Executive Summary
For STLE’s 80th anniversary, TLT asked readers what they value most about STLE and the biggest changes they’ve seen in their time as a member of the STLE community. Many readers listed the STLE Annual Meeting & Exhibition as their favorite STLE offering, mentioning networking opportunities and technical information sharing as top reasons. Changes in STLE include the move from exclusively in-person opportunities for learning and networking to an increase in virtual offerings, resulting in an even larger community and more international connections.
 
Q.1 What do you like most about STLE?

The diverse community.

The free journal and webinars and annual meeting.

Industry info exchange and networking.

TLT magazine and the STLE Annual Meeting & Exhibition.

The annual meeting provides an opportunity to meet friends, old and new, as well as keep up with the latest in the industry.

An industry organization that gives researchers in both academic and industry a forum in which to share their ideas and learnings with the broader industry.

STLE is an organization consisting of interested, involved and committed participants who actively study oils and lubricants.

The topics addressed really stick to the industrial needs—both at the conferences, in TLT magazine and online.

The monthly magazine.

The combination of excellent technical content, networking and education that the annual meeting offers is what draws me to STLE. In addition, the STLE local sections, with monthly technical presentations and networking opportunities, are great.

The networking with industry leaders.

The networking with such like-minded and passionate people from all over the world in all facets of lubrication.

The collaboration between members in problem resolution.

The annual meeting with technical presentations and networking. A truly fabulous event.

The sharing of information and forming meaningful relationships within the industry.

STLE has provided me with a wide variety of valuable tribology-related education opportunities while, at the same time, allowing for professional development through activities such as the annual meeting and local section networking activities.

Seeing the new technology and innovations.

Great programming and career-long friendships.

Good community with resources that cover my area of work.

TLT has been the most beneficial STLE benefit for me over the years. I also have found the online training platforms to be useful. My local section has been spotty over the years. We have had little to no corporate support, and the section has suffered for it. I have worked for a distributor, and they have not even supported me in a leadership role in the section.

I think STLE does a good job of bridging both academic and professional interests in the field.

Some nice general articles.

Wow, open question! I think the best thing about STLE is the open sharing of non-commercial information between colleagues that have a shared interest in perfecting motion.

The way it gathers friends and colleagues from all over the world around this very interesting and important subject.

A great community that provides easy digestible state-of-the-art science and technology. Very helpful!

The focus on networking and education in a multi-faceted science.

STLE provides many opportunities for professionals to network and exchange ideas, and publish their new findings, advance the development of science and technology in tribology and lubrication fields and also help people to land their dream jobs.

It provides a great forum at the annual meeting to listen to presentations, visit the exhibition and most importantly network with colleagues from around the world. Additional benefits are the webinars, short courses and best of all TLT magazine that we get for free as a member. I personally and professionally have benefited a lot through STLE and have met and befriended people that I would never had otherwise met.

That it’s a technical society where I can find most of the information I need.

STLE is a very large worldwide community of tribologists. I enjoy the constant exchange on the latest topics in the form of TLT, webinars and conferences.

No-nonsense, practical technical information that is adaptable to real world situations.

The people participating are a good mixture of ages and industry experience, as well as academics and industrial professionals. It also is open to non-technical salespeople as well as students learning and investigating the field of tribology. There is a lot of diversity amongst members, and this helps with bringing out different perspectives.

The availability of technical information.

Reading technical articles on metalworking fluids and related to the articles on electric vehicle areas (fluids, coolants).

Allows reading the best technical papers in tribology, exchanging ideas from professionals in different areas of tribology, building leadership skills if anybody is interested by joining various committees and sharpening knowledge by attending various courses.

I like the professional collaboration and networking opportunities that STLE provides.

The annual meeting and TLT.

Unique society of learning and networking on tribology and lubrication engineering.

I like the information sharing about the new innovations in lubricants. The technical documents on metalworking and other industrial products help to broaden my knowledge.

The educational opportunities that are provided by STLE. The in-person meetings, virtual meetings and written articles are what I like best about STLE.

The in-depth coverage of theoretical and practical aspects of lubrication.

Its way of understanding and carrying on different facets of tribology.

This is a professional association for lubrication and tribology, which provides industry technical evolution, marketing insight—everything of this dynamic and cross-discipline sector.

The variety of subjects which helps with looking “outside the box” and the technical content.

General information source, offering topical discussions (webinars, articles), with more detailed technical content available. A rich variety of sources and topics, it allows me to dig deep or scrape the surface of areas of interest, depending on my needs and interests.

The obvious love of technology. The willingness to share, connect, learn and help each other out. Rising to challenges. All very useful for research and industry alike.

STLE is offering valuable support in terms of technical, commercial and social aspects to a broad community.

I like the networking opportunities that being involved in committees provides. I like how customers, suppliers and competitors can all work together to move the industry forward.

Access to specialized technical information and expertise.

It contains the latest industry information and technology updates related to lubrication and tribology.

My primary reason for being a member of STLE is to keep my technical knowledge up to date. That means technical training opportunities, reading informative articles in TLT magazine and Tribology Letters/Tribology Transactions and attending conferences.

