TEXACO BEGINS VAN CHECKS OF PRODUCT QUALITY

Texaco Refining & Marketing Inc. (TRMI) has unveiled its first motor fuel quality assurance van in Denver. Three such vans ultimately will serve all or parts of a 12 state area. They will be equipped to perform tests for motor fuel quality standards set by various governments as well as other quality standards set by Texaco. John W. McHale, vice-president of TRMI's central region, said additional equipment is on order to enable checking of octane ratings.

Sept. 9, 1991

2 min read

Texaco Refining & Marketing Inc. (TRMI) has unveiled its first motor fuel quality assurance van in Denver.

Three such vans ultimately will serve all or parts of a 12 state area. They will be equipped to perform tests for motor fuel quality standards set by various governments as well as other quality standards set by Texaco.

John W. McHale, vice-president of TRMI's central region, said additional equipment is on order to enable checking of octane ratings.

Texaco currently uses contractors to take periodic samples of its products from delivery terminals and customers' storage. Samples are sent to an independent laboratory in San Antonio. However, test results usually are not available for about 3 weeks.

With the new quality assurance vans, test results will be available within 1 hr. So possible problems with substandard products can be solved much faster.

In addition to test equipment, each van will carry a cellular telephone, fax machine, and a personal computer that will store and transmit sample data to Texaco's research laboratory in Beacon, N.Y.

The first of three quality assurance vans will be headquartered in Denver and conduct product monitoring tests in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico. The two other vans, to be stationed in Tulsa and Kansas City, will begin product tests in October in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Oklahoma, northern Arkansas, and West Texas.