Where we come from

Verus is the lubricants arm of Chematek, founded in 1978 and based at San Vittore Olona, half an hour out of Milan.

Chematek's main business isn't oil. It's designing and building process plant for refineries and the chemical industry. That's an odd place for a lubricant brand to come from, and it's the reason any of this is worth saying out loud. Verus was put together by engineers who build refineries rather than by a brand team who went shopping for a blend.

What that changes

The formulation and the process sit in the same conversation. Choosing an additive package is one job. Knowing how it behaves in a real blend, at real temperature, through real pumps and filters, is a different job, and it's where a lot of good formulations come unstuck.

Control across the chain. Formulation, blending, packaging and logistics are managed end to end rather than passed between suppliers who've never spoken. Two things come out of that which a buyer can feel. You can trace a batch when someone asks a hard question about it, and you can get a custom blend or an urgent order turned around faster than a multinational's approvals process allows.

We're careful about claims, and there's a framework keeping us careful. Chematek operates under the European Engine Lubricant Quality Management System and follows the ATIEL Code of Practice for developing and marketing lubricants that make ACEA performance claims. So an ACEA claim on a Verus label has an audit trail behind it rather than a formulator's word. It's also why our copy says a product meets the requirements of a standard and saves the word approved for approvals we hold.

Sourced globally, answered locally. Chematek works through regional offices including Italy, Australia, the United States, Singapore, India and China. Materials and technology come from wherever they're best. The person going through your equipment list is in your timezone.

What it means for you

• A technical answer from someone who can pick up the phone to the formulator, instead of a call centre reading the data sheet back to you.

• A claim you can trace to its evidence when your OEM, your auditor or your insurer asks for it.

• An odd requirement gets quoted rather than declined.

• Supply planned regionally, because an oil shortage stops the machine, not only the service.

Verus means true

It's Latin, and we picked it as a standard to be held to, which is a slightly uncomfortable thing to name a company after. It commits us to describing what a product does and stopping there.

Italian engineering earns its place where it means precision and process control. Where it means a flag on a label it's worth nothing at all. Ours comes with a founding date and an audit trail.

Read The Verus Story, or ask us for the evidence behind any claim we make.

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