Heilbronn, Germany – July 2025 – Interlub, a leading supplier of high-performance specialty lubricants for critical machinery, has announced the opening of its Innovation Hub Europe in Heilbronn, Germany. The new hub is designed to strengthen partnerships with industrial OEMs—particularly those in sectors such as steel production, glass forming, packaging automation, and specialized manufacturing systems—through applied R&D, certified training, and after-sales service alignment across Latin America. For more than 40 years, Interlub has helped end users increase equipment reliability, reduce maintenance costs, and meet strict environmental and performance standards. With a growing number of OEMs looking to scale their presence in the Americas, Interlub now offers five special OEM services to collaborate more strategically.
As OEMs face increasing pressure to deliver extended equipment uptime, meet regional compliance standards, and improve environmental performance, strategic lubrication solutions have become essential to sustaining competitiveness. Interlub supports more than 3,500 industrial customers in 43 countries, with dominant market share in specialized applications such as continuous casting, hot-rolling mills, and glass-forming, etc. The company is also a pioneer in high-performance biodegradable lubricants, nano-technology-enhanced solutions for extreme industrial environments and water-based lubricants for aluminum extrusion amongst others.
“OEM engineering teams are masters of mechanical precision. At Interlub, our specialty is engineering the invisible — formulating lubrication solutions that keep that precision alive in the real world. We don’t compete with what OEMs do best — we complement it. By combining their design expertise with our field-tested formulations and on-the-ground experience in Latin America, we co-create systems that perform better, last longer, and strengthen customer trust.”
— Miguel Preciado, Director for New Product Development
To meet the evolving needs of OEMs expanding into complex and performance-critical regions like Latin America, Interlub has structured its partnership model around five strategic collaboration tracks. These tracks, summarized under the acronym L.U.B.E.S., are designed to enhance the OEM’s value proposition at every stage — from machine design to aftermarket service and technical training. Each track can be activated independently or integrated into long-term co-development agreements.
“We’re not here to pitch a product. We’re here to co-engineer better business outcomes for European OEM’s and their customers in Latin America — and reduce friction in every sense of the word.”
— Daniel Pandza, Global Director of Innovation Partnerships, Interlub
EXAMPLES
Interlub helps global OEM´s who are designing next-generation equipment for the mining and glass industries partnered with Interlub to:
- Co-develop biodegradable, high-performance lubricants for Metso’s open gears and Bottero’s IS machines.
- Interlub delivered to Primetal’s, SMS Group and Danieli’s OEM customer’s maintenance teams in Mexico and Brasil training workshops in Plant Reliability and ICML 55 (R) Standards and Principles.
- OEM’s and specialty solutions providers such as Pennine, DuraTemp, Pro-Sight, oder Electroglass leverage Interlub’s LATAM-based lubrication consultants to improve after-sales presence and drive new revenue streams.
“OEMs today are not just building machines — they’re building reputations. Our Strategic Partnership framework allows them to deliver reliability, precision, and trust to their customers at every touchpoint. This new hub in Heilbronn is not a sales office — it’s a collaboration platform.”
— Rene Freudenberg, CEO Interlub Group
FOR OEM PARTNERSHIPS
OEMs interested in collaborative development, field deployment, or training partnerships can contact: 📧 mila.ponte@interlub.com 🌐 www.interlub.com
ABOUT INTERLUB
Interlub is a pioneer in lubrication engineering for critical applications in steel, mining, packaging, glass, and food industries in the Americas. With over 40 years of experience, its specialty lubricants and engineering services help industrial operations extend equipment life, improve productivity, and reduce environmental impact in plants around the world.