STATE OF THE NATION

By E. W. Phares II

I am most pleased to report that our company continues the strong financial accomplishment in the first quarter of 2013. It is continuing the excellent 2012 and is bucking the negative trend not only domestically, but internationally as well. Sales for the first quarter were close to achieving plan and were also approximately $50K ahead of last year. Our consolidated pretax income was quite strong and nicely ahead of plan as well as 2012.

All operations were in the black with the exception of Penetone, which was slightly in the red due to weaker sales than were anticipated. Penetone sales were positive in most areas with continued turnaround in pulp and paper and pipeline. Our sales to the military were weaker than forecasted, however indications are that they are improving as we go forward. We are optimistic about Penetone’s future in 2013 with continued growth in the above areas, as well as strong sales in pulp and paper offshore and continued growth in the pipeline and refineries opportunities.

Sales in Canada continue being extremely strong and nicely ahead of plan in 2012. Our income is also quite strong, not only due to enhanced sales, but also continued reduction in some of our raw materials which dramatically improved our bottom line. Dramatic increases in sales continue in the western tar sand fields.

Petron continues very strong with our sales running well over $300K ahead of last year and close to $250K ahead of plan. Operating income also continues in a very strong mode with income of over $150K ahead in both plan and last year. This excellent record is being accomplished even with the drop off in business in cement, copper, and steel industries. The increased sales are primarily a positive result of our improved product mix in the iron ore segment of our business as well as continued growth offshore primarily in the Far East and South America.

2013 continues to be a strong opportunity for growth for the company, and we are fully expecting that we will be able to set new sales and profit records in spite of the continued poor world economic conditions.

Good job well done, and keep up the outstanding work.

Keeping track

By Roger Wichner

Petron ships millions of pounds annually of Open Gear Lubricants in metal bin tanks to customers throughout the USA, Canada and Mexico. This means we send out 40-60 bins per month and we can only keep up with our customers demand by making sure we get the empties back in a timely fashion.

In order to keep track of all our bin tanks, we recently enhanced our bin tank tracking software system to help manage this activity.  The first item we addressed was improving the individual bin tank information in our system.  For each bin tank we are now able to identify its configuration.  This includes the manufactured type of bin tank, its fill weight, and the type and size of its discharge.  This is vitally important in providing bin tanks to our customers that are compatible with their system use specifications.

We next improved the tracking of bin tanks once they arrived back here at Petron.  Previously bin tanks were only tracked once they were shipped to the customer.  Now all bin tanks are included, even those that have been returned and are currently at Petron.  The system is now able to tell us if a bin tank is empty or full and, if it is full, what finished product it contains.

Petron has over $400,000 invested in bin tanks and knowing where they are and making sure that they are being sent out and returned on a timely basis is important.  The improvements to the bin tank tracking software now allow us to quickly identify those bin tanks that have not been returned within a designated time period.  Reports have been designed so that these outstanding bin tanks can be quickly identified allowing our sales and service personnel to follow-up on the bin tank status and make sure they are returned to Petron.

The improvements we have made to our bin tank tracking system allow us to use our bin tanks more efficiently, improve bin tank turnover and better meet the needs of our customers; thus improving customer satisfaction.  That is a good recipe for ensuring that the annual pounds (and sales) of finished product shipped to our customers will increase from year to year.

Warehouse inauguration

By David Brealey

Petron Corporation distributor for India, Focus Infra Engineering India, PVT, LTD recently held an inauguration for its new warehouse facility located in Bangalore, Karnataka, Southern India.

Mr. John McHale, Executive Vice President, General Manager and David Brealey, International Sales Manager, were guests of honor during the unveiling of the new premises.

Focus Infra Engineering has been our sole distributor in India for the past three years distributing products to the Cement, Steel and Mining sectors.

Focus Infra Engineering have and continued to show considerable commitment allocating resources and manpower to further the Petron cause in India.

Congratulations to Ramachandra Chandrasekar, the Petron representative in India, and the Focus Infra Engineering team on a job well done.

We look forward to a profitable future for both Focus and Petron in the coming years.

Citrikleen CR 34 – A Champion’s Pedigree

By Paul Hayden

By now, most everyone at West Penetone is aware that our company created the citrus degreasing technology as we know it today. There have been many copies of our Citrikleen technology and at West Penetone we have created ever more sophisticated blends of our original Citrikleen. One area that has largely remained a longtime supporter of citrus technology for degreasing is the oil sands of Alberta. Syncrude and Suncor have used Citrikleen for decades, but in the early 2000’s there was a new company knocking at the doors of Citrikleen’s customers.

