Safety is at the heart of Puma Energy

Operational safety may sound like a complicated concept, but it is all about protecting the health and safety of your workers.

As an employer, you are legally responsible for both the health and safety of your workers.

Regardless of which industry you operate in, you need to take time to iden­tify the safety risks at your workplace and take appro­priate measures to keep your workers safe.

And there is no holding Puma Energy when it comes to all 360—safety compli­ance in the country.

The Dar es Salaam-based Puma Energy Tanzania (‘Puma’ for short) is one of the leading fuel companies in the country which have seriously taken up the mat­ter.

In this regard, the compa­ny has been addressing the issue of operational safety in its generality, as outlined in the following exclusive interview with the Com­pany’s Lubricant Manager, Prosper Kasenegala.

Q: Why are Puma lubricants considered one of the best choices to make? And why should Tanzanian companies use them?

A: By providing each of our customers with the cor­rect lubricants we will be helping them to optimize their operations, increase efficiency and improve reli­ability. So, they can save and make more money. The company feels proud of its products as it gives no cus­tomer a chance to turn a blind eye to all of its lubes.

Q: Do you think lubricants play a role in operational safety? To what extent can the Puma lubricants ensure the maximum safety of any operation?

A: Of course, it plays. There is no compromise for that as lubricants and oper­ational safety are insep­arable. Subpar lubes are increasingly detrimental to safety and have a domino-ef­fect also on operations. And it is largely for this reason, all Puma’s flagship brands embody all necessary safe­ty—complaint components beyond.

Replying to what extent Puma’s products assure the maximum operational safe­ty, they are “a cut above the rest” taking the example of Puma Synthetic Engine Oils which are high-grade long drain lubricating oils that provide increased engine protection through increased oxidation resist­ance.

Q: Where are most of your lubricants applied?

A: Our top-quality prod­ucts are designed to cater for two segments; custom­er-focused solutions which serve the entire automotive customers (cars, trucks, and motorcycles) and industri­al-focused solutions which, with our unique world-beat­ing technology at the heart of our ability to deliver real benefits for industries, we offer measurable business benefits such as significant cost savings.

Q: How best can your prod­ucts comply with safety aspect anyway?

A: HPL (High Perfor­mance Lubricant) is an integrated lubrication solu­tion from Puma lubricants aiming at reducing costs from our customers while acquiring best performance of machines in terms of lubrication.

Recent studies show that only 3 per cent of procure­ment budget is spent on pur­chasing lubricants (which is very little and nobody cares). However, 67-70 per cent of procurement budget is spent on purchasing var­ious spare parts after the previous components had been affected by poor lubri­cations (HPL gives a solu­tion to this dilemma, by solving the 67-70% spent).

Puma Energy offers HPL to customers, especially B2B ones in mining, manu­facturing, construction and agriculture by providing high performance gear oils and HD greases (for pins and bushes).

Q: How has safety compli­ance returned favor to your business?

A: Our massive invest­ment in operational safety has a consummate payback to the company. The perfect blend of quality and safety in our lubricants plays a key role in customers’ retention and securing new markets.

Q: What could be the nota­ble achievement you hold in high esteem in the area of operational safety?

A: Our customers have reported few cases of occu­pational accidents after having used our high profile lubricants, which are up for grabs in the market.

In a similar fashion, the company has tracked and now boasts a huge success following reduced road accidents after using our remarkable brands.

Before automobiles start­ed to consume our lubes, it was a big problem because they had to get accustomed to making substandard options available in the market.

Q: Was there any serious staff accident recently reported? If there was, what was the company’s best approach towards it?

A: An accident is an unpre­dictable occurrence and, for that reason, it is hard for us to completely stop it, but we would rather play our role in reducing its impact.

At Puma, for over the past two years, we have not recorded serious road acci­dents, but weren’t either spared from near-misses.

However, I would say, the tally of such incidences is expected to go down, with increased safety measures in our core operations being awaited to be put in place.

Q: How is the market of lubricants in Tanzania now days?

A: Tanzania’s lubricant market mainly compris­es automotive, industrial and mining industries, but automotive dominates. The country is surrounded by five landlocked countries; therefore, automotive lubri­cants have a larger market.

The other sectors’ key players are of the views that the lubricants market is healthy in Tanzania, add­ing that competition is stiff when it comes to the auto­motive sector.

There are always chances for its elevation in the midst of substandard lubes and the counterfeiting of popu­lar brands as that has been the major challenge facing the sector.

Q: Where does Puma expect to be in the five years to come?

A: We focus on achieving operational safety excel­lence, improving the man­agement and control of existing assets, streamlin­ing costs and improving our value proposition to cus­tomers.

Nonetheless, the energy firm sees itself traversing the threshold of operational safety in the country where the matter still remains a vexed question.

Q: Which mark do you really wish to leave behind?

A: This is a very good question. As a company, we strive to be the best safe­ty-compliant fuel supplier in the market.