STLE Certification: What Does It Mean?
Dr. Robert M. Gresham, Contributing Editor | TLT Commentary June 2012
In a word—trust. You can trust that a STLE-certified individual is qualified to handle your lubrication program.
KEY CONCEPTS
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STLE offers four industry certification programs: CLS, OMA I and II and CMFS.
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An in-depth industry certification program shouldn’t be confused with a one- or two-day certificate program.
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STLE’s programs are overseen by a certification board that assures the programs are consistent with NOCA and ISO best practices.
THE LAST FEW YEARS HAVE BEEN A PRETTY ROUGH TIME FOR PEOPLE IN U.S. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. Despite the typical recessionary pressures to cut costs and increase market share, quality from design to final assembly cannot suffer. Indeed, recessionary pressures highlight the need for maintaining high quality standards to remain competitive.
Manufacturers for such OEM industries as automotive, agricultural, military, engine (gasoline, diesel and gas turbine), aerospace and the parts suppliers to these companies frequently turn to such outside vendors as chemical management suppliers, outside test laboratories and consultants to keep employee rolls and capital investment to a minimum. In addition, they need to mitigate risk and demand top quality performance by assuring their own employees and the people they hire from the outside have the best, most qualified people on site—and back in the laboratory supporting their work.
How do users of lubricants, metalworking fluids, test labs and consultants know that their employees or suppliers are really competent to do the job correctly? Worse yet, how many mistakes (sometimes very costly mistakes) have to be made before they know whether their own employees, chemical managers or consultants should be The Problem Solver— the go-to person to whom they can trust their operations and capital equipment? The answer is much easier if the in-house problem solver or the supplier can demonstrate that they have earned the appropriate STLE certification documenting their competency in the needed skills, experience and insight.
CERTIFICATE VERSUS CERTIFICATION
What is certification? The certification process is different from the many certificate programs that exist. With certificates, an individual most often takes a classroom or online course and then takes a test on the material presented. The certificate verifies that the individual took the course and passed the test. This is not a certification.
A true certification seeks to measure whether the individual has the experience, insight and factual knowledge to solve real-world problems. Thus, certified individuals usually have not only taken many courses and read many books on the subject but also have spent a number of years in a manufacturing operation gaining real-world experience and honing their problem-solving skills. Thus, in a true certification, an individual demonstrates this needed experience and proves his knowledge and problem-solving capability through a rigorous examination process. This describes STLE’s Certified Lubrication Specialist (CLS), Oil Monitoring Analyst (OMA I or II) and Certified Metalworking Fluids Specialist (CMFS) certifications.
What are these certifications?
The CMFS certifies the individual to evaluate and select the proper MWFs to use, as well as the appropriate fluid control measures. This individual controls inventories, conducts surveys, trains operating personnel, recommends operating parameters and fluid-handling equipment and troubleshoots MWF applications on the shop floor. Facilitating effective communication between fluid suppliers, end-users, peers and other stakeholders is an essential function of a CMFS. This individual has a basic knowledge of fluid chemistry, machining processes, tooling, filtration, metallurgy and waste treatment.
OMA I certifies the individual who conducts first-echelon oil monitoring and analysis as it applies to lubrication analysis and machine condition monitoring. The emphasis of this exam is the routine operation of an oil analysis program.
OMA II certifies the individual who conducts second-echelon oil monitoring and analysis, as it applies to lubrication analysis and machine condition monitoring. The emphasis of this exam is on the design, implementation, control and management of an oil analysis program.
The CLS certifies the individual who might be designated a lubrication engineer by his or her employer. This is an individual who evaluates and selects the proper lubricants to use. He or she assists in the purchasing and specifying of these products, conducts lube surveys, trains lubrication personnel and establishes lube frequencies on all equipment. This individual also designs and modifies lube-dispensing equipment, develops quality assurance and used lubricant analysis programs, oversees waste control and, of course, troubleshoots lubrication problems on the shop floor.
Can the industry trust STLE’s certifications? STLE’s certification programs are overseen by a certification board that assures the programs are uniformly administered consistent with the best certification practices as recognized by the National Organization for Competency Assurance and by ISO 17024. These best practices include such issues as the establishment of a committee of industry-recognized subject matter experts who rigorously define the scope, requirements and skills of a typical certification holder. Committee members define a body of knowledge of peer-reviewed documents from which examination questions are drawn where possible. They assure that the examination process is fair, equitable and confidential. Further, through the help of a qualified psychometrician, the committee assures a process of continuous improvement of the individual examination questions and maintains a process for assuring the reliability and validity of the examination.
STLE’s certification programs measure and document knowledge, experience, insight and competency in the field. As a measure of this competency,
Lubes ‘N’ Greases magazine has documented, through its salary surveys, that STLE certification holders command higher salaries. Thus, STLE’s certification programs provide a popular industry service by assuring users of lubricants, MWFs, test labs and consultants that they can have confidence that their employees or suppliers are truly competent to do the job correctly.
Bob Gresham is STLE’s director of professional development. You can reach him at rgresham@stle.org.