The annual meeting and TLT.



The scientific and practice-based society of tribology specialists.

Cover all the important aspects of tribology in different applications.

Giving updates on lubrication tribology globally with its members as well as on social media like LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

The continued and consistent flow of technical information.

Q.2 What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in STLE over the years?

How the local sections have evolved.

More webinars and online courses.

More practical application articles.

Seeing more academics on the board as well as presenting and attending meetings.

Breadth of topics being covered and increase in diversity of members and participants over the years.

Increased impact and professionalism.

The biggest change that I have noticed is the much larger attendance at the STLE annual meetings. The number of attendees, exhibitors, presenters, etc., has grown significantly over the years.

STLE Certified Lubrication Specialist™ (CLS) testing and electronic badges.

The sheer amount of content easily available through the website.

Accessibility and standard of information available to members.

Over the past 20 years presentations have become more robust, and information and data has become far more sophisticated and useful. The makeup of our organization has diversified. Many women are active now.

In recent years, I’ve seen a lack of participation in local section events and volunteerism in general.

The products being produced by the customers.

Movement away from local sections and toward conferences and webinars. Expansion of network beyond geography as a result.

The update about green tribology. The implementation of new practices to care for the environment.

The technical aspects of the publications have become more academic over the years, while the sections I have attended have become more sales oriented. It is an interesting dichotomy.

The response to virtual meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the switch back to in-person meetings afterward.

Not much that I noticed.

As I have gotten more involved, I can see that STLE is more than just an annual meeting and trade show.

I cannot say I’ve seen any revolutionary changes, yet some favorable evolution in the way the conferences and meetings are organized. Compared to only 10 years ago, they are less formal while still preserving a high enough scientific level.

I can see that STLE has expanded over several branches; the website has become very refined, and the annual meeting changes with time and new technologies—for instance the electric vehicle section (and standalone conference).

The evolution from a primarily local section-based organization to a broader multinational society, enabled by the evolution of the internet.

I have seen more and more industrial professionals participating in the STLE annual meetings, as well as local section meetings.

The value that STLE provides is still there and increasing. We have seen the name change for the magazine and launch of a journal in addition to TLT magazine. More and more content is online, in keeping with the times. I have seen an increase in the membership of young professionals, and we should try to increase the pace. Tribology is not a vogue area for young engineers and scientists to start or work in, and this also reflects the societal change. STLE has kept with these changes; however, there are macro changes that the society may not have a control over. The best STLE can do is develop a strategy to continue to address the societal and technological changes.

Contribution has been made from all over the world.

Unfortunately I’ve only been a member for three years, so I can’t say anything about the history yet.

We seem to be reacting to politically driven issues rather than building on proven technology.

The organization has grown significantly more professional in the 31 years that I have been a member.

Good—the internet educational sessions are a great resource. Bad—the death of the regional section meetings where we could discuss lubrication problems and challenges.

Increased numbers of women tribologists and a decrease in the active participations of OEM members at the STLE annual meeting.

STLE is trying to position itself as the professional society in the world by branding itself in Europe and elsewhere in addition to the U.S. Trying too hard to institutionalize various courses.

Information technology (IT) and digitalization that enables users to access the society more easily and timely.

It seems STLE has transitioned to an academic focus. While STLE has grown, those involved once gave more attention to education and collaboration of industry professionals.

Lots of changes, including from ASLE to STLE with a broader focus on international scope and the science of tribology. It seems that it is getting harder to get people together for local section meetings. This is mostly due to the large distances that separate members within a section and the decline in lubricant company locations and employees.

Younger generations in STLE.

It always focuses on new hot points of the science and technology.

I get ideas about how to structure the industrial products.

There have not been big changes over the years because STLE has always been devoted to keeping up with the technology, which is still the case today.

In no particular order: name change from ASLE to STLE; the development and registration of the certification of practices relative to lubrication (like CLS, etc.); the adoption of advanced communication methods for sharing of STLE data.

In presentations.

Active in tribology and lubrication industry, covers everything such as the technology evolution, talent development, memories of industry heroes who have passed away, frontline application issues, etc.

The switch to new test methods analyzing electrical automotive applications.

Communications seem more prevalent. I am aware I see more of your emails; more information being offered, especially webinars.

Improved digital communication, more value for money for overseas members like me. Obviously STLE changes and grows as the challenges (sustainability, electrification, digitization) wash over the industry.

Activities dealing with green chemistry and electric vehicles.

I’ve noticed generational changes starting to happen. “Old school” members are relinquishing control (willingly or not) to let the new generation of members do what they need to do in order to allow the organization to attract and retain younger members.

Navigating into and through the everchanging digital world.

More focus on industry trends and providing insight into complex phenomenon of lubrication engineering and tribology.

Probably the ever-expanding library of technical learning resources.

It just keeps getting better.

Continuous development and strong adaptability to modern trends both in the market and science.

More focused on the current trends.

Transitioning to digital formats of information.

Editor’s Note: This STLE Insights is based on an informal poll sent to 15,000 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 STLE Insights, nor does inclusion of a comment represent an endorsement of the technology by STLE.