February 2017 | Business View Magazine

197 Shell’s Brockville Lubricants Plant is the largest blender and packager of retail passenger-car motor oils in Canada, manufacturing multiple lubricant products resulting in the production of over 1200 finished goods, and the newest facility of its type in North America. The facility is highly automated, using various forms of robotic engineering and advanced process control to manage the complex blending and packaging operations. In 2014 the plant won best performing and most improved plant within Shell’s Lubricants division in North America, placing second globally. This is the result of the facility’s continuous improvement mindset and strong customer focus. Working to Shell’s highest standards of product quality, environmental responsibility and safety, the plant is ISO 14001 and ISO 9001:2008 registered as well as TS16949 certified. The plant is poised for growth through strong operational discipline, employee commitment and engagement, and our ability to meet tailored customer specific requirements. Shell’s Brockville Lubricants Plant is the largest blender and packager of retail passenger-car motor oils in Canada, manufacturing multiple lubricant products resulting in the production of over 1200 finished goods, and the newest facility of its type in North America. Most products produced at the plant bear the Shell, Quaker State and Pennzoil brands, plus many are produced for sale by other companies as private-label products in domestic and international markets. The Quaker State and Pennzoil brands are part of the Shell Lubricants brand portfolio as Shell purchased the Pennzoil-Quaker State Company in 2002. Several years ago the Brockville plant was selected to be the sole North American supplier of AeroShell aviation lubricants, used in small piston-engine aircraft. To manage this work and increased de- mand for Pennzoil and Quaker State brands, a $20 million expansion project was completed in 2007. This work included: n Installing 12 new bulk-storage tanks; n Expanding the railway siding and offloading facility; n Installing a new, highly automated production line with a computer-controlled robotic arm that lifts and places four cases of product at a time. The plant currently produces multiple varieties of lubricants across the majority of industry and transport sectors. The facility is highly automated using various forms of robotic engineering, and advanced process control to manage the complex blending and packaging operations. The plant is also unique in that it employs a socio-tech man- agement process where operators have the ability to self-manage their shifting, day to day operations and business decisions with no direct supervisor on shift. In 2014 the plant won best performing and most improved plant within Shell’s Lubricants division in North America, placing second globally. Working to Shell’s highest standards of product quality, environmental responsibility and safety, the plant is ISO 14001 and ISO 9001:2008 registered as well as TS16949 certified. Brockville Lubric nts Plant 1 9 9 2 - 2 0 1 2 20 Years of Setting the Standard www.shell.ca Railway between Montreal and Toronto. At the same time, the north/south line of the Brock- ville and Ottawa Railway was built to join the timber trade of the Ottawa Valley with the St. Lawrence River shipping route. A tunnel for this railway was dug and blasted underneath the middle of Brockville, becoming the first railway tunnel in Canada. In the 20th century, Brockville’s transportation network of shipping and rail was augmented by road and air. Highway 401, a 515-mile, core route of the National Highway System of Cana- da that extends across the southern part of the Province from the Ontario-Quebec border in the east to the city of Windsor in the west, runs right through the center of town. There is a mu- nicipal airport (Brockville Regional Tackaberry Airport) in the neighboring Elizabethtown-Kit- ley Township, and the Ottawa Macdonald-Cart- ier International Airport is approximately 62 miles away. Because Brockville functions as an inter-mod- al transportation hub–one with quick connec- tions to the U.S., Canada’s biggest trading part- ner – it has always been attractive to industry. Over the years, many major manufacturing firms have located or relocated to Brockville, includ- ing: Proctor & Gamble, Shell Canada, 3M, Black and Decker, Electrolux, Gilbarco, Phillips Cable, Nortel, Coca-Cola, DuPont, and Newterra. “We’ve been very successful in the past in attracting industry. One third of our labor force, in one way or another, is directly aligned to the manufacturing center,” says David Paul, Brock- Brockville, Ontario