STLE turned 70 this year. What does your STLE membership mean to you?
TLT Sounding Board June 2014
STLE was founded March 3, 1944, in Chicago as the American Society of Lubrication Engineers (ASLE). The name was changed to the current STLE in 1987 to reflect the organization’s international scope. This month’s survey questions showed the value lubrication professionals and tribology researchers place on their STLE memberships. For them STLE provides a technical home base, a place where they can improve their technical knowledge, develop job skills and have access to an international community of peers, colleagues and friends. STLE membership also confers instant industry credibility. “It provides third-party proof of my expertise,” said one survey respondent. And the benefits just keep accruing. Nearly a quarter of this month’s survey respondents have maintained continuous membership for more than 20 years. “STLE membership means the world to me,” one TLT reader said. “It is part of my professional and personal life. Without it I am nothing.”
STLE provides me with a wealth of reference and technical knowledge to assist me with my profession.
I view STLE as my most professional affiliation regarding machine condition monitoring, i.e., the business of preserving machinery so that it can create revenue. STLE wasn’t always focused on condition monitoring, other than lube cleanliness and management. However, now STLE has a more rounded approach to the world of lubricants and lubrication. Accordingly, one might expect that STLE has its greatest appeal to new-member prospects.
Access to valuable knowledge and information.
STLE is the way I stay current with the evolving technology of our metalworking and lubricant industries—both the requirements for finished lubricants and the latest developments in additives.
STLE membership affords me the opportunity to grow in the field of lubrication engineering.
Has been a source for networking and keeping up with technology.
STLE has been a significant part of my professional network for 30 years. It’s enabled me to both educate other members about my profession and learn a tremendous amount about other disciplines represented by STLE’s membership.
It means a lot. It provides third-party proof of my expertise. I know there are a lot of customers who do not know what STLE is, but the ones who do enable me to build trust with them.
It is a great way to stay connected with the lubricants industry.
Excellent technical information, support and education.
Affordable access to journals, Webinars, etc.
A great and experienced professional association. STLE is a way of sharing knowledge between professionals from all over the world.
I am proud of my STLE membership. I cherish it.
STLE provides me with relevant data about the latest technology offered by consultants and company members. Keeping us apprised of government regulations and the industry’s own internal regulations that improves all industrial fluid products. It also provides marketing trends that help keep the industry in the mode of continuous innovation.
Provides me with critical commentary and technology advancement information in an unbiased manner.
It means I have a mutual commitment to professionalism.
Proud, prestigious organization with a loyal following.
Through STLE I have gained contacts, friends, employment and recognition.
Participation and connection with members and colleagues.
Sustaining education opportunities. Broadened knowledge and exposure to emerging issues and technology.
Excellent industry networking.
STLE has provided me with a professional certification (CLS) that has been beneficial to my career. And the organization has provided the opportunity for continuing education in the field.
STLE membership means an important connection to the community of engineers, scientists, developers, researchers, consultants, producers and technicians who have knowledge to share about lubrication and tribology.
I am now retired. My membership is maintaining my contact with advances in tribology. I also attend an area STLE local section meeting on occasion.
Access to the latest tribology information and excellent networking opportunities.
Membership allows access to other professionals who can help me find answers to industry-related questions.
I am a part of a peer group that is all about excellence and disseminating truth about their focus of pursuit.
Good technical people to hang out with plus resources on various types of lubrication technologies.
Makes me part of the global tribology family.
A good source of ever-changing information and references for technical data.
It allows me to interact and be a part of an organization that fits our products and areas of expertise in and for industries supplied.
To get the latest updates on lube-related information. It is also good to get first-hand information, as well as speak and communicate with other members.
I have established lifelong business and personal relationships thru STLE—going back to when we were the American Society of Lubrication Engineers.
Affiliation with similar business professionals with similar interests.
STLE is an invaluable source for learning the latest trends in metalworking lubricant handling practices and the outlook for regulatory activity.
Status within the lubrication industry.
Access to industry professionals and information.
STLE has given me the opportunity to learn about my profession and allowed me to make and maintain personal and professional relationships.
How long have you been an STLE member?
Less than 1 year
1%
1-3 years
11%
4-6 years
10%
7-10 years
12%
11-15 years
13%
15-20 years
13%
More than 20 years
24%
I am not a member
16%
Based on responses sent to 13,000 TLT readers, including STLE non-members.
What has been STLE’s biggest contribution to the world?
Developing better and more environmentally friendly lubricants for advancing technology.
Understanding tribology and putting that understanding to practical use results in huge savings (often translated to increased production and profit) in the maintenance of one’s machinery.
Tough one—but I’d say our ability to be imaginative while reducing the friction in the world.
There are too many to list. When you take into account the improvements to the performance and efficiency of automobiles and industrial machines as well as the work done in aerospace technology right through to the advancements in joint-replacement technology—the numbers and value of the contributions over the years are staggering.
Work conducted in conjunction with the space program and the manufacturing sector.
Education.
Less friction. Now if we could transfer some of that to politics and sociology.
Development of basestocks for lubricants—whether synthetic or non-synthetic.
With education comes better products. Benefits are far reaching, but the most important are the contributions to energy efficiency, equipment reliability and safety of operations.
Ensuring that the wheels of industry and transportation keep turning!
Making products safer (better friction) and more efficient (less friction).
Developing better lubricant technology.
Improving the world’s level of engineering.
Reliable cost improvements to industry generally. Reducing poor lubrication practices.
Low-friction coatings.
Letting mechanics keep on developing their skills and growing in technical sophistication.
Extending the life and efficiency of industrial equipment.
Nanotechnology.
New science and technology.
Fuel economy improvements in vehicles and stationary equipment.
Reduced energy use due to efficient lubrication. This benefit will only continue to improve energy efficiency as basestock and additive quality improve.
Understanding the importance of lubrication principles to the proper functioning of mechanical systems.
Longer life and lower costs to operate machinery of all types.
Allowing equipment to run more efficiently and therefore saving industry millions of dollars.
Providing a deeper understanding of the role of friction between opposing surfaces and how we use and control it.
An understanding of the impact of proper lubrication on productivity, health and safety.
Cost savings.
Improved lubricants for everything.
The biggest contribution is the design and manufacture of giant scale machinery. Examples are the walking cam dragline (and shovels) and the robust dump trucks that haul the loads.
Fuel efficiency and increased service life of major consumer items.
Studies proving and showing how lubricants can impact the bottom line from performance to environmental concerns.
The reduction of wear in all lubricated equipment (transport, industrial, etc.) saves enormous amounts of money as well as resources. Tribology makes the world a better place to live.
The immeasurable reduction in costs and conservation of resources associated with the reduction of friction and wear.
Globalization of tribology and solutions to associated issues.
Conservation of industrial equipment worldwide and promotion through education of better practices to accomplish this.
It has enabled the continuous improvement of just about every technology.
A better understanding of how things really work.
Planes, trains and automobiles are impossible without tribological components and engineering.
Editor’s Note: Sounding Board is based on an e-mail survey of 13,000 TLT readers. Views expressed are those of the respondents and do not reflect the opinions of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers. STLE does not vouch for the technical accuracy of opinions expressed in Sounding Board, nor does inclusion of a comment represent an endorsement of the technology by STLE.