How did the MULLEROL brand come into existence, how did it established itself in the market, and why is it considered one of the unique adapted brands today? What makes it unique? AutoExpert received answers to these questions on the German company MULLEROL Vertriebs-GmbH.
MULLEROL is a young brand. Anything younger than 10 years is considered young. During this period, the brand develops its product range, establishes partnerships in different countries and regions, gathers feedback from the market and the brand, and builds customer familiarity with the product.
The German company MULLEROL Vertriebs-GmbH from Leipzig, originally known as MWS AutoChemie GmbH, was primarily a trading company - it would order products under its own trademark names from various European factories and sell them around the world. It operated in this form from 2008 to 2018. Over time, the company accumulated significant experience (taking into account that its specialists already had extensive experience in the field of oils and antifreeze even before that), they gained an understanding of which properties, temperatures, approvals, and colors antifreezes were needed in different countries and regions.
The same applies to engine oils. For example, there is a demand for four different positions of 10W-40 engine oils. Each position for the MULLEROL brand was fine-tuned by the company's specialists and marketers according to customer preferences. Of course, for some buyers, especially those from countries with low government control, any 10W-40 oil would suffice. However, for MULLEROL's customers, not all oils are the same, and some parameters such as viscosity index and TBN (total base number) are very important. The normal TBN is around 7 units. MULLEROL always exceeds that, with a minimum of 9. There are no requirements or regulations governing the TBN standard. For example, a well-known company in Asia asked MULLEROL Vertriebs-GmbH to package oil for them with a lower TBN of 2 units to make it cheaper. They, of course, got rejected.
Why is the alkaine base number so important? Poor-quality fuel affects all indicators, including viscosity parameters and alkalinity.
What is the flip side of the TBN increase medal? Rising oil price. But, most importantly, by increasing the amount of alkaline additive, you need to redo the entire package of additives. For example, instead of 12% additives in the finished oil, you will need to make 20 percent. And the oil will increase in cost by approximately 20 percent ...
So, an alkaline number increased within reasonable limits does not harm.
The new MULLEROL product line was designed in 2017. In 2019, their own plant was launched in the German city of Bitterfeld-Wolfen, which today produces antifreezes and bottles absolutely all MULLEROL products.
What was the prerequisite for the emergence of new production facilities? The experience of participating in the trade of various products in all parts of the world for more than 10 years has shown me that in order to build a quality and long-term business: 1) Manufacturer needs to produce only quality products; 2) The experience of attending exhibitions around the world, from the leading «Automechanika» to small regional ones (up to 25 exhibitions per year), shows the owners and management of the company that the combination of two parameters - QUALITY + Made in Germany - guarantees both quality and interest in the brand, and the prospect of development.
The decision to build the plant was made in 2016 together with the decision on a new line.
The plant has been operating efficiently since the beginning of 2020. For three years, due to the established strict rules, the availability of the most modern equipment, full automation - the company has received an impressive growth rate and has not received a single complaint about the quality of the products!
Antifreezes, both for the MULLEROL brand and for third-party customers, are produced, as already mentioned, at our own plant in Bitterfeld-Wolfen. Oils are also packaged here.
MULLEROL brand coverage in the world is more than 20 countries, including China and Indonesia as one of the farthest countries.
In the range of antifreezes, in addition to standard, well-known and popular products, there are also special products: G12 EVO, the promotion of which in Ukraine is just beginning; antifreeze for solar panels, which have a very high boiling point; heavy duty antifreeze which meets even more strict cavitation corrosion requirements, plus added molybdates to carboxylates – a state-of-the-art product for the latest heavy-duty large displacement engines.
The ASF technology, which is announced on the MULLEROL website, is, in fact, a toughened matrix of acceptable parameters and products, as well as their production technologies.In general, many have heard that the color of the oil matters. But what exactly does it mean - few people wondered. In Europe there are color requirements. Not a fact, light oil is good. Often, light oil, like dark oil, is also not liked by the consumer. Therefore, the interval is set.
As a result, MULLEROL believes that when an oil is formulated to THEIR requirements for viscosity index, color and base number, it is the ideal product. Of course, the rest of the parameters comply with all standards.
As for antifreezes, MULLEROL uses the requirements of Volkswagen and the company follows in the wake of it. However, MULLEROL Vertriebs-GmbH has also developed a formula for simply high-quality antifreeze, without regard to the requirements of Volkswagen. It is called Pure Protec. For what? Because there are customers, for example in Africa, who do not need absolutely all the requirements of the automaker, for example, they do not need a product up to -30°C, they just need high-quality antifreeze. Therefore, MULLEROL also offers a very high-quality product, made without checking the requirements of the same VW in terms of additive composition. It will definitely be within the limits according to passport data, it will protect against foaming, protect metals, withstand temperatures, etc. - in general, to work stably. In other words, Pure Protec is its own additive package, which will provide antifreeze passport data almost one-on-one with VW. Why "almost"? Because the requirements of VW are 17 articles, where one of them is just purely marketing - the composition.
Рroduction of antifreezes
We continue our acquaintance with the brand directly at the production site.
