President’s Podium

Recap of the 2016 83rd Annual Meeting

Joe Kaperick

Afton Chemical Corp. NLGI Vice-President

NLGI 2016 – Revolutions in Grease

The 83rd NLGI Annual Meeting was held at the Homestead Resort in the beautiful Shenandoah mountain town of Hot Springs, Virginia on June 11-14, 2016. The resort celebrated its 250th anniversary just days before our event and inspired this year’s theme, “Revolutions in Grease – Changing Technology for Changing Times”. Authors were solicited for research and presentations that challenged the existing way of thinking with regard to new thickeners, additives or improved test methods as well as novel applications or improved manufacturing techniques and an everchanging regulatory environment. Our keynote speaker, Graham Gow, touched on many of these subjects with his recap of a truly historic career in his presentation “Amazing Grease: Tales from a 36 year (R)evolution in our Industry”. The technical portion of the program was kicked off by our industry speaker, Carl Stevens, the equipment manager for the Lynchburg district of the Virginia Department of Transportation. Mr. Stevens is responsible for maintenance of a fleet worth $35 million and gave a very interesting presentation on the implementation of their Reliability Centered Maintenance program with many examples focused on grease lubrication. Although the theme was “revolutionary”, the basics of the meeting were “tried and true”: great participation in the Working Groups, excellent technical sessions and networking opportunities galore.

Medals of Honor

Awards presented for best technical papers from the 2015 meeting continued to highlight new ideas and technology in the grease industry. The winners of the two NLGI Author awards were John Lorimor (Axel Americas - “Development of next generation electrical motor greases offering improved frictional characteristics”) for Development and Jason Galary (Nye Lubricants - “Investigation into the Dynamic Particle Generation of Lubricating Greases”) for Applications. Andy Waynick (NCH Corporation) was recognized for his work on “Calcium Biederman Plastic Sulfonate Complex Greases Using Grease Cartridges Calcium Hydroxyapatite as a HydroxideContaining Basic Reactant” with the Clarence E. Earle Award for Contribution to Technical Literature. Additionally, several members were recognized for their service to NLGI and the industry, while a new NLGI Founders Award was

Less Damage introduced which honors a company that + Less Leakage has had a positive impact on the NLGI + Less Scrap in the tradition established by its three = Superior quality and founding fathers. Battenfeld Oil and cost savings! Grease was honored with this award in its inaugural year.

International Treaties

With a total attendance of 384 plus 78 guests at this year’s meeting, NLGI

maintained its international flavor by attracting attendees from such areas as Australia, China, Sweden, India and the United Kingdom. Additionally, Terry Dicken, chairman of ELGI (the European counterpart of NLGI) and Dr. E. Sayanna, Vice President of NLGI’s Indian Chapter, both addressed the conference with updates from their respective organizations, while NLGI Board Member Ray Zhang brought news from the Chinese Lubricating Grease Institute (CLGI).

Working toward Change

Members of the Working Groups that are sponsored by both NLGI and ELGI continued to make advances in several different areas. Meetings of each of the Joint Working Groups (Food Grade, Grease Particle Evaluation, and Bio-Based) were held with continued progress in each. All of these groups draw their membership from both ELGI and NLGI with sessions being held in Europe and North America. The newest Working Group was started by NLGI last year to update its Automotive Service Grease specification. All of these groups are chaired by volunteers from within the industry and are aimed at addressing current topics of real interest and concern to the global grease community. Those with an interest in participating more fully in any of these discussions should contact the respective chairs which are posted on the NLGI website along with the latest minutes from each of the meetings.

Availability | Dependability Knowledge | Selection | Speed

Revolutions per Year

For those interested in learning more about grease issues in various regions, meeting new potential customers outside of the United States or looking for information on the latest revolution in grease technology, the opportunities continue to abound. NLGI-India Chapter will hold their 19th Annual conference in Varanasi, India on February 2-4, 2017, while ELGI will host their 29th Annual General Meeting on May 6-9, 2017 in Helsinki, Finland. Finally, NLGI’s next Annual Meeting will be held on June 10-13, 2017 in the Lake Tahoe region at the Resort at Squaw Creek. All of these meetings welcome technical contributions and attendees from all over the globe.

So while the roots of the Homestead Resort go back to Revolutionary times, new and ever-changing technologies on the grease frontier present us with our own opportunities for revolution on a smaller scale. The Annual Meeting continues to offer fantastic networking opportunities in historic venues for friends and foe alike. And learning the news of the battles on the research frontier is much easier now with the technical expertise and content that is available at the Annual meeting or readily accessible on the NLGI website - much easier than having to wait for the town crier to pass on the news!

Sea-Land Chemical Company represents some of the most trusted brands and companies in the industry to provide you with the quality you demand. We stock hundreds of products, providing you the right chemicals, right away. It’s one-stop shopping to meet your needs quickly and simply. And, with our expanded North American and International Sales Teams we’re here to meet your requirements for local and global formulations.

More than a supplier, we are a resource for your success. Make Sea-Land Chemical Company your first call.

821 Westpoint Parkway Westlake, OH 44145 USA

440-871-7887

www.SeaLandChem.com