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Innovative engine oil packaging

Universal Lubricants re-refines oil products and re-defines packaging parameters for this market segment.

The ECO ULTRA motor oil flexible pouch is space-saving, lightweight, and consumer-alluring as an attractive, “eco-innovative” packaging option in the category.
The ECO ULTRA motor oil flexible pouch is space-saving, lightweight, and consumer-alluring as an attractive, “eco-innovative” packaging option in the category.

Universal Lubricants, LLC, headquartered in Wichita, KS, produces and distributes high-performance lubricants for a wide range of engine and equipment applications. It’s a relatively small company in a sea of well-known motor oil brands. But Universal Lubricants is positioned to make marketing waves by relaunching its re-refined flagship product, ECO ULTRA Synthetic Blend Motor Oil, in heavy-duty, easy-to-pour, flex-pack stand-up pouches—reportedly, the first U.S-produced and marketed motor oil to be packaged in this way. Pouch-packed engine oil products already have earned consumer acceptance is some other countries. Universal Lubricants is pioneering the concept in the U.S.


The ECO ULTRA line of products is made from high-quality re-refined base stocks, blended with premium-performance additives. The company’s vice president of marketing and retail sales Peter Fox states, “Our company is one of America’s few manufacturers and distributors of automotive and industrial lubricants that collects, re-refines, blends, packages, and re-distributes its own oil. It’s a unique and infinitely repeatable process that we are aiming to highlight with equally unique packaging.”


Fox notes, “Engine oil is a specification-driven business. ECO ULTRA meets all Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) specifications and Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) requirements. But just having a strong point of difference isn’t always enough. Even though ECO ULTRA is a high-performance motor oil that is environmentally friendly, sustainable, and renewable, it is an unknown entity to consumers. The challenge, therefore, is getting a new brand identity that can be noticed versus well-established brands.”


Leaping for packaging distinction
For its other products, Universal Lubricants had been using traditional, blow molded, rigid high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles. The company initially intended to use the same type of packaging for the new ECO ULTRA line. But after some discussions with representatives from pouch packaging specialist Star Packaging, Universal Lubricants decided to make a marketing leap and offer the first American motor oil products packaged in flexible, spouted, stand-up pouches in one-quart and 5.1-quart volumes.


Star Packaging Corp. manufactures the ECO ULTRA oil pouches using a 6-mil, 3-layer barrier construction of polyester, nylon, and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). The material is formulated to provide superior burst and seal strengths required for the rigors of oil and other hard-to-hold liquid products. Designed for durability, the packs reportedly have passed drop tests in excess of 20 ft.


Star uses state-of-the-art stand-up pouch packaging equipment from Totani to produce the ECO ULTRA containers at Star’s Tampa, FL plant. In addition to pouch forming in a variety of shapes, sizes, closure types, and handle options, Star also specializes in the printing and laminating of pouches. The Universal Lubricants SUPs are printed in 7 colors, produced on Star’s newest W&H MiraFlex® 10-color flexographic press. Photopolymer printing plates are provided by OEC Graphics.

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