For Witham Group’s Managing Director, Nigel Bottom, customer service, quality, and sustainability are his driving force, born out of a love and dedication to supply the best lubricants on the market. CVW finds out more.
This year, Witham Group celebrates its 100th anniversary, and the company shows no signs of resting on its laurels. As well as manufacturing its own range of lubricants called Qualube, the business is developing more environmental ranges such as its award winning Prolan Lubricants – an impressive workshop range made from sheep’s lanolin as opposed to fossil fuels.
It’s also working on exciting new technologies, such as BlendTek. This innovation uses ultrasound and solar energy to blend lubricants faster, reducing energy consumption and creating a carbonneutral blending process.
Witham is also cutting down on its plastic packaging by moving to recycled containers and helping customers with their own environmental challenges. In a relatively new move, it’s also developing a rapidly expanding motorsport division, representing the UK’s top-flight motorsport scene as the official importer and distributor of high-quality Motul automotive products.
But despite the company’s innovative nature there’s one thing that won’t change, its passion for people, quality, and the environment, nurtured over a century of business, as Nigel proudly explains: “Looking after our customers, our teams, and our community, and ensuring all our products are made to the highest standards, will always be at the very heart of what we do, both now, and long into our exciting future ahead.”
Credibility and reputation
In 1991, Witham’s reputation for quality was cemented when it received the Royal Warrant, from Her Majesty the Queen, an official stamp of approval for goods and services supplied. Furthermore, Nigel is a former president of the United Kingdom Lubricant Association (UKLA) and is the current Chair of the Technical Committee within the Union of the European Lubricants Industry (UEIL), the trade association in Europe representing independent businesses in the lubricants industry.
Comprised of 600 lubricants companies across Europe, Witham’s association in the UEIL gives it the credibility to produce lubricants to the very highest technical specifications. “Together we are bigger than the major international global brands,” comments Nigel. “The UEIL gives us free and open access to technical information of new specifications from, for example, the automotive manufacturers.”
Over the years the company has grown and diversified significantly. “I suppose we were very much known and recognised as a specialist agricultural and road haulage lubricant company and everything linked within those industries,” explains Nigel.
Establishing itself in the CV market
Witham Group was bound to become more involved in commercial vehicles as the transport industry has flourished. “Commercial vehicles need lubricants that can tolerate extreme working conditions,” comments Nigel.
“We have a passion to improve a business’ environmental credentials through their lubricant choice and we can help fleet operators lower their CO2 emissions and improve their fuel economy as a starting point.”
He continues: “We already supply a lot of engine oils, brake fluids, hydraulic and gear oils, coolants, and many other lubricants and greases for commercial workshops and garages across the UK. We also supply useful workshop products like cleaning solutions, spill kits, and rust prevention ranges, under our own Witham (Qualube) brand.
“We don’t just sell oils though, we support garages with bulk storage tanks, as well as floor and specialist paints for workshops and the buildings themselves.”
A helping hand
Witham is very much in the business of helping other businesses, Nigel adds. From offering environmental solutions to rationalising lubricants for large fleets with various types of vehicles, the company wants to help mechanics and technicians have the best quality products and know how to offer the best service to their customers.
