OEM / Dealer / Service Co.

This page highlights the main features and benefits of the Lube-Shuttle® system if your organization generally fits this profile:

  • Manufacturer, distributor, dealer, or service company related to equipment that requires greasing
  • Grease is applied during manufacturing, PDI, or after-sale service
  • Employees do the greasing; you may have dedicated greasing staff or facilities
  • You may order in bulk
  • You may sell a branded grease product(s) to your dealers or customers

What is Lube-Shuttle®? 

For a full description, go to the 'About' menu on our Home Page and click on Overview.  To learn more about Lube-Shuttle® grease guns click on the Grease Guns link.  To learn more about our main lines of grease, click on the Grease link.  FAQs are answered here.

Background

The grease gun in the current form used most widely in North America was invented in 1916 - over a hundred years ago. There have been very few innovations.  All that's really happened is different styles of gun have been developed.  Grease guns come in manual forms (pistol grip, lever grip), electric (battery-operated), and pneumatic (air driven, usually from a pail or 120 lb. 'keg' of grease). 

One thing that's common for every manual and electric grease gun is the spring and plunger design.  That hasn't changed.  When it's time to change a grease tube, users have to battle with the plunger to get it out, then remove a messy grease cartridge that still has 10-15% of its grease left in it.  That goes in the trash.  Then a new one goes in, full of air that has to be bled from the gun as it's primed.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  Out of a case of grease, at least one will get damaged and go in the garbage.

Because the grease gun isn't fully sealed at the bottom, the base oil separates and leaks out when it's not in use.  Grease and oil gets on everything.  Air exposed to the grease makes it harden.  Greasing is such a hassle that people all-too-frequently ignore the task, resulting in damaged equipment, waste, downtime, and costly repairs. 

This is what we hear all the time: Our grease guns suck. We hate them. They don't work reliably and they're messy. We've tried every grease gun.  Nothing works. Our employees don't do the greasing they should.  They don't care.  They waste a ton of grease.

Many organizations have gone to battery-operated grease guns for their operators to try to help.  But this often results in over-greasing (blowing out seals, wasting grease) and operators still have to deal with the mess of changing a grease tube.

Others have gone to auto-greasers for their equipment.  In controlled environments this can be a successful tactic.  Many auto-greasers are made specifically for Lube-Shuttle® threaded cartridges.  Some have been adapted to use reservoirs instead since Lube-Shuttle® tubes have historically been less common in North America.

The Lube-Shuttle® Format

In most of the rest of the industrialized world, they don't use the double open-ended grease tube like we do in Canada.  They use a Lube-Shuttle® cartridge.

A Lube-Shuttle® grease cartridge is threaded and goes in a Lube-Shuttle® grease gun.  There's no plunger and spring.  The gun uses a vacuum head to 'suck' the grease out of the tube.  It's light and easy to use.  Changing a tube takes about 10 seconds, and creates no mess.  Grease guns come in all the formats you'd expect, including electric (battery-operated) and even a spray greaser for crane booms, wire rope and chains.

Lube-Shuttle® is made by Mato in Germany.  They invented it over 15 years ago and it's become the global standard for grease guns.  Millions of Lube-Shuttle® grease guns are sold around the world every month, and in time, this will be the format used in North America.  Available in the U.S. for the last 8 years, Lube-Shuttle® is now available in Canada too.  The product is sold direct to consumers at www.lube-shuttle.ca.  The company also sells wholesale direct to commercial, industrial, manufacturing and governmental clients.

Go ahead...Google Lube-Shuttle® cartridges.  You'll find every major lubricant manufacturer in the world (like Shell, Mobil, Total, etc.) as well as equipment OEMs (like Deere) selling grease in the Lube-Shuttle® format.

Why is Lube-Shuttle® Better for You?

Here are the main reasons why you're going to want to ditch your current greasing setup and buy Lube-Shuttle®:

  1. No mess.  The threaded cartridge means changing an empty tube is easy and clean.  It won't leak or harden.

  2. Lower cost.  You will use all the grease you buy.  You won't waste 1 in 10 cartridges, and you won't leave behind 10-15% of the grease in the tube when it's "empty".

