I recently spoke with Ellie Girard of Lubriplate Lubricants Company in Newport, Rhode Island. Their newest product is a marine-oriented fluid.

“We’re offering a hydraulic fluid and a grease, and they’re VGP compliant,” she said. “That’s the Vessel General Permit that was issued by the EPA of the United States, so they’re both biodegradable products—so it doesn’t cause a sheen in the water.”

Girard said that the company is known for its food grade lubricants.

“That means lubricants for food and beverage processors, greases, oil, synthetic, mineral-oil based for that industry—that is where we place a lot of our focus. [We also get into] greases for bearings and things like that, or electro-coated bearings. We have poly-urea greases and similar products for any type of bearing,” she said.

Girard feels that 2016 has been treating the company well, at least in the U.S.

“I know people said there’s a slump, but the past couple of months have been pretty good, which is good to see, and I guess we’re following what economists are saying—that’s [the economy is] going to rebound a little bit, so that’s going to be exciting. A big thing for us is the food and beverage lubricant always helps us because people always need to eat and they need to drink! It’s a good business for us to be in and why we really promote the food and beverage lubricants.”