Cross Packaging

In 1999, Cross Oil Refining & Marketing, Inc., an Arkansas based refiner of napthenic process oils and lubricants, began searching for a downstream blending and packaging company to serve as a guaranteed outlet for the refinery’s base oils.  That search was concluded in 2000 when Unimark Oil Company was founded with the purchase of the assets of the Gard Corporation in Kansas City, Kansas.   Gard was a well known privately owned blender and packager of automotive, industrial and military lubricants doing business throughout the Midwest. 

The new company was started as an LLC and named Unimark Oil Company, an acronym for UNIon County MARKeting, the Arkansas county in which Cross Oil is located.  Unimark was totally acquired by Cross Oil in 2002 and now operates as a separate division.

To complement the Gard Brand , the Xtreme Brand of lubricants was developed in 2001 and now comprises a complete line of automotive and industrial lubricants including passenger car and heavy duty engine oils, transmission fluids, hydraulic oils, tractor transmission fluids, gear oils and functional fluids.  All products are blended to current API and SAE specifications and carefully controlled by the Cross ISO 9001 certified laboratory.

Cross Packaging specializes in producing finished lubricants using napthenic base oils directly from the Cross refinery.  Typical products would be bar & chain oil, mid viscosity index R&O and AW hydraulic oils, tractor fluids, GL-1 and GL-4 gear oils, mild-detergent motors oils and Type A transmission fluid.  A full line of API licensed parafinnic oils is also produced.

In 2002, construction of a second plant was begun at the refinery in south Arkansas.  Since initial construction, the plant has been expanded four times and currently comprises over 200,000 sq. ft. of warehouse and manufacturing space.  A 120,000 sq. ft., fully racked warehouse adjoining the packaging plant was completed in April 2008.   The new warehouse will allow for a major upgrade of quart motor oil packaging equipment and total automation of the line.  A fifth expansion of the packaging tank farm will follow in Summer 2008.

 When all projects are completed, the Arkansas plant  will operate two high speed pail filling lines, a drum line, a fully automated, high speed quart motor oil line, a twelve head fully automated in-line filling line for sizes ranging from 2.6 oz. to 2 gallons,  a separate gallon filling line and and a single station utility filling line.  The filling lines will be supported by a two million gallon tank farm plus direct pipelines to the adjacent Cross Refinery.

The original Gard plant in Kansas City remains fully operational and packages sizes ranging from 2 gallons to bulk tankers.  This plant continues to serve the Midwest with windshield washer products plus bulk and packaged oil products ranging from conventional motor oils to synthetic blends and full synthetics.  The Kansas City plant blends the full range of Cross products which includes hydraulic oils, gear oils, tractor fluids, ATF,  heavy-duty and passenger car engine oils, 2-cycle oils, bar and chain oils and a wide variety of industrial oils.

                                                               
GARD LUBRICANTS, KANSAS CITY             EXTREME HEAT,   EXTREME COLD,     PROTECTION