Page 30 - Fuels & Lubes International 2014 - Q2

FUELS & LUBES INTERNATIONAL Volume 20 Issue 2 30
In June 2013, STLE releaseda report
with the help of Association Laboratories, Inc.
called Global Challenges: 2013-2016. Some
of the biggest changes predicted to shape the
next few years have to do with the way tech-
nology has changed the business community.
STLE sees itself as a support system for
companies; therefore it needs to anticipate
these changes and then adapt to them and
help its members do the same.
STLE has embraced the idea of a
worldwide marketplace that never closes,
and it understands that face-to-face meetings
and events can no longer be the only
opportunities for people to connect with and
learn from each other. The report mentions
STLE turns 70
By Alison Gaines
the “amazon.com mentality” of consumers,
and STLE understands that as well. Products
or information can be requested at any time
and from anywhere, which has also translated
to other kinds of transactions. STLE’s journals
and magazine can be read digitally as well
as in print, and its twice-monthly webinar
series offers presentations similar to those
at the annual meeting, reaching people who
might not be able to take a week off to attend
the STLE annual meeting. As Heverly notes,
having this wealth of information so easily
accessible “helps [companies] because they
have a better-educated workplace.” Salek
points out that people need to have somewhere
to look up information besides Google or
a commercial supplier. STLE is an advocate
not only for its members but for anyone
who might need to learn about tribology
at some point in their careers.
STLE’s report explains the information
value chain, or the path between those who
produce and those who use information.
Our technological advances add many links
to the chain, and as more un-reviewed
information is added to the chain, it becomes
less reliable. Businesses are not exempt
from being part of this chain, and STLE
takes the responsibility to make sure that
the information it produces is accurate
and trustworthy. People who peer-review
its journals, as well as those who give the
webinars, mostly do so as unpaid volunteers.
STLE is motivated by its passion for objective
information and for giving back to its field.
The society that began 70 years ago as the
American Society for Lubrication Engineers
has made great strides in terms of internation-
al presence: STLE has members in 70 different
countries, and three of the 24 board members
are from outside the United States. At its an-
nual meeting held every May, 20% of attend-
ees and 40% of presenters are from outside the
U.S. STLE sees its digital content as important
to its international relationships. However,
some closer connections are also necessary.
Salek spoke of STLE’s newly formed
advisory councils in Asia, Latin America and
Europe. People serving on these councils
are volunteers, and most of them work for
companies with which STLE has a working
relationship. About running an international
organization, Salek says that it doesn’t work to
simply transport one’s own work to another
country. “You need to say, ‘What do we do that
could be modified to help you?’” The councils
play an important part in answering this
question, he says.
The report also mentions a change other
than advances in technology: advances in age.
In Western Europe and East Asia, for example,
people over 60 are projected to outnumber
their younger working counterparts by the
year 2050. Today, when professionals with
Fuels & Lubes International recently interviewed Rob Heverly,
president of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers
(STLE) for 2013-2014, and Ed Salek, STLE executive director
since 1996. Headquartered in Park Ridge, Ill., near Chicago,
STLE is a membership society with 3,000 individuals and about
200 companies as members. The society is celebrating its 70th
anniversary in 2014. Its mission statement emphasizes a focus
on promoting innovation, improving lubrication technology and
protecting the environment. The conversations with Salek and
Heverly show that relationships with individuals and companies
are the starting point for making a larger impact in the industry.
Rob Heverly
F E A T U R E