Words from the wise

Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report July 2017

STLE’s team of Distinguished Advisors can alert the organization to unique opportunities or problems.
 
STLE DISTINGUISHED ADVISORS
Ewa Bardasz
Lubrizol - retired 
Former STLE Director
National Academy of Engineering member

Selda Gunsel
General Manager - Products and Quality
Shell Lubricants Supply Chain Organization
Former STLE President
STLE International Award recipient

Said Jahanmir
ASME Science and Technology Policy Fellow 
STLE International Award recipient

Thomas Kreis
Vice President - Competence Center Bearings
Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG

Gary LaBranche, FASAE, CAE
President/CEO
National Investor Relations Institute

Hugh Spikes
Emeritus Professor
Head of the Tribology Research Group
Imperial College, London
STLE International Award recipient

W.T. Eddy Tysoe
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Distinguished Professor 
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry 
Founding Editor - Tribology Letters
Recipient: STLE Board of Directors Award for Excellence in Publishing

STLE has formed a special group of top industry advisors to help the society spot trends not readily apparent through traditional means.
STLE’S EVERGREEN STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS keeps our organization focused on how to best serve the needs of the tribology and lubricants profession.

Five years into this effort, the process has sparked new initiatives to advance innovation, expand technical expertise and advocate for the profession on a global basis. These are the plan’s three key strategic goals set by the board of directors.

While the plan enables the organization to focus, it also needs to provide for the inevitably of changing conditions in the field that may require adjustments to existing priorities or addition of entirely new ones.

Earlier this year, our STLE 2016-2017 President Dr. Ali Erdemir created an ad hoc committee of seven Distinguished Advisors to provide the board with insight on technical and business trends that might present an opportunity or a challenge for STLE. This type of ongoing surveillance taps into one of STLE’s greatest strengths—the individual and collective knowledge of high profile individuals from the technical, scientific and commercial sectors of the society.

To extract thinking in a consistent way, STLE retained McKinley Advisors to conduct in-depth interviews with members of the Distinguished Advisors committee, seeking their insight and perception on STLE and how the organization can improve or change to advance the field.

STLE’s 2017-2018 Board of Directors, led by President Michael Anderson (Falex Corp.), received the initial report from our Distinguished Advisors at a board meeting held in conjunction with the STLE 72nd Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Atlanta in late May. It pinpointed several areas where the profession is changing and suggested ways in which STLE might respond. Two of the more intriguing conclusions—one internally focused and the other more external—are as follows:

• Tribology and lubrication engineering has reached a level of maturity in the traditional sectors of energy, manufacturing and transportation. These fields will continue to be a focus for tribology and lubrication engineering; however, new technologies and economic areas have opened up new applications for the field that should be explored and supported. STLE can facilitate this through its general focus and strategy, the breadth of its membership and the scope of its programs and activities.

• In the public sphere, particularly in the United States, a traditional focus on energy efficiency has been supplanted in many cases by a focus on the economy and jobs. The importance of the field to the public may hinge on its ability to articulate its role within these priorities.

Both of these points are obviously important input to the organizational planning process. The less obvious part is how to adjust and adapt to these shifts in the profession. While that part of the strategic thought process is not yet clear, it goes without question that STLE has found an innovative way to keep the organization relevant to our membership in 70 countries around the globe.

Thank you, Distinguished Advisors!

You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.