Nothing About This Should Be a Surprise
Most people launching a lubricant brand for the first time are working from an incomplete picture of what the process involves. They know they need a product and a label. They usually have not thought about additive lead times, artwork proofing rounds, or the fact that a conformity certificate for their destination market can take longer to arrange than the production itself.
This page sets out all six stages honestly, including the parts that depend on you rather than on us. Read it before you send your first enquiry and the conversation will be considerably shorter — and the quotation you get back will be considerably more accurate.
- Every stage happens inside our own building except the shipping.
- One point of contact from first enquiry to loaded container.
- Nothing goes into production until you have approved a sample and a printed proof.
From Enquiry to Loaded Container
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01
Enquiry & Scoping
The first conversation is about narrowing, not selling. We want to know which products, which volumes, which packaging and which destination market — because a 5W/30 for Bulgaria and a 5W/30 for Nigeria are not the same formulation, and quoting one when you need the other wastes everybody's time.
We will also ask what you are replacing. If you currently import someone else's product, the technical data sheet and your landed cost tell us more in thirty seconds than a long brief does. If we cannot improve on what you have, we will say so at this stage rather than three months in.
- What we need from you
- Product list, estimated annual volume per SKU, packaging preference, destination market, and the datasheet of any product you are replacing.
- What you receive
- A specification proposal and an indicative price, typically within two working days.
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02
Formulation & Sample
Our laboratory builds the formula around the conditions your market actually presents — fuel sulphur content, ambient temperature range, the age profile of the vehicle parc, and the specification your buyers recognise on a back label. This is where the real difference between manufacturers shows, and where a trader has to phone someone else.
You then receive a physical sample with a full laboratory report covering viscosity at 40 °C and 100 °C, viscosity index, flash point, pour point and density. Test it, send it to your own lab, put it in a vehicle — whatever gives you confidence. Nothing proceeds until you are satisfied.
- What we need from you
- The target specification, or the performance level you want us to reach.
- What you receive
- Physical samples plus a laboratory report per product.
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03
Packaging & Artwork
Two decisions get made here and both affect your margin for years. First the packaging itself: bottle shape and wall thickness, cap type, whether you use an induction seal, carton count and pallet configuration. Second the artwork: our in-house design team prepares label, carton and pallet artwork, either from your existing brand guidelines or from nothing at all.
Destination market labelling rules are applied at this stage, not discovered later — required hazard warnings, language requirements and mandatory statements go into the artwork before anything is printed. You approve a digital proof, and for larger runs a printed proof, before a single label is produced.
- What we need from you
- Brand name, logo files if they exist, colour preferences, and the languages your market requires.
- What you receive
- Packaging specification, digital artwork proof, and pallet configuration data for your warehouse planning.
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04
Production
Blending and filling happen at our plant in Tuzla against the approved formulation and the approved artwork. Every run is tied to a batch record linking it to the formulation, the additive lot and the production date, so a reorder eighteen months from now can be traced back to exactly what you approved.
Production scheduling depends on additive availability and packaging lead time more often than on our own capacity. We give you a firm date with the order confirmation rather than an optimistic one we cannot hold.
- What we need from you
- A signed order confirmation and approved artwork.
- What you receive
- A production schedule with a committed despatch date.
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05
Testing & Documentation
No batch is released without a laboratory result against its own approved specification. If it does not meet spec, it does not ship — it is held, investigated, and reblended or disposed of.
In parallel we prepare the document set for your destination: technical data sheets, safety data sheets in the required language, a certificate of analysis for your specific batch, and a certificate of origin. Where preferential trade applies we issue EUR.1 or ATR movement certificates. Where your market operates a conformity programme — SONCAP, PVoC, COC — that process starts here, and it is usually the longest lead item on the whole project.
- What we need from you
- Consignee details and confirmation of any inspection body your market requires.
- What you receive
- The complete document set, before the container sails rather than after.
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06
Loading & Despatch
Goods are palletised, shrink-wrapped and loaded at Tuzla on your agreed Incoterm — EXW, FOB, CFR, CIF or DAP. Trial orders go out as LCL or part loads; established programmes ship as 20' or 40' FCL.
You receive loading photographs and the full documentation pack by email at despatch. Then the part that matters most: we ask how the product performed in the field, because the second order is where a private label relationship either becomes a business or does not.
- What we need from you
- Your forwarder details if you are buying on FOB or EXW.
- What you receive
- Loading confirmation, photographs, and the complete paperwork.
What Each Stage Realistically Takes
| Stage | Duration | Depends on |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiry to quotation | 1–2 working days | Number of SKUs and how complete your brief is |
| Formulation & sample | On request | Product complexity and specification level |
| Your sample evaluation | Your call | Often the longest stage, and entirely in your hands |
| Artwork & proofing | On request | Number of proof rounds and language requirements |
| Production | On request | Additive and packaging lead times, order size |
| Conformity certification | On request | Destination market — frequently the critical path |
| Loading & despatch | On request | Incoterm and vessel schedule |
Five Things That Make the First Reply Useful
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01
A product list, even a rough one. "Engine oil" is not a product; "5W/30 and 15W/40 in 4 L" is.
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02
An honest annual volume estimate. Under-stating it to seem modest gets you a worse price, not a better one.
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03
Your destination market. It changes the formulation, the labelling and the certification path.
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04
The datasheet of whatever you are replacing, if anything.
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05
Your brand assets if you have them — and if you don't, say so, because we can start from there too.
Process Questions
01. How long does the whole process take, start to finish?
From first enquiry to loaded container, the two variables that dominate are your sample evaluation and, where required, conformity certification for your market. Everything we control sits within a schedule we commit to in writing at order confirmation. Ask us for a realistic timeline for your specific market at quotation stage and we will give you one rather than an encouraging round number.
02. What does it cost to develop a formulation?
Formulation development and sampling are part of the quotation process for genuine enquiries at commercial volumes. Where a project requires extensive development against an unusual specification, we discuss that cost openly before starting rather than absorbing it into a higher unit price you never see.
03. Can I change the formulation after production has started?
Not mid-batch. Once blending has begun the formulation is fixed, which is exactly why stage 02 exists and why we do not push customers to skip it. Changes between production runs are straightforward.
04. Who owns the formulation?
If we develop it, it remains ours and we produce it exclusively for you under the agreed terms. If you arrive with a formulation you already own, it stays yours and we produce to it under contract blending terms. We set this out in writing before production rather than leaving it to assumption.
05. Do I need to visit the plant?
Not required, but recommended for anything beyond a first trial order. Most of our long-standing customers have walked the site in Tuzla, and it tends to shorten every conversation that follows.
06. What if the first order does not sell?
Then something in stage 01 was wrong — usually the specification, the price point or the packaging rather than the product itself. Tell us what happened in the market and we will rework it. A manufacturer who treats a failed first order as your problem alone is not a partner worth having.
You've Read the Process. Start It.
Send us the five things listed above and we will come back with a specification, a packaging proposal and a price — usually within two working days.