01
Product range strategy
Defining what a portfolio should contain, and what it should not.
- Range design: which grades and specifications a product range needs to cover its market, and which are redundant
- Glocalisation: adapting global product platforms to regional base oil availability, specifications and regulatory requirements
- Fluid rationalisation: consolidating the number of fluids a site holds and uses, cutting inventory cost, cross-contamination risk and misapplication without losing equipment coverage
- Portfolio exposure: where a company's volume and technical capability sit in a fast-changing market, and what a realistic move into industrial looks like given its formulation base
In practice. Led the harmonisation of an international oil brand's product range across three continents and four production sites. The same performance targets were met at every site using different locally available raw materials, giving one consistent range without forcing a single global supply chain.
02
Approvals and specifications
Navigating the approval and specification landscape on both the automotive and industrial sides.
- OEM approvals: planning and managing the route to approval, automotive and industrial
- Specification and tender support: writing a defensible specification, or building a response that meets one
- Regulatory compliance: REACH, GHS, food-grade approvals and bio-based claims, with practical documentation and risk mapping
In practice. Led a programme that took a lubricants manufacturer from two OEM approvals to fifty in two years, combining approval-route planning with direct OEM relationships.
In practice. Secured OEM approvals for formulations built on re-refined base oils, where the qualification route is less established than for virgin stocks.
03
Formulation and sourcing
The technical and commercial decisions behind what goes in the product.
- Formulation review and development: auditing existing formulations against performance targets, cost and specification requirements, and developing new ones
- Procurement: sourcing strategy for base oils and additive packages, plus supplier selection and qualification
- Failure investigation: root-cause analysis of lubricant-related failures, feeding findings back into formulation or sourcing decisions
In practice. Development work on EV driveline and thermal fluids, a segment where specifications are still forming. DETAIL_TBC
In practice. Collaborative R&D with UK universities including Nottingham. DETAIL_TBC
