SITE ADVANTAGE

A subsidiary of ZF Friedrichshafen AG in Shanghai needed to replace its cooling lubricant. A test of various candidates revealed the key moments involved in deciding on an alternative – and the fact that there's more to it than an excellent product.

ZF Friedrichshafen AG is one of the largest automotive suppliers in the world and the company itself is just as international as its customers. In addition to its headquarters in Friedrichshafen, the group has around 260 sites in 41 countries. One of them is the ZF Lemförder Shanghai Chassistech Corporation. It is located in the Fengxian district in the south of Shanghai. Here, the company produces components for ZF steering technologies, primarily axle journals, suspension arms, and clamping arms made from aluminum alloy. Its customers include international major players, primarily Mercedes-Benz, but SVW (Shanghai Volkswagen), FAW Volkswagen, General Motors, and Great Wall, one of the largest Chinese manufacturers, are also among them. And business is booming. “It's going so well that last year, the machines in our workshops were even running on October 1, the Chinese national holiday,” says Junlei Zhao, Production Manager at ZF Lemförder Shanghai Chassistech.

NEW COOLING LUBRICANT WANTED

Yet even then it was clear: The year 2020 held changes in Chinese environmental legislation which would make it necessary to replace the cooling lubricant that had previously been used – the product that is employed during turning, milling, grinding, and drilling of the workpieces to dissipate heat and prevent friction. Banned components would be boron, chlorcosane, monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, triethanolamine, dicyclohexylamine as well as substances that release formaldehyde. This was a condition that the cooling lubricant currently used was unable to meet.

Plus, there were other shortcomings, such as the very high consumption of 72,000 liters per year. This was partly due to the fact that the lubricant had to be replaced each month in volumes of 6,000 liters. Otherwise, corrosion processes would have occurred on copper-coated workpieces. It was a problem of efficiency and cost. A replacement needed to be found.

“To identify the right cooling lubricant, we thoroughly tested three products over three months, each in one machine tool. One of them was ECOCOOL from FUCHS,” explains Junlei Zhao. “The three lubricant providers themselves were responsible for replacing, adding, maintaining, and monitoring the lubricant during the entire test phase,” added Zhao.

A CLEAR DECISION

At the end of the test phase, the decision was made to use ECOCOOL. Alongside its quality, it was the costs that helped sway the decision. While the price of the FUCHS product is in the mid range, it scored points for consumption. This was reflected in the test result with usage of 5,000 liters less than the product currently used. This doesn't just keep procurement costs low, but also makes disposal cheaper. ECOCOOL cuts the amount of cooling lubricant requiring disposal by 62.5 tons per year. Neither of the two competitor products tested in parallel was able to offer this cost benefit and one of them failed to meet the environmental standards.

If you ask Junlei Zhao, the decision for ECOCOOL was just as much a decision for FUCHS as a company. “It's important for us that a lubricant supplier can adapt its products quickly and reliably to our local needs. At the same time, we are part of a global corporation. We always need to ensure that the products we use also comply with company guidelines.”

THE DECISIVE DIFFERENCE

FUCHS can do both. Both the service team and the research and development team are based close to ZF Lemförder Shanghai Chassistech. “We were able to visit the site easily and assure ourselves that FUCHS is able to adapt its products to our needs. The local presence of a service team also means fast and professional support.” What's more, production in Shanghai significantly reduces the delivery time from four months for an imported lubricant to two weeks for a locally produced lubricant.

But the global perspective is important if a lubricant producer wants to offer its local customers the best possible support, explains Zhao: “FUCHS has long been a global partner of ZF AG. That's why the company knows precisely which of its lubricants and specialties are used for what purpose at ZF around the world. So we can be sure that we are recommended products that our parent company trusts and that are adapted to our special conditions.”

THE OUTLOOK

For the next three years, FUCHS will supply the Shanghai subsidiary of ZF AG with cutting fluid. And that is unlikely to be all. “Due to the full range on offer, we can really simplify our portfolio management with FUCHS,” explains Junlei Zhao. “We require many different products. If we can obtain them from just one provider, this reduces both complexity and costs for us. So I'm sure we'll work together more closely with FUCHS on those grounds.”