Guide to Buying FUCHS Farm Machinery Lubricants

FUCHS Farm Machinery Lubricants: Made in Australia, for Australia

With an Australian lineage stretching back to 1900, it should come as no surprise that FUCHS Lubricants Australasia today remains the only major lubricants company to still manufacture products locally - including its specialised range of farm machinery lubes.

Starting out at the turn of the century as Fred Kidd & Co in Sydney, the current entity has its true origins in The Steel Improvement Company, which was founded in 1911 by metallurgist Claude A. Stewart and commenced lubricants manufacturing in 1948 when it established a laboratory and production facility in Adelaide to service Holden and Chrysler with drawing oils, stamping oils and heat treatment salts.

The Steel Improvement Company was purchased by Beat Altermatt in 1979; and its headquarters shifted to Melbourne. FUCHS Gmbh of Mannheim in south-west Germany bought 40 per cent of the business in 1980 and moved to full ownership in 1987.

A global company with German roots, the FUCHS Group currently has more than 5,700 employees and in excess of 10,000 customers worldwide, and is the leading independent supplier of lubricants to a raft of key industries, including automotive, mining and exploration, agriculture and forestry, construction, transport, aerospace, power, mechanical engineering, and steel, cement, food and glass manufacturing.

FUCHS opened a regional Lubrication Laboratory and Technical Centre in 2011

FUCHS Farm Machinery Lubricants: Local Manufacturing

More than 120 years on, FUCHS Lubricants Australasia continues to manufacture locally – and at scale.

After building and commissioning a state-of-the-art grease plant in Melbourne in 2009, and opening a regional Lubrication Laboratory and Technical Centre in 2011, in February 2018 it opened the doors of a 25,000-square-metre purpose-built plant in Beresfield, about 120km north-northeast of Sydney, to support business growth and customer service.

Since 1979 FUCHS had operated from a site in Wickham, Newcastle, and had been a major supplier of oil and lubricant products to customers in the mining, commercial transport, agricultural sectors in the local area.

However, with the face of Newcastle rapidly changing and the limited capacity for growth at the old site, the 9,000-square-metre site was no longer adequate. Hence the search for a new home began.

With a global strategy focussed on customers, FUCHS Group chairman Stefan Fuchs says the company is investing in new plants around the world as part of its commitment to be close to the customer.

“Australia is an important market for FUCHS and this is why we have invested in the new plant at Beresfield,” he says.

“It took some time to find the location at Beresfield because when you’re talking about a 50-year plus investment plan, there was a lot to be considered.

“We were able to buy a piece of land that catered to our specific needs and allowed for major growth in the future. The Beresfield plant is located at the junction of the Pacific and New England Highways and offers good access to major transport routes to New South Wales and Queensland.”

FUCHS's new Beresfield facility allows it to increase the products and services it offers to customers

FUCHS Lubricants (Australasia) managing director Wayne Hoiles notes that while many of its competitors are moving overseas and are operating under an import model, “that’s not our strategy”.

“We need to have local infrastructure that can handle the requirements of Australia and New Zealand, so we are investing in infrastructure to provide a better service to our customers,” he says.

FUCHS is the only major lubricants company to still manufacture products in Australia, and while that means the company is positioned to respond to the immediate needs of its customer, particularly in emergency situations, it also means jobs for Australians. Over 95 per cent of its products are made locally.

“We employ around 30 personnel in Newcastle, and as our company grows so will the employment opportunities for local residents, particularly in our warehouse and maintenance areas,” Hoiles says.

“Beresfield will continue to house a range of our business functions including lubricant manufacturing, storage of bulk raw material, warehousing of finished product, a laboratory, and our sales and customer service department.”

Hoiles also explains, “We spent around seven years planning the design of the new building and conducting significant consultations with our global counterparts; then it took 18 months to complete the construction.

“We looked closely at FUCHS’s other purpose-built plants such as Yingkou in China and Kaluga in Russia to create a facility that could truly meet our requirements.

“Our new site at Beresfield will allow us to increase the products and services we offer to our customers in this area as well as continue to distribute our products to other parts of Australia such as Queensland and Western Australia.”

To ensure the plant has the capacity to grow with the business, Beresfield has been built in a two-stage process, and it is upgradable at multiple levels.

“We can increase the capacity of the plant at any point in time, and there is already space available for us to add new tanks or equipment along with an area that can double our warehouse space in the future,” Hoiles says.

FUCHS is the only major lubricants company to still manufacture products in Australia

FUCHS Farm Machinery Lubricants: Environmental Sustainablilty

Keeping in line with its core values, FUCHS’s new Beresfield plant features a host of environmental and sustainable features. The plant has also been built using high-quality materials and cutting-edge technology.

With respect to sustainability, FUCHS Lubricants Australasia is a CO2 neutral (gate-to-gate) certified company for Scope 1-2 and selected Scope 3 emissions for 2020. And with 155-kilowatt solar panels, 25-30 per cent of the total energy consumption at Beresfield manufacturing site is covered by electricity it generates itself thanks to the solar installation.

Beresfield features also include:

• Full bunding so the site can contain any spillage

• Foam sprinkler system to fully protect the site

• 1.3 million litres of fire water stored on-site

• Purpose-designed traffic flow system 

• More than nine kilometres of stainless steel tubing designed to food-grade standards to move lubricants around the site

• 300-square-metre laboratory where more than 500 products will be blended and produced.

The Beresfield facility has over nine km of stainless steel tubing designed to food-grade standards to move lubricants around the site

FUCHS Farm Machinery Lubricants: Supporting Local Industry

Hoiles also points out that construction of Beresfield incorporated a large portion of Australian content which provided employment for Australians.

“We chose local builder ATB Morton to carry out the construction, and they employed Australian staff and used many Australian-made materials in the building process,” he says.

“In addition, the tanks for our new tank farms were manufactured in Shepparton, Victoria, and the conveyor systems were built in Echuca, Victoria.”

A second, more recent, example of FUCHS’s Australian connection is its acquisition of Nulon Products Australia, a move company executives say will create opportunities for both brands.

Hoiles says many of its competitors were moving overseas and operating under an import model but it wasn't the FUCHS strategy.

FUCHS is the only major lubricants company manufacturing lubricants, grease, coolants and additives in Australia and besides serving customers it also means jobs for Australians, he says.

FUCHS has been active in the agricultural lubricant market for more than 60 years, both as an OEM for machine manufacturers and in the field of workshop services. Its innovative lubricants secure maximum operational reliability of all agricultural units – from engines and transmissions, right through to hydraulics in all machines and vehicles.

Click on the following link for more information on FUCHS' range of farm machinery lubricants.