UOA Initiative for my area

[Mikehra]

I've been in contact with Intertek in regards to expanding their area to include my province. I have the indication that they're interested in working with me on this, so now I want to be as educated as possible to be able to communicate with clients (potential & etc).

Without having the training that is available from such education centers ( http://www.ifptraining.com/en/p-idp1000074/IC-Engines-Lubricants.html)

Is anyone interested in shooting me some pointers and all on this!?

 

[JC1]

Originally Posted By: Mikehra
I've been in contact with Intertek in regards to expanding their area to include my province. I have the indication that they're interested in working with me on this, so now I want to be as educated as possible to be able to communicate with clients (potential & etc).

Without having the training that is available from such education centers ( http://www.ifptraining.com/en/p-idp1000074/IC-Engines-Lubricants.html)

Is anyone interested in shooting me some pointers and all on this!?


Let me ask the question, you want to start your own UOA business in Saskatchewan or partner with Intertek on this initiative?

Your province has approx 1 mllion people. How many of those people will roughly want a UOA done on an ongoing basis?

I'm not trying to talk you out of this, but I want you to fully understand what you are getting into without learning the hard way. Will this economically work?

Regards, JC.

 

[Mikehra]

The industry in the province has many farmers, many truckers, and so on. I'm not trying to start a business, I'm trying to market it. It doesn't mean that I'm only able to market to the province, as many of the trucking industry, for example, are stationed here but travel abroad.

 

[Garak]

I'm not even sure what competition is available here. I don't know if the CAT dealers here handle UOAs, even, like some of them do in Ontario. You may also want to check out some trucking shops like Maxim and see if they're offering such services already. I'm not even sure; I just buy what I need and am on my way. Petro-Canada also supposedly does UOAs, but they don't say much about it on their site.

Nonetheless, from a marketing perspective, you're going to have educate yourself very well. Farmers certainly will like the idea of saving money and time, but they're also known to be extremely conservative. I bet you'll find 99% of the farmers in this province using Rotella, PC, Co-op, or Delvac 15w40. You'll have to be prepared to answer their questions as to why it's feasible and why they should deviate from their tried and true 15w40 and their seasonal oil changes.

 

[Mikehra]

I completely agree that knowledge is power! as they always say. I'm hoping for the key points to start really growing my knowledge from, having the amount of knowledge to learn is vast, and growing with experience. I know enough as it is to [censored] my way through it, but having that knowledge is what makes a true salesman..

My brother was talking about how he had to go to Cummins in Saskatoon to get the kit, then which he sent away. He lives north of PA where our farm is. There are other places that offer it as well, not necessarily around here (NAPA in Edmonton). The real thing that makes them different, is the fact you have to go to the place, pick up the kit, and do you sample. Where I'll want to offer mail service to anyone who wants it. Cut the costs down to the user, which is where I plan on making the biggest point across to such trucking industry leaders, where they do it to everything every second oil change. Save $5 each time, multiplied by what, 10,000 units or more? And you don't have to 'sell' them on the idea, just offer them expected annual savings..

 

[Mikehra]

Originally Posted By: Garak
You'll have to be prepared to answer their questions as to why it's feasible and why they should deviate from their tried and true 15w40 and their seasonal oil changes.


No ones asking them to change oils, we're just talking about having their oils tested as part of their maintenance routine.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: Garak
I'm not even sure what competition is available here. I don't know if the CAT dealers here handle UOAs, even, like some of them do in Ontario. You may also want to check out some trucking shops like Maxim and see if they're offering such services already. I'm not even sure; I just buy what I need and am on my way. Petro-Canada also supposedly does UOAs, but they don't say much about it on their site.

Nonetheless, from a marketing perspective, you're going to have educate yourself very well. Farmers certainly will like the idea of saving money and time, but they're also known to be extremely conservative. I bet you'll find 99% of the farmers in this province using Rotella, PC, Co-op, or Delvac 15w40. You'll have to be prepared to answer their questions as to why it's feasible and why they should deviate from their tried and true 15w40 and their seasonal oil changes.


This is the biggest roadblock. Trying to tell a cash strapped farmer to pay to test his oil to see if it can be run longer.
I tried marketing Amsoil here. I drove to every small town,spoke with hundreds of farmers. Trying to explain that the oil costs more but can be run longer,then co-op starts selling a pao 0w-40,basically equivalent to Amsoil for 30 bucks for 5 litres.
I couldn't compete.
You'll find in this province once a person has established a routine that is cost effective they are very resistant to change,for any reason.
The benefits would have to outweigh the negatives. I wish you good luck. You will need it.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Mikehra
No ones asking them to change oils, we're just talking about having their oils tested as part of their maintenance routine.

True, but often the biggest advantage and cost savings is switching to a longer drain lubricant. And, the only way to test drain length is through UOAs.

While none of this is terribly relevant when it comes to a combine, there is potential savings when it comes to stuff used all year in this province. A combine will get one change per year and with the weather it sees and its usage pattern, a 15w40 will be fine.

There are guys, however, in this province who switch from 15w40 to a 10w30 in the fall in their diesel trucks, tractors, and so forth. If a switch is done solely because of weather and not because the lubricant is finished, then it's a cost issue. They may be able to run the 10w30 year round or use a 5w-40 or 0w-40 HDEO or some other alternative and avoid the seasonal changes.

If the UOA is cheap and convenient and can get a guy to cut his maintenance in half, then you're onto something. A UOA isn't just about getting a UOA done. If they're not going to make use of the data, there's no point in getting one done. And, someone has to be able to explain to them the value of the data, particularly how it can be used to reduce maintenance costs and downtime.

 

[Mikehra]

Combines, Tractors, Swathers, etc will only get an oil change once a year, unless they're high demand pieces of equipment running many hours. When a piece of equipment is ready for the change, you can do a UOA on the drive trail as a whole. Know if you have water or debris contamination occurring somewhere in your hydraulics, for example.

 

[Garak]

Yep, that's definitely good, too. Nonetheless, part of the pitch can be that the oil could be good "beyond one year" in certain equipment. A tractor may get a lot of hours. A swather or combine would certainly get a lot less. Considering the dusty environment in which a combine operates, a UOA would be very helpful in deciding whether OCI extension is possible, and also ensuring air filtration is up to par.