Stuart Gregory, the Managing Director of Petrofer UK
Lubricating the Wheels of Growth
PETROFER UK, a wholly owned subsidiary of PETROFER Germany, one of the world’s leading companies for industrial lubricants, oils and specialised fluids, is set to embrace emerging sector changes. Stuart Gregory, the Managing Director of Petrofer UK and a member of the Global Executive Committee, spoke to Romana Moares about the latest developments and upcoming challenges and opportunities.
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stablished in 1948 in the northern German city of Hildesheim, PETROFER has developed into a leading company in its sector, offering a combination of chemical products, services, and technical expertise in almost 50 countries throughout the world, supported by 14 manufacturing sites. Combining tradition and vision, this privately owned company builds on innovation, quality, expertise and employee dedication. PETROFER’s portfolio of process fluids and products is divided into ten distinctive product groups; these are used in applications such as metal forming, forging, die-casting, pressing, metal cutting, cleaning, hydraulics, general lubrication, heat treatment and corrosion prevention. All of the products exceed current environmental, H&S and legislative requirements.
Embracing change Mr Gregory, who has been with the company for 24 years, and is also the Technical Co-ordinator for Japanese Business in Europe, as well as the President of the UK Die Casting Society and the Vice38 Industry Europe
Chairman of UK Cast Metals Federation, explained that in addition to its sales team, the UK subsidiary has service engineers covering the whole of the UK along with a laboratory providing regular fluid analyses on the majority of our products to all our customers. “Our core business is very much market led,” he noted. “Different countries have different sectors which are in focus; for example, Germany is a very much an automotive led country, while Turkey, on the other hand, is perceived as a metal processor or a component supplier. Our product offering reflects local needs and local demand. However, our global market perspective generally focuses on hot metal industries around the automotive sector and its supply chain.” He further acknowledged that the company is ready to embrace market developments. “The biggest challenge that we see in the formulated chemistry industry is the huge change in the automotive technology worldwide in terms of electric drives, lower weight, new materials and new techniques. The market is further affected by factors such as the REACH registration of chemicals, restriction of certain products as well as the geopolitical situation in terms of
