Jack Smith Fuels—Serving Tilbury with Fuels & Equipment since 1970

Jack Smith Fuels was established by Jack Smith on April 15, 1970 in Tilbury, Ontario. Jack Smith Fuels was the branded distributor of Esso line fuel and lubricants for the Tilbury area. Jack started with a single 1965 Ford fuel delivery truck and a pickup truck and slowly established a reputation for honesty and dependability in the Tilbury area.

In 1981 the Comber and Leamington areas were merged with Tilbury. This new footprint allowed Jack Smith Fuels to move farther into Essex County. In 1988, Jack Smith Fuels purchased Rowberry Fuels which opened the door to the Windsor, Chatham-Kent and surrounding markets.

In 1998, Jack's son, Mark Smith entered the business full-time. Mark initially concentrated on the lubricant side of the business. At this time Jack Smith Fuels only dealt with prepackaged lubricant products. Mark decided the best direction the company could take was to start bringing in the main products in bulk. This allowed Jack Smith Fuels to give its customers better options on delivery time; they now didn't have to wait a week or more for their deliveries and he could offer them better pricing on these bulk products. Initially, the bulk products where stored in 1000-gallon tanks and delivered with a conventional tanker.

At first this served the purpose but as the operation grew and the number of products continued to increase, tanks no longer appeared the optimal storage system. Also without dedicated compartments on the truck, there was always the possibility of cross-contamination of products. Mark's solution was to move the storage from tanks to 1100-litre steel totes and in 2004 Jack Smith Fuels purchased over 320 totes to store bulk products. Now three times the amount of product could be stored in the same footprint as one tank. Mark then went to work on designing a truck specifically to pump directly from the totes and for specialized products he designed a tote with its own power unit, virtually eliminating the possibility of product cross-contamination. In 2005, Smith Fuels inaugurated an ISO 4406 Cleanliness Plan for all bulk products. Every litre of product is passed through a series of five micron absolute filters prior to storage and each tote, drum or pail is dated and labelled with the manufacturer’s blend number. Allowing every product sold to be traced back to its point of entry and assist the manufacturer should a problem ever arise.

Jack Smith Fuels has continued over the last decade. In 2003, with Mark now overseeing most aspects of the company and looking to the future of the fuel side of the business, he purchased the company's first truck and trailer combination. Jack Smith Fuels was now independent of outside carriers having to supply their fuel. This allowed for tighter control on fuel prices. With growth still in sight and the need for more capacity, Jack Smith Fuels purchased a second tractor trailer combination in 2006 to help serve their customers more effectively.

2008 marked the beginning of Mark taking over the reins of Jack Smith Fuels, allowing Jack a bit more of well-deserved relaxation. Old habits die hard though and Jack is still at work each day bringing a smile and 40 years of knowledge and experience to the operation.

Another 2008 event was that Imperial Oil made their intentions known to close all the properties the branded distributors leased in Ontario. Jack Smith Fuels made the decision to move to Tilbury, Ontario, combining the Windsor and Comber locations under one roof. In 2010, Jack Smith Fuels built its own bulk fuel plant and more than doubled its warehousing operations. The Tilbury move also brought about a change of inventory. Jack Smith Fuels not only provides the Esso/Mobil line of products, but has included Shell, Irving and Lubricor brand names into their inventory. We now provide the same daily service given to Windsor/Essex County to our Chatham/Kent customers as well.

Jack Smith Fuels has always been an active force in the community whether sponsoring a softball association, a county fair or taking part in a local parade. Jack and Mark are not just business men, they are your neighbors. Both live and operate farms in Essex County, staying close to the people and land that they both appreciate and respect.

COMBER BASEBALL ASSOCIATION & COMBER FAIR & PARADE

Jack Smith Fuels touches on every facet of the fuel and lubricant business in southwestern Ontario. Our target is to continue providing the same honest and dependable service first started by Jack Smith. Whether in the delivery of fuels, supplying of lubricants or the installation and maintenance of equipment to all our customers, Jack Smith Fuels is a proud, family owned, Canadian business.