You've probably been there yourself, you know, the mystery of the missing polymer. It was there when you started ; it's gone when you really need it. A new chapter in the continuing story of grease wizardry needs writing. A perfect case for Sir Half-a-Cone and Oil, as my old friend, Big Al, would have said. Elementary, my dear Watson. Every new potion needs to be studied through the looking glass. It's no longer enough to establish whether or not it's good enough. But will it still be there tomorrow? It's this REACh thing again, isn't it ? Not for polymers as such, but anyhow. So now we need a product steward, and not only a product manager. How do we ensure future availability of raw materials for new and innovative greases ? It used to be enough to validate solubility in mineral oil (naphthenics, of course). Now we're being pushed towards the renewable option and previously soluble sticky stuff can pop out quite unexpectedly, like a monkey's brain in a jar of vinegar. We've learned the lesson the hard way. Three years of advanced product development, expensive eco-tests, field trials. And then the letter. "We regret to inform you that ..." Should we have known ? OK, maybe, but there used to be alternatives. Plants open and plants close. Some suppliers supply other suppliers. So things can suddenly disappear in a cloud of smoke for a whole multitude of reasons. And now, there's REACh. "We're not going to pay all that money for registration and testing only for the European market". You can just hear them, can't you ? And wouldn't we do the same for Mordor. For the Shire, it's OK. One man's sin is another man's moral. So what's the moral of this story ? Well, as we would say in dear old Scotland, "Tak a bogle upstream, tae mak shure thir's nae deed sassenach, yi ken". So upstream's the word. The key to the future is backwards. Madagascan logic ?

 Posted 25.06.2008