There are many (good) reasons for attending the annual meeting of the NLGI. Technical papers, panel discussions, committee meetings, education programmes, the CLGS exam, social events and, in my opinion, most importantly, opportunities for networking. At this year's meeting in Colonial Williamsburg I had the pleasure of meeting with many of our customers, present and potential, with suppliers, with competitors, end users and OEMs, universities, governmental authorities, consultants and, of course many old friends. One of the most exciting features of such a meeting is the international perspective and I really enjoyed meeting people from all different parts of the world, not only from Western Europe and the United States but also from India, Japan, Australia, the Ukraine .. and Venezuela. What's it like running a grease plant in South America today? I also heard a new buzz phrase, "the Chavez effect" where, in the USA, companies and individuals are reacting to the political "anti-Bush" climate in South America through a boycott of not only products but also of any company and or brand names owned by, or in any way associated with, the Chavez regime. And this is actually causing a significant loss of business and market shares. So, in our world of constant divestment and mergers within the lubricants industry, what will the next company to be closed down or up for sale? Could it be a refinery .. or even a grease plant? Keep your eyes and ears open for the next chapter of "grease, the soap". Anybody willing to make a bet?

 Posted 25.06.2008

During the first "Oil Crisis" in the early 1980's, many of the international oil companies and other eminent lubricants manufacturers were forced to streamline their operations and only very limited recruitment programmes were undertaken. This meant that, for quite a long period of time, hardly any "new" people came into the grease business. As a consequence of this, I have found myself in a very strange situation indeed where most of the people I have to work with are (or at least, have been) either five years older or five years younger than my good self. I am in the middle of the "lost generation". And, as you all know, time unfortunately waits for no man. My older colleagues are slowly but surely reaching the age of retirement and they are falling away, one by one.

If we also consider the state of our business today with endless mergers and closures and continual reorganisations and changes in ownership, people seem to be changing jobs all the time. Friends and acquaintances I expected to meet at the recent ELGI and NLGI meetings are no longer there and many new faces are appearing. This must mean that there are tremendous opportunities for a new generation of "grease gurus" and I hope to see and meet all you new grease enthusiasts before I, myself, come to the conclusion that it's time to say goodbye.

It is therefore becoming more and more difficult to recruit and maintain a highly qualified staff of development engineers and, for a company like AXEL with extensive plans for geographical expansion, this will be a critical factor for future success. It is therefore very surprising to hear that quite a number of experienced grease scientists are considering changing jobs because their companies (or rather their management) seemingly do not appreciate their contributions to the business. At both the recent ELGI and the NLGI meetings, people that I have had the privilege of knowing for many years have confided in me that they will very probably move on sometime in the near future. In Europe, one very talented guy is preparing to set up his own business. In the USA, another is just waiting for the right opportunity because he gets no rewards for a job well done. The qualified and talented grease specialist is becoming a rare species and we need to nurture the resources in hand. With the ambition of becoming an influential global player, AXEL recognises the need to secure competent scientists in our international operations. So if your company does not appreciate their own talents, we most certainly will. Anybody for a job in Sweden ??

 Posted 07.10.2008

"Acetate" is a very bad word these days. Promotes corrosion, you see. I certainly hope you don't use acetate in your greases. And especially not in foodgrade applications. An Iowa jury has recently found that a grease had a "design defect" that led to corrosion in fire hydrants. Despite the fact that an expert witness clearly stated that the corrosion found in the hydrants was actually caused by insufficient grease coverage, the Iowa jury "decided" that it was caused by calcium acetate in the grease. They "decided" that calcium acetate absorbs water and promotes corrosion. 10.7 million dollars in damages. 10.7 million dollars because your grease contains calcium acetate. Whoa !

Two things strike me as strange here. Firstly that a jury has to "decide" the failure mechanism involved. We can now analyse the DNA on the knife that killed Julius Caesar. But we need a jury to "decide" on the cause of corrosion. And secondly, calcium acetate. Not being privileged to know the details of the formulation in question, I would imagine that this grease is not dramatically different from any other calcium complex foodgrade product on the market today. And the thickener is most probably produced in-situ. Stearic and acetic acids are saponified with calcium hydroxide to thicken a pharmaceutical quality white oil (or PAO) and a so-called "complex soap" thickener is formed. This is commonly referred to as calcium stearate-acetate and, theoretically speaking at least, each calcium ion is connected to one part stearic and one part acetic. So where's the calcium acetate as a single component in the finished product? Isn't this kind soap an excellent corrosion inhibitor, because it's highly polar and adheres to the metal surfaces, rather than being a promoter of corrosion? If it's put in the right place that is! Now what was that about insufficient grease coverage? The right product, in the right place, in the right amount, at the right time .. and to the right price, of course .. the calcium complex was undoubtedly cheaper than the previously used aluminium complex!

