By Tim Sullivan
 
Phillips Petroleum Co. has made its stable of motor oils a little less crowded by consolidating the Kendall brands into a single product line.
 
Officials said product lines were integrated to make operations more efficient and that they will now pitch Kendall GT-1 oils to racing teams and average motorists, alike.
 
“It is somewhat of an effort to straddle the fence,” said Steve Tarbox, product team manager for the Lubricants Division of Phillips 66 Co. “GT-1 is going to be economical enough for people who want an everyday oil but it is also going to provide upscale performance for those who want it.”
 
Phillips, of Bartlesville, Okla., has a large family of motor oil brands thanks to a series of acquisitions. It bought Tosco Corp. last year, not long after Tosco’s 76 Lubricants acquired the Kendall business from Sunoco. Phillips already had its own brand, Trop-Arctic.
 
The consolidation of Kendall lines eliminates the Superb, Victory and Elite names. Superb, for example, had been slotted as Kendall’s standard motor oil, whereas GT-1 was marketed as a high-performance product developed on race tracks and drag strips. Kendall customers will still have formula options, as GT-1 will include products made from mineral oil, synthetic blend and full synthetic base stocks.
 
Tarbox said the streamlining is a natural step in the process of meshing various brand names into one business.
 
“It’s all about SKUs,” he said. “Whether you’re talking about inventory, manufacturing, supply logistics – whatever – it’s a struggle to maintain so many product lines because you only have a finite amount of storage capacity.”
 
He also allowed that Phillips may take similar actions in the future with some of its other brands.
 
“Obviously, we have our eyes on ways to make the business more efficient,” he said. “There may be changes in the future but it’s premature to say what they might be.”