Meet our Member: Shell Lubricants - The biggest global supplier of lubricants

Shell dates back to 1833 and offers a complete portfolio of high-performance lubricants for wind turbines including gear oil, hydraulic oil, transformer oil, coolant, and grease. The company sells a wide variety of lubricants to meet customer needs across a range of applications. These include consumer motoring, heavy-duty transport, construction, mining, power, agriculture, and general manufacturing.

The term ‘Shell Lubricants’ collectively refers to Shell Group companies engaged in the lubricants business. Shell Lubricants has been the biggest global lubricants supplier for 15 consecutive years according to Kline & Company. Shell is active across the full lubricant supply chain: They manufacture base oils in four plants; blend base oils with additives to make lubricants in 29 plants; distribute, market, and sell lubricants in more than 100 countries, and provide technical and business support to customers.

Shell Lubricants invests significantly in technology and works closely with its customers to develop innovative lubricants. They have leading lubricants research centers in the USA, China, Germany, and India, where more than 200 scientists and lubricants engineers are dedicated to lubricants research and development.

Innovation, product application, and technical collaboration are at the heart of Shell Lubricants. Today, Shell Lubricants has a patent portfolio with more than 150 patent series for lubricants, base oils, and greases. They are committed to improving both maintenance practices and sustainability, which is why all of their wind lubricants are carbon-neutral.

Complying with APQP4Wind helps serve the wind sector

Another way of pushing the boundaries to support their wind customers is by improving quality assurance alongside the global wind industry. Lubricants Product Application Specialist at Shell Deutschland GmbH, Ulf Rieper, Dipl-Ing. says: “Quality needs to be embedded in all our processes, from development to supply. We were already familiar with the APQP requirements and processes from the automotive industry and, to make sure that we pass the requirements from our customers within the wind industry, we have followed APQP4Wind for several years now.”

Shell Lubricants is well-known for having high standards regarding lubricant quality and cleanliness, and its global standards meet APQP4Wind requirements. Global Key Account Manager at Shell United Kingdom, Michelle Watt, states that after having implemented APQP4Wind, they respond better to customer needs. As an example, Shell offers a 10-year oil life warranty for Shell Omala S5 Wind 320 gear oil to provide peace of mind for their wind customers. Ulf Rieper adds:

Sharing best practices in the APQP4Wind Community

To take the extra step to guarantee quality assurance for their customers, Shell Lubricants became an official APQP4Wind Company Member at the end of 2021. Since then, Shell has enjoyed the conversations with APQP4Wind colleagues and visibility within the wind industry. By joining the APQP4Wind Community, they also look forward to networking with other industry experts and learning new ways to further improve quality assurance for their customers.

In return, Shell Lubricants seeks to help improve the APQP4Wind Community’s understanding of proper lubricant manufacturing, handling, and maintenance practices as they offer strong expertise in lubrication knowledge and best practices for maintenance.

Does your company also want to take the lead as an APQP4Wind Company Member and advance your business, career, and the industry like Shell Lubricants?

Get involved and become a vital part of the development of APQP4Wind by signing up for a Company Membership. Find the form on the website or contact the Secretariat at contact@apqp4wind.org.