The moral of the story; be very careful about using any single substance that might cause you problems .. even if it doesn't even exist in the finished product. Lithium hydroxide is dangerous stuff, you know. Antidepressing, isn't it? Provide the specific CAS-number of your complex soap, not the individual components.

And whatever you do, don't mention the acetate; call it ethanoate if you must.

Schhh!

 Posted 05.02.2009

"Befriending the elements" is the name of our latest marketing campaign which we hope will provide our customers with a platform to turn grease into profitable business. In the fifth century B.C., Empedocles claimed that all matter was comprised of four "roots" or elements, earth, air, fire and water. By adding the associated conditions of hot, cold, wet and dry, a map can be drawn to help select the best grease for a given application. This is a sequel to one of our previous campaigns, "Lubrisense, the art of choosing the right grease". So expect to hear more about this in the coming months.

According to the ancient philosophers, including Aristotle, these elements were however not only material in nature but could be coupled to spiritual forces and even the personalities of human beings. Carl Jung conceptualized intuition, sensation, thinking and feeling as the four basic archetypes of personality and this is clearly a derivation of Empedocles' ancient theories. This has even been extended into our own time-frame in, for instance, the Meyers-Briggs personality test (been to a job interview lately?).

In addition, these elements can also be used to gaze into the future since they play an important part in astrology. Here, they are termed the Triplicities since there are three "signs" associated with each of the elements. A preponderance of "Fire" in your chart exemplifies high spirits, self confidence, enthusiasm and honesty. What on earth?

So, taming the forces of nature is nothing new. The Romans used rags dipped in natural fat to lubricate wagon wheels. They based their "science" on the theories of Empedocles. Today, you can still use the same basic structure, albeit in a more modern context. By befriending the elements, you can start making the right choices ... and even some money.

Fire, come walk with me.

 Posted 10.03.2009

These last two weeks or so have been pretty hectic here with the ELGI Annual Meeting in Gothenburg and the AXEL tour which we offered to the ELGI delegates. Considering the fact that we are supposed to be in an economic recession, a turnout of 230 for the ELGI meeting must be seen as a huge success. And we never expected anywhere close to 100 people (plus a "waiting list"!) to turn up for our plant tour. In addition, the weather Gods were good to us once again with sunshine and blue skies most of the time. Gothenburg became "global" some years ago when we had the privilege of arranging the World Championship in Athletics. The winner of the Marathon was from Spain and he said that he has never run in such extreme (hot) conditions. A newspaper in Brazil recommended Sweden as the perfect holiday resort with the comment "but don't go there in summer, it's much too hot".

So where is this bright and sunny place, the village of Nol where AXEL has its Swedish operation? We're on the top of the World. Forget your flat atlas with the usual Mercator projection of the World. Have a look at a globe instead. We're on the 58^th latitude and there's not that much "up" here. But for the North Atlantic Drift (often erroneously called the "Gulf Stream"), we wouldn't be able to live here. So, who else is up here? On the 58^th latitude in North America, you find places like Katmai National Park, Alaska, Lake Athabasca in northern Saskatchewan, Churchill Manitoba on the shores of Hudson Bay and Nutac on the coast of northern Labrador. On the 58^th latitude in Asia, there are places like Lesosibirsk Siberia and Rusakovo Kamtjatka, a port on the Bering Sea. In the Southern hemisphere, there is "nothing" down there apart from the Antarctic. The infamous Cape Horn is at about 55 degrees south. Cape Agulhas, at the southern tip of Africa is on the 35^th latitude which, in a European context would correspond to Gibraltar (paradoxically, the southern tip of Europe). So we're in quite a unique position here in Scandinavia. In a global context, some 9 million souls live north of the 60^th latitude, 8 million in Scandinavia (5 million in Finland). The rest can be found in northern Alaska, the North West Territories of Canada, Greenland, Iceland and on the coastal strip of Siberia (yes, strip, have a look at your globe). And whether or not they "live" there is a completely different question. I think they are all "looking for something".

So those of you who were here last week can vouch for the beautiful climate here, way up north. You others are welcome to come and experience it for yourselves.

"We're on the Top of the World looking down on Creation ...."

 Posted 08.05.2009