Thorny technical challenges can hurt
Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report November 2015
Ease the pain by discovering STLE’s digital education products for the metalworking fluids industry.
ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE BENEFITS PEOPLE GET FROM TECHNICAL GROUPS like STLE is the ability to better understand and deal with thorny technical challenges that are having an immediate impact on their business and their customers.
The latest evidence of this fact came in late September when STLE joined with the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA) as a presenting partner for the 5th International Conference on Metal Removal Fluids. This event came at exactly the right time for an industry that is grappling with technical and regulatory problems. More than 40 speakers at the conference did an excellent job of putting this situation into a clear perspective for the 240 attendees.
ILMA, which represents independent lubricant companies that produce more than 30% of all lubricants and 75% of the metalworking fluids and other specialty industrial lubricants sold in America, continues to take the lead in working to improve the regulatory climate for companies in that business.
STLE’s part of the equation, both at the September conference and throughout the year, is to provide technical professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to confront and solve their day-to-day challenges. In many case this requires innovative thinking in order to meet market demands as well as current and future regulatory and safety parameters.
Our signature product for this technical area, titled Metalworking Fluids, is part of the TLT Best Practices series. This 48-page digital compilation of TLT magazine articles is written for those who manufacture, sell or advise customers on the safe and effective use of metalworking fluids in industrial applications.
Articles are written with an understanding that modern metalworking fluids are, in fact, sophisticated materials. The contributors emphasize the fact that these fluids are expected to provide lubrication, cooling and corrosion control to help machine or form parts at the highest rate of speed, maximize tool life and minimize downtime with the fewest possible rejected parts, all while maintaining dimensional accuracy and finish requirements.
Metalworking Fluids offers eight highly informative articles sure to upgrade your technical knowledge. Topics covered include biobased fluids, antimicrobials, microbicides, the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals and other future trends and issues facing the metalworking fluids industry.
The Metalworking Fluids compilation is available as a free digital download at STLE’s Website,
www.stle.org. Also available are the two other publications in the TLT Best Practices series: Lubrication Fundamentals and Strategic Oil Analysis.
The STLE Website, which has been redesigned this fall, also offers 25 other resources to support people in the metalworking fluids industry. These include archived technical presentations that were originally presented as Webinars ($39 to members, $59 for non-members).
There is also a Metalworking Fluids Short Course, presented in an online self-study format. It covers types and functions of metalworking fluids as well as guidelines for recommending specific metal removal fluids for a given application. Cost is $79 for members and $99 for non-members.
STLE’s resources for technical professionals stretch into many other areas, which—like the metalworking fluids industry—face their share of problems and challenges. We look forward to being your trusted source of knowledge and information and to delivering on our
Connect. Learn. Achieve. value proposition.
You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.