The Learning Center is designed to keep our customers and site visitors informed of changes in the ever evolving lubricants and fuel industries. Contained in the learning center, you will find links to industry news articles and websites, definitions of often used terms in the petroleum industry, industry related facts, breaking news, and a Pioneer Distributing blog, there will even be a place to pose questions that will be answered by an industry professional. So, browse at your leisure, but come back often, you never know what might be happening in the Learning Center!

What’s News?

Maintenance, Maintenance, Maintenance

As we move out of winter and into the warm spring and summer months, it is now time to put our focus on vehicle maintenance. In the May edition of Lubes ‘N Greases magazine, industry insider Steve Swedberg examines the importance of vehicle maintenance and how it all starts with the lifeblood of an engine, the oil. Read about the evolution of single and multi-viscosity oils, changes to API specifications and how it has affected engine manufactures.

He even tackles the “should you or shouldn’t you” question regarding synthetic oils. Read the entire article in the May edition of Lubes ‘N Greases magazine. Just click on the link below.

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/4e4aa3ac#/4e4aa3ac/8

What’s That?

Alphabet Soup

Anyone that has spent any amount of time in the petroleum industry has become familiar with the many three, four and five letter association abbreviations. Whether you make the product, sell the product or use the product you have probably seen the letters:

• API – American Petroleum Institute
• ILSAC – International Lubricant Standardization and Approval Committee
• ISO – International Organization of Standardization
• PQIA – Petroleum Quality Institute of America
• NSF – National Science Foundation

API is most commonly recognized and the API stamp of approval is important! The API was formed on March 20, 1919 as a trade organization that was a result of the National War Services Petroleum Committee used in World War I to ensure the timely delivery of petroleum products to the battlefield. After the war, it was determined that there needed to be an association to highlight the importance of the petroleum industry to the country and the public. When the API was formed, it was stated in the original charter that it was established to ensure cooperation on matters of national concern, foster foreign and domestic trade of American petroleum products, to promote general interest in the petroleum industry and to promote the improvement of its members and the advancement of the oil and gas industry. Today, among many other things, the API has become known as a consumer protection and information group. Through its voluntary engine oil licensing program, consumers can now see which oil manufacturer has met the stringent testing and quality requirements of the API.

Pioneer Distributing only works with suppliers that manufacture and market API certified and licensed products. It is part of our quality control program to ensure our customers have the peace of mind to know that someone is watching out for them. All of our products are accompanied by supplier backed warranties and often times far exceed the minimum requirements for certification. It has always been, and always will be, our mission to provide our customers with the highest quality lubricants on the market and back it up with excellent service.

Through the past decades, as the petroleum market evolved, unfortunately, there were manufacturers and marketers that didn’t. These companies, whether knowingly or not, put products on the shelf (or in bulk tanks) that did not meet the current API specifications at the time. This led to the consumer putting product in their vehicles and machinery that wasn’t providing the type of protection they thought they were paying for. Premature engine and component failure followed and the industry began to get a bad reputation based on the unfortunate acts of a small number of companies. However, as with any negative situation, there was something positive that came of it. The Petroleum Quality Institute of America, or PQIA, was formed in the early 2000’s as a streamlined way for consumers to see exactly how good (or bad) the oil on the shelf of their local retail establishment is. The PQIA goes around the country and randomly samples quarts of oil right off of the shelf. They post the results of the test on their website, www.pqiamerica.com, for all to see. This has led to a renewed focus on product quality in the petroleum industry as a whole and the PQIA organization is funded by oil manufacturers and distributors through their monetary contributions.

Pioneer Distributing currently purchases products from two of the PQIA supporting manufacturers, Safety-Kleen and Warren Distribution. By partnering with these companies, Pioneer is again reaffirming its commitment to providing quality products to our customers. Our suppliers use only the highest quality base oils and additive packages on the market. Each product we purchase has been formulated and tested against the most stringent OEM requirements. We know there are many choices for our customers when it comes to choosing an oil distributor. It is that reason that we will continue to focus on the quality of our products and the extremely high level of service that we promise to each and every one of them. To us, our business is our engine and the lifeblood of that engine is our customers.

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Yes, It’s True!

Fun fact:

Human saliva has a boiling point three times that of regular water.

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