Originally Posted By: userfriendly
Does Schaeffer produce their own base stock and additive packages,
or do they buy them off the shelf?
It seems to me that there are only a handful of synthetic capable lube plants in the USA,
and fewer additive sources.
That has me thinking that their product is on par with Wally World, except three times the cost.
Take any two certified CJ-4 10W30 or 15W40s, and prove that one is better than the other.
They buy their base oil like any other blender. Can't see why that is a bad thing. Ford buys valves for their engines from Lear as just one of thousands of examples. But Schaeffer does tweak their add packs and base oil mix to match what they want to do, just like anyone else. They do get their base add packs from traditional sources like Infineum, and of course, the add pack has to meet the spec they are blending the oil for. But there are variations they can make in house that will not take it out of the spec.
Fact remains, they have been at this game longer than anyone else in N. America, since 1839, and have been listed as one of the top 500 most technologically advanced companies in America. And even Shell and others buy some products from Schaeffer that better meet customer demand than what they produce. Shell even tried to buy out Schaeffer a few years ago to control the game. But the Schaeffer family put the company in trust, so it can't be bought. So Shell has to buy what it wants from Schaeffer. On a tour of the Schaeffer facilities about a year ago, a personal tour for the wife and I done by John Schaeffer Shields, I watched them making stuff for Shell. And there was some stuff they were making for Mobil also. Can't recall what it was. Just because they get a lot of what they blend from others sources, doesn't mean they don't know how to put it together to make a great product. No motor oil in the country is exclusively in house produced from base oil thru add pack. That would not make business sense anyway. If someone is already making some components you need, then why waste R&D time to reinvent the wheel, so to speak.