant and greases segment is highly competitive with many Indian and global brands available at various price points, why should a customer consider using LUBCON products? What special advantage do you offer?
LUBCON is different from other lubricant suppliers. We do not only assist customers in finding the right lubricant, we also support them in the optimisation of the whole production process by offering automatic lubrication systems, bearing solutions as well as software for lubrication management and laboratory services. It is essential for us to not only offer high quality products, but also provide excellent consulting and overall lubrication solutions as a full-service partner for our customers.