  3. More uptime.  Your employees will actually do the work they're supposed to do to maintain your equipment.  This will make it last longer and keep running, avoiding downtime and costly repairs.

  4. Employee retention.  If you make greasing less of a chore, your employees will stick with you.

  5. Bulk buying power.  If you buy in bulk, we can help.  Lube-Shuttle® is involved in the grease production process right down to the refinery level.  We can deliver virtually any formulation in any format (tubes, pails, kegs, barrels).  In fact, you may already be buying one of our greases, but with a different label on it.

  6. Flexibility.  Lube-Shuttle® cartridges can be refilled and re-used, usually 6-7 times.  We sell a bulk pump in three different sizes.  For very large orders we can put your particular formulation of grease right in the tube for you at the factory.  Lube-Shuttle® cartridges can be used in auto-greasers with threaded connectors and can be used to bulk fill reservoirs quickly and cleanly.

  7. ESG.  Lube-Shuttle® cartridges use over 99% of the grease in the tube.  The tubes are white virgin plastic #5 polypropylene (PP). In most areas they're recyclable.  Bulk refilling options exist so they can be re-used.

What's Special for OEMs, Dealers & Service Companies

The best way to start with Lube-Shuttle® is to use it in your own facility.  But there's more you can do to leverage it in the following ways:

  1. Custom label Lube-Shuttle® cartridges with your brand.  Sell to your dealer network and direct to consumers. Buy in bulk, earn margins and customer loyalty.
  2. Package a Lube-Shuttle® grease gun with every piece of equipment sold.  Earn margins and customer loyalty.
  3. Reduce warranty claims.  Customers that use Lube-Shuttle® grease guns actually do the work they're supposed to do to grease the equipment.  That means fewer warranty claims and lower costs for OEMs and dealer networks. For service companies, this increases trust and customer loyalty.

Click here for a Deere example (Grease Gard in Lube-Shuttle tube).

Lube-Shuttle® is involved in the grease production process back to the refinery level.  The company is dedicated to grease, does not experience shortages and has ample inventory.  If you're having shortages, now may be the best time to try Lube-Shuttle®.  

Lube-Shuttle® Greases

There are over 40 different kinds of grease sold in the Lube-Shuttle® threaded-cartridge format, but you'll probably only need one of the six sold at www.lube-shuttle.ca.

  1. G200 EP - premium general purpose grease
  2. MoS2 Moly - for heavy equipment
  3. Li400 - one grease for all applications
  4. KH150 - full synthetic for low temperature or wet/salty environments
  5. P100 - polyurea grease for electric motors, corn head drives, etc.
  6. CHP-1250 - chisel paste for hydraulic hammers with 2% copper flake and 10% solids

Greases are competitively priced with comparable grease products.  If you have any doubts about which grease you need or what's equivalent to the one you're using now, use the contact us form on the website to get in touch.  We offer free grease consultations.

Lube-Shuttle® Accessories

Lube-Shuttle® accessories are all as high quality as the grease gun and all made in Germany.  These include:

  • Locking couplers (SafeLOCK) - regular and long shaft
  • Hoses (high burst pressure, abrasion- and kink-resistant materials)
  • Couplers (hardened steel, 4-jaw)

Any type of accessory that you can think of is either for sale on the Lube-Shuttle® website or can be special ordered.  All are made in Germany with high quality materials and built to last.

Demo Kits

We understand it can be challenging to think about changing your whole greasing system to Lube-Shuttle®.  We can help.

We have demo kits to fit all size operations.  This is how it works:  You pay a deposit for whatever equipment you'd like to try.  Our 'one of everything' kit is quite popular - it's about $1,000.  You can keep it for up to 30 days.  All you pay for is the grease.  If you return the equipment you get a full refund.

And yes, discounts are available for clients who make large orders.

---

We try to customize our website content to your particular circumstances and needs.  As you can imagine, there's grease practically everywhere so this can be a bit of a challenge.  If this content isn't right for you or there's something missing that you're curious about, check out the pages for our other main user groups.  You might find what you're looking for.