The recent UEIL conference in Vienna brought together a range of strands that reflect the changes taking place in the lubricants industry; the shift to the East, the impact of legislation and risk management and the importance of internet marketing e- amongst others.
One presentation that, on the face of it, appeared a bit ‘left field’ but provided significant food for thought, came from the Head of Flight Safety for Germany’s national airline, Lufthansa. Manfred Muller discussed safety policy and the impact of team working, highlighting the need to follow Standard Operating Procedures. Apparently it is a sad fact that individuals take conscious decisions not to do this – sometimes just to make their life interesting – requiring careful balancing of teams to ensure effective critical decision-making. Re-reading the recent reports on disasters in the Gulf and elsewhere, the application of this message to the oil industry, especially where there are multiple contractors involved, is particularly relevant.
Apu Gosalia of Fuchs offered another insightful review of global lubes demand. He highlighted the fact that China has now overtaken the US as the largest lubes market (as well as being the largest automotive market). Also notable was the shift from US and European market domination (over 70% of global demand) in the late ‘90s, to AsiaPac and ROW which now take more than 50%. Even excluding the outcome of this week’s US Mid Term elections, this is a shift of historic proportions. Asian demand is set to drive the global market, which of course underlines the reason why so much oil industry investment is being made in Asia and BRIC markets.
Finally, Austria’s OMV used the opportunity in Vienna to present its successes with internet marketing in a B2C environment, using games and other “new” approaches to build brand and keep users on their website. This, and a recent Landmark report stating that the internet economy provides 7.2% of the UK’s GDP, offers reinforcement to OATS’ decision to develop and introduce “Cool Apps” for B2C marketing for its customers.
As always, to find out more about the latest OATS innovations, or to comment or contribute to the Lubes Resource Centre, please contact us at bulletin@oats.co.uk.
Sebastian Crawshaw, Chairman OATS