The production plant is located in the previously mentioned city of Bitterfeld-Wolfen, in an industrial area where several other industrial enterprises are located.
The first room, with a through passage for a truck, is the acceptance (draining) of raw materials and the issuance of finished products in bulk. In bulk, the company does not sell to many people. Packs up a lot more.
Own filling lines are, in the realities of Europe, is a big and complex investment, it is not “just install filling lines” and start packing. MULLEROL Vertriebs-GmbH has received permission for three years! Because in Germany – there are very strict requirements for environmental protection. The spilled liquid - poisonous ethylene glycol - must not get outside the plant! A hole cannot be drilled in a concrete floor without appropriate sealing and subsequent legalization of this with special authorities. Building a workshop for packing oils and antifreezes, and even more so a plant in Germany, is incredibly difficult! Therefore, packaging capacities in Germany are far from being in surplus. To build a production is also a lot of permits for chemical reactions.
Therefore, if the task is to sell products in tens of thousands of tons per year, business owners think and make their own packaging facilities. And if the volumes are small - it makes no sense. Oils are often produced and immediately packaged. Antifreezes - more often I buy together with the packaging service.The antifreeze production plant is fully automatic. One of the uniqueness of the production in Bitterfeld-Wolfen is that the reception of raw materials, the production of all antifreezes, filling rates and issuance for packaging are controlled by one person! The company claims that there is nothing like this in Europe today. And this is confirmed by professionals from the industry who were on the tour. The main idea of production is a proven, polished technology, the components of which are borrowed from different industries. At the same time - with the maximum level of automatization.
So what is the technological breakthrough declared by this enterprise?
MULLEROL Vertriebs-GmbH experts say that standard technologies comparable in terms of costs, common in other enterprises, make it possible to produce 25 tons of product in 3-4 hours, and in Bitterfeld-Wolfen these 25 tons are produced in an hour and a half! We are talking about mixing technology and integrated quality control technology.
That is the production capacity - 20 tons per hour!
To our question, is there any desire to supply antifreeze to the assembly lines of car manufacturers, we received the answer that there are no plans yet. After all, for this you need to first pass a lot of certifications, which is very expensive.
MULLEROL is in no hurry to even get approvals. Moreover, many German manufacturers, who do not supply to automotive assembly lines, have recently abandoned this. It is believed that today all buyers trust a product made in Germany, and there is no point in making additional costs.
All additive packages for the production of antifreezes are «licked», so to speak. And those five parameters that the line controls in the flow ensure the fulfillment of all other parameters of the product. Automatic sensors constantly read information, and until the product is brought to the required parameters, production will not stop. And the operator cannot do anything about it - he is not able to influence the progress of the process.
All processes are controlled from a single electronic control panel, on the screens of which all current operations are displayed. The recipe, product, quantity is selected and «START» is pressed. The system fully controls both quantitative and qualitative indicators, including control points at the entrance, during production and before serving for packaging.
Drums with additives are placed in containers, from where they are automatically taken by the system using dosing devices. For bulk additive products, there are also automatic machines.
The main mixer with measuring instruments is located on the second floor.
For the preparation of bio-antifreeze, two separate containers-reactors are allocated. Bio-antifreeze is a product that is non-hazardous, non-poisonous and can be used in food production, land cultivation technologies, water transport, etc.
Companies that monitor their reputation, as a rule, are large and well-known - poure biologically neutral antifreezes into any water transport.
Or, for example, in London, all city branded buses use only eco-antifreeze. It’s their feature.
Sprayers in agricultural production for the winter are filled with antifreeze so that they do not break in frost, because you can’t completely remove chemicals from the system (you can’t blow them out) - you can only replace them with an environmentally neutral antifreeze.
Bio-antifreeze technologies in MULLEROL are proprietary, developed on the basis of glycerols, which have special parameters. The company came to this by accident and saw an additional market. This product is more expensive than MEG, but it is environmentally friendly. In food production, in particular and of course, products based on monoethylene glycol are completely unacceptable.
All raw materials are used only European. The water treatment system is reverse osmosis, a very powerful unit.
Two packing lines for antifreezes, oils and other chemical products are automatic. By standard - sealing, packing in boxes, pallet wrapper and - to the warehouse of finished products.
Oil production
autoExpert also visited this German production facility – modern, technologically advanced, one of the newest, if not the newest in Germany... A separate detailed story will be devoted to it. Now I want to say only the main conclusion: it is more difficult to produce bad oils in Germany than good ones. Because:
1. It is impossible to launch a manufacturing enterprise without completing something, or doing it contrary to the requirements of the country - the trendsetter in automotive fashion.
2. The control over the quality of the produced oil or any other product is carried out not only by the laboratory of the enterprise, but also by any competitor who has bought the product in retail and handed it over to an independent laboratory. If not everything is ok, reputational losses and heavy fines cannot be avoided.
That is why the three magic words "made in Germany" are so highly valued in the world.
Oleksander Kelm
information agency autoExpert-Consulting
Kyiv - Leipzig - Bitterfeld-Wolfen – Kyiv
Distributor of MULLEROL in Malaysia
