Committed to Quality: GB Lubricants Invests £50,000 in New Laboratory Equipment

GB Lubricants are one of the foremost privately owned manufacturers and suppliers of premium quality oils, lubricants and greases in the UK. To maintain the high standards of their products has taken considerable investment and as part of this development they have recently added some of the latest testing technology to their already impressive equipment portfolio.

The GB Lubricants quality control (QC) laboratory is the UK’s first to own a PerkinElmer Avio 220 Max ICP Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES). 

Used to identify and measure the concentration of elements in raw materials and manufactured lubricating oils, the new Avio 220 Max system is capable of analysing samples faster and more accurately than other machines on the market – cold start to analysis takes only 10 minutes, and it is engineered to handle even the most difficult, high-matrix samples. The £50,000 investment signifies the company’s ongoing commitment to deliver products of a consistently high quality.

“This spectrometer forms a major part of our QC laboratory,” says Technical Manager Paul Crozier, BSc (Hons) Chemistry. “Every batch of oil is extensively tested before being released and stringent QC testing using the latest equipment gives our customers the confidence that they are receiving lubricants that not only meet, but exceed, industry and OEM specifications. By investing in the very latest PerkinElmer technology GB Lubricants proves how forward thinking it is. This will help to future-proof our laboratory for the next 5-10 years.”

Replacing the Optima 7000DV Spectrometer, the Avio 220 Max system is the industry’s pioneer hybrid simultaneous ICP-OES. Developed in partnership with analysts who identify key challenges and system bottlenecks, the hardware and software is designed to improve efficiency in the laboratory, minimise instrument downtime and meet the demands of multi-elemental analyses. Benefits of the Avio 220 Max system include enhanced stability and accuracy, improved detection limits and reduced argon gas consumption. 

“Our spectrometer allows us to accurately determine down to very low levels exactly what elements are present in the lubricant,” says Paul, who has overall responsibility for the GB Lubricants laboratory. Directly involved with the day-to-day quality control of incoming raw materials and finished product, he also works with the sales team to research and develop new products.

“We can ensure that during production the correct additives at the correct treat rates have been homogenized into the blend. This enables us to market and deliver products that the final end user knows will perform as desired and help protect equipment.”

As no product leaves GB Lubricants premises without first being tested in the QC laboratory, Paul could not afford to have the laboratory out of action for any length of time during installation. 

“As we were replacing our previous PerkinElmer ICP system, a lot of the infrastructure was already in place,” says Paul. “The experienced engineers completed the installation and commissioning relatively quickly. We then ran our own QC calibrations and check samples to ensure the system was operating accurately before resuming production QC.”

As well as running a state-of-the-art laboratory and plant to ensure quality, GB Lubricants has invested time into building a successful Integrated Management System, which incorporates quality within the PAS99 umbrella. “This system gives our team a charted set of procedures throughout the production process, which ensure our product qualities are guaranteed during the course of manufacture and testing” says Operations Manager Simon Taylor. 

Combined with training programs that keep staff up to date with industry changes, GB Lubricants has all the tools in place to provide a consistent, high quality product and service.