It's Time To Shine! We're Looking For Lube Starz!

It’s Time To Shine! We’re Looking For Lube Starz!

Our new Lube Starz Section is all about our readers—the hardest-working lubrication professionals in the universe! Are you game? If so, please identify yourself.

We’ll want to learn who you are, where you work, how long you’ve been in your current position, what brought you to the lubrication field, what you like most about your job and anything else you might want share with us. If you’re selected as the subject of a short, published profile, you’ll soon be reading about yourself in an upcoming Lube Starz Section in LUBRICATION MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGY magazine and on our Website. On top of that, each person profiled in this section will also receive a baseball cap designating him/her as one of our honest-to-goodness Lube Starz.

Instructions: The Lube Starz contest is open to all full-time industrial maintenance professionals whose duties involve lubrication-related procedures. We are particularly interested in hearing from those who currently spend a significant amount of their professional time with lubrication or have done so in the past five years. To submit your application, please download and fill out this two-page form, then return it in one of the following ways. Regardless of how you submit this form, please be sure to attach and/or include a recent high-resolution headshot of yourself (a photo of you at work would be great):

1. E-mail or eFax to lubestarz@atpnetwork.com with the subject line “LubeStarz Application”

2. Print and mail to:

Lubrication Management & Technology
ATTENTION: Lube Starz
1300 S. Grove Ave.
Suite 105
Barrington, IL 60010

Please put your name and company on the back of any printed photos that are sent.

That’s all there is to it. Start shining! Let us hear from you soon!

Here are some of the Lube Starz we’ve featured in the past:

 Jim Harris

Title: General Manager, CCECO Lab & Filtration, a manufacturer of fine-micron oil-filtration equipment with oil-analysis and lab services, headquartered in Kent, WA.

Background: Jim began working as a machinist at Star Iron and Steel, in Tacoma, WA, where he ran all aspects of building parts for container cranes and straddle carriers. From there, he moved to the Maintenance Department at the Port of Tacoma. At the time of his retirement (after 32 years of service), he was Lead Equipment Foreman for all Port Operations. During his time at the Port, Jim was responsible for implementing an oil-analysis program on all fleet vehicles and equipment (including installation of over 270 CCECO bypass filter systems). This successful program led to over $1.5 million in savings from reduced maintenance costs and extended oil-drain intervals for engines and hydraulic systems.

Click here for more on Jim.

Steve Vaughan

Title: Maintenance Mechanic, Alcoa – Mt. Holly, Goose Creek, SC

Background: Steve Vaughan has been working in the Alcoa – Mt. Holly operations for 28 years, including 24 in his current position as a maintenance/lubrication professional. He ranks his overall knowledge of industrial lubrication as “advanced,” and tells us that hereceived much of his lubrication-related education and training on the job and through live workshops and non-structured online opportunities (such as Webinars, company videos, etc.).

Click here for more on Steve.

Mark L. Graham, CLS, CLGS, OMA

Title: Technical Services Manager, Lubricants, O’Rourke Petroleum Products, based in Houston, TX

Background: Mark has spent a total of 25 years in the maintenance/lubrication arena (14 of them with O’Rourke, including three years in his current role). After graduating from college, this native of Bandera, TX, coached football and baseball in the public schools for awhile before moving into the solvent and chemical business.

Click here for more on Mark.

Henry Neicamp

Title: Field Services Manager, Polaris Laboratories, the well-known, full-service fluid-analysis provider, headquartered in Indianapolis, IN

Background: Henry has just joined the team at Polaris Laboratories, to which he brings 31 years of experience in the maintenance/lubrication arena. In college, he majored in general engineering and minored in mining engineering. Like all Polaris data analysts and field-services engineers, he’s certified by STLE as both a CLS (Certified Lubrication Specialist) and an OMA (Oil Monitoring Analyst).

Click here for more on Henry.

Dave Maki

Title:  Head Oiler, St. Mary’s Paper, a mill located in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada

Background: Dave has spent 35 years at St. Mary’s, with 34 of those years in his current position. When he first began working there, it was as a mechanical helper with the maintenance department. He then moved into lubrication work and soon found himself heading up that area. According to him, he’s “never looked back.”

Click here for more on Dave.

Mike Graves, P.Eng.

Title: President, Coastal Engineering Services, a consulting firm based in New Brunswick, Canada

Background: Mike has spent 23 years in the maintenance and/or lubrication field, including 7 in his current position. He looks on lubrication as a specialized field that has often been ignored or not given much attention. He wants to enhance and promote its importance, not just to industry, but to the public.

Click here for more on Mike.  

Sandor Mercz Kerek

Title:  Industrial Mechanical Technician, Ingenieria Proactiva Ltda., a consulting operation in Cali-Valle, Colombia    

Background: Sandor has put in a total of 25 years in the maintenance and/or lubrication field, including 15 with his current employer. In his former job with a Colombian manufacturer, he performed preventive maintenance on 800 machines. Since retiring from that job, he’s consulted for other businesses in the region.

Click here for more on Sandor.