Where are we headed?
Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report January 2014
STLE’s Emerging Trends research report seeks the right answers.
The plan calls for STLE to become a global advocate for the technical and economic importance of tribology and lubrication engineering.
JANUARY IS THE TIME when many people are thinking about plans for the coming months. So it’s a good time to share details on an initiative that’s mapping out what could be in the future for the tribology and lubrication engineering field.
STLE’s Emerging Trends research project is one of the first tangible outcomes of our three-year strategic plan, adopted by the board of directors in May 2013. The plan includes five broad goals, one of which calls for the society to become a global advocate for the technical and economic importance of tribology and lubrication engineering. The report will help meet that goal and also will provide a number of other benefits to the society and our members:
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Enhance STLE’s position as a thought leader.
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Establish the society’s role as an advocate for the tribology and lubrication field.
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Help professionals understand and anticipate emerging trends in the field.
The Emerging Trends project is being managed by McKinley Advisors (Washington, D.C.). The McKinley team began work in the summer of 2013 with a target completion date of late April of this year. The first stage in the project consisted of interviews with a dozen thought leaders representing a variety of sectors and backgrounds within the field. The primary goal was to identify high-level categorical trends that can be further analyzed and investigated in future stages of the research.
Results from these leadership interviews provide a glimpse at where the project is headed and just how valuable it can be in terms of meeting the strategic goal. Our experts settled on six broad economic and scientific sectors where tribology and lubrication research could have significant future impact. The six categories are:
1.
Transportation
2.
Medical, health and safety issues
3.
Energy
4.
Manufacturing
5.
Communications and data management
6.
Atomistic processes.
When asked to identify more specific high-level trends in tribology, the thought leaders identified a broad range of trends and technologies that include the familiar, such as composite materials, to the somewhat unusual, such as biomemetics. For those who, like me, might not be immediately familiar with that term, it is the study of the structure and function of biological systems as models for the design and engineering of materials and machines.
As one of our experts said, “I’ve been asked to talk about biomimetics and nothing else. That signifies a trend of me.”
Phase Two of the project, a series of focus groups that probed more deeply into each of the six areas, was completed in late December. The project is now moving into Phase Three, which will provide all STLE members an opportunity to review and comment via an electronic survey.
Once the survey is completed, McKinley moves into the critical phase of analysis and report compilation. Researchers on the team will be consulting with an STLE review panel as they work toward a final report to be issued in May. Presentations of the findings are being planned with key audiences, including corporate members, research funding agencies and local sections.
The expectation is that the Emerging Trends report will become an ongoing project that provides for assessment and refocus of trends over time. How those trends might change is hard to say at this point, but it’s clear that the strategic goal of global advocacy is already guiding STLE in a valuable new direction.
You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.