The collaboration centres around sustainability and customer benefit, but sustainability is a complex area and involves the entire process and value chain: from raw materials and production, to the end customer’s use of the product and dealing with spent products. By helping to reduce customers’ climate footprint, the two companies simultaneously help to reduce their own.

“Behind the collaboration is a shared customer, who indicated a new dimension of customer benefit and sustainability that arose in the interaction between our products,” says Nicklas Gustafsson, Director of Industry Sales Sweden at FUCHS.

“We want to extend the life span of the oil, that’s our core business. What appealed to us was the fact that FUCHS wants to optimise the use of its oils, rather than just selling as much as possible,” says Jens Vesterlund, Managing Director of C.C. Jensen Sweden. “Their sustainability work revealed some long-term benefits.”

“Sustainability lies in the useful life of a product,” says Gustafsson. “We know that a lot of companies change oil unnecessarily early, but our lubricants are tougher than a lot of people think. And in this collaboration, we can make some of what are already the most efficient oils on the market even more sustainable.”

The secret lies in hyper-efficient offline oil filter solutions that eliminate particles, water, acid and oil degradation/oxidation in hydraulic oil, lubricating oil, gear oil, diesel fuels and more. These are obvious benefits for anyone that uses oil that wears in industry, but also in sectors like mining and other challenging environments where large amounts of dirt pose a risk. Oil filtration uses a minimum of pressure and produces extremely clean oil. The oil filtration process is based exclusively on sustainable natural products like cellulose and cotton linters (so it involves no plastics, metals or chemicals).

“Particles have an incredible impact on an oil’s lifetime, both in the form of wear and a catalysing effect in degradation, so removing them from the oil extends the service life considerably. The oil is almost like new after passing through the process,” explains Vesterlund. “You virtually never have to replace the oil, it’s so clean.”

Arguments have previously tended to focus on the financial savings of not having to change oil, but now sustainability is another, even more important factor. And there is a lot to be gained. In addition to carbon dioxide reductions, having oil and machine components that last longer also reduces both the amount of waste oil and the need for spare parts and transport. These are easy gains that any company can add to its sustainability reporting.

“One huge benefit is that, together, we can help our customers secure a far better and more predictable process, with extended intervals. This is where we can really make a difference,” says Gustafsson.

“Predictability means that the customer has full control of their oil and can themselves plan for any stoppages,” adds Vesterlund. “Nowadays, we can analyse the oil directly in flow, and know when and what we need to add or remove. We don’t even have to stop the process to clean it.”

“It’s great to talk about filtration technology with someone who really knows and understands oil. The next optimum step for sustainability is a circular flow,” says Gustafsson. “We’ve already started discussing some circular ideas, so we’ll be able to present some feasible solutions for that in future too.”

For customers, the collaboration also entails new opportunities to tailor solutions or recommendations for products and services as required. There are also possibilities for training in topics such as sustainability, energy savings, optimising value and maximising life span.

Read more about C.C. Jensen at https://www.fuchs.com/dk