A new company called Evergreen Solutions created a new degreaser called Megasol. Megasol was hyped as an environmentally friendly citrus degreasing syrup that would and could outperform Citrikleen. Megasol proved just that; it could penetrate faster and clean quicker than Citrikleen. Although the end result was both products performed the task for which they were designed, Megasol got to the finish line first and gained acceptance at Suncor as the product of choice; a bitter pill for Citrikleen and West Penetone.

Over the next couple of years, Megasol gained wide-spread acceptance around Fort McMurray and ate precious market share once enjoyed by Citrikleen. West Penetone’s chemist toiled in the lab to come up with an equivalent or better product but to no avail, Megasol was proving a tough product to equal.

Fast-forward to 2010, Woody at a meeting in Montreal threw down the gauntlet and said enough is enough; develop a new product to compete… period. Our chemist Greg Cebuliak was given the monumental task of developing a product to outperform Megasol. Building on earlier work, Greg used new raws and experimented until Citrikleen CR34 was created; it equaled Megasol in all aspects of performance but was too expensive to compete in the Fort McMurray market.

Greg was told to reduce cost and increase performance to definitely surpass Megasol; not an easy task, but Greg rose to the challenge and Citrikleen CR34 was born.

Citrikleen CR34 surpassed Megasol in every aspect of cleaning performance. Penetration is faster. Degreasing begins immediately upon application. Price is better than or equal to Megasol and customers have commented that Citrikleen CR34 smells better and fumes less than Megasol. Since Citrikleen CR34’s release in mid-2012, West Penetone has taken back many smaller customers and mid-size customers with the performance of Citrikleen CR34 and Citrikleen CR34’s entrance into the marketplace has made Evergreen Solutions take notice.

Back in Fort McMurray, Citrikleen CR34 has been trialed successfully at both Syncrude and Suncor with outstanding results. Syncrude has formally accepted our new product with a SAN number, ‘’Syncrude Approval Number’’ and Suncor is in the testing phase as we write this article. At West Penetone, we are bullish that Citrikleen CR34 will regain its former number 1 position within the marketplace. Citrikleen has a Champion’s Pedigree of Excellence backed by a hard-working and dedicated team.

We’re serving notice to Evergreen Solutions that Megasol’s 15 minutes are up. Move Aside! There’s a new #1 in town!

"That’s not my job" – Not at Penetone

By Bruce Muretta

Penetone has been able to maintain levels of management control for the many functions that are standard for corporate structures of much larger size.  What do I mean?  Good organization requires planning, action and review to stay focused and eliminate wasted time by successful integration of efforts.  For example, Penetone has structures of marketing, selling, customer service, production planning, materials management, inventory control, waste management, regulatory compliance, quality control, product development, financial reporting, credit and collections, human resources, insurance and legal.

All of these functions are managed by six managers:  Mike Bradford – selling and marketing for core, petro-chemical/pipeline, transportation, and military.  Also, Mike is responsible for customer service.

• Mike Nelson – selling and marketing for pulp and paper.
• Phil Figdore – production planning, inventory control, regulatory compliance, ISO, safety and all research and development.  He is greatly assisted by Eversley Brown for all plant operations.
• Charlie Good – Materials management, production planning, quality control and product development.
• Joyce Seccia – financial reporting, credit and collections and information systems design and operation.
• Kim Lyons – human resources, insurance and legal.

I am very fortunate to have these very competent and committed managers to rely upon and advise.  Their knowledge is also available to all in the Penetone-Petron companies.

New Hires

We welcome to West Penetone Denis Martin, Technical Service Rep., Food; Eldar Huseynov, Production Worker, and Melanie Cote, Receptionist.  Rejoining the Petron team is Karl Bruno, Sr. Sales Rep., Cement.

Service Milestones

• 3 Years – Michael Reich, West Penetone, and Fred Bolden, Petron
• 5 Years – Jessica Zarate, Corporate
• 20 Years – Joe DiCera, West Penetone
• 30 Years – Colonel Robertson, Penetone

Congratulations!

Birth Announcement

Jim Brooks (Penetone) and his wife Niki are the proud parents of a baby boy, Evan Andrew, born 2-14-2013, weighing 7 lbs, 4 oz. We wish them much happiness.