Bonus Content for STLE Members
20 Minutes With Gord Susinski

By Rachel Fowler, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief | TLT 20 Minutes June 2023

This senior technical services advisor for Petro-Canada Lubricants discusses mining, training and how he got into the industry.
 
Gord Susinski - The Quick File
STLE member Gord Susinski is senior technical services advisor for Petro-Canada Lubricants, an HF Sinclair brand. More than 33 years ago, Susinski graduated from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, department of chemistry, where he specialized in chemical process operations and power engineering. 

His first job was as a laboratory manager in a tribology laboratory, analyzing lubricants, fuels and coolants as well as developing quality control systems, commissioning new instrumentation and writing standard operating procedures.

From there, he was recruited by a lubricant supplier to work in the field, and for the last 25 years, Susinski has been developing his skills, in product application expertise and troubleshooting in Western Canada and Northwest Territories primarily in mining. Since 2014, he has been providing technical expertise and support for Petro-Canada Lubricants customers across Canada.

Susinski is an STLE Certified Lubrication Specialist™ (CLS) and has held several positions in STLE local sections and other professional organizations.
 
Gord Susinski
TLT: How long have you worked in a lubrication-related field, and how did you decide to pursue a career in the lubricants industry? 
Susinski: I have been working in a tribology related field since 1989. At the start of my career, I was working in a laboratory and was asked to be a vacation cover for a colleague in the tribology laboratory, and I found it fascinating. And the rest, as they say, is history. 

I stayed in the tribology lab for nine years until I was recruited by a lubricant company, and I moved into the technical advisor field. I enjoy the technical advisor role as it allows me to solve problems for our customers and work with some great people. For me, it is about working with some of the best tribology experts in the field and the relationships I have developed in industry over the last 33 years. I often get to go to a lot of places most people wouldn’t go—I have been in mines in the Arctic and 3,500 feet underground.

TLT: What has been your most rewarding accomplishment throughout your career in the lubricants industry? 
Susinski: My most rewarding accomplishment would have to be being able to share my experiences through training and sharing of best practices with people that I meet and work with in my day-to-day life. 

It is very satisfying to deliver a training seminar and have those that are just starting out come to you and ask for more information and show a passion for the science, or to have people invite you to their site to help them solve a problem. Being given that level of trust is something I am very proud of, but I also am very humbled by it. Sharing insight and learnings is crucial within our profession, and I give credit to those experts that mentored me and that I have worked with over the years. 

TLT: What is the No. 1 piece of advice you would give to a person who might be interested in starting a career in the lubricants industry? 
Susinski: Network, train, then network some more. Being an STLE member and attending training seminars and meetings are great ways to get started and continue to advance your knowledge.

In all those arenas, you are surrounding yourself with experts in the field who I have always found are great people with vast areas of expertise and are always willing to share information. Really, it is all about learning and gathering as much information as you can—and then asking questions—I love questions.

TLT: Throughout the different segments within your career, which one has been the most interesting, challenging and/or rewarding? 
Susinski: The most interesting would be working in the potash mines in Saskatchewan, Canada. Working 3,000-4,000 feet underground presents a unique set of circumstances and equipment applications.

The most challenging would be working in the mines in the extreme north when the product must arrive by ice road, air or sea. Those situations are very difficult to manage when Mother Nature dictates the window of access and your schedule.

The most rewarding would be the mining industry in general. The equipment is so much larger than in other industries, and the number of units working means that any problem you can solve usually translates into millions of dollars saved. I also find that those in the mining profession are some of the best I have ever worked with.

TLT: What are some of the most technical lubrication-based concepts or topics you have encountered throughout your career? 
Susinski: One of the most challenging was working with an OEM on a specialty piece of continuous mining equipment. It was a brand-new design from the ground up and meant having to research elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) calculations and trying to determine the correct lubricant characteristics and additive systems to deliver precise lubrication.

I recall the huge collaborative efforts of many design engineers, reliability professionals, maintenance engineers and R&D from the OEM and the lubricant supplier all working together to bring the design from blueprint to a working machine.

Some of the other most technical areas I have had to work in relate to failure investigation, where all areas of lubrication are used to resolve the problem. Those are always interesting and will teach you very quickly that you have never seen it all. 

TLT: What is the one thing you wish you would have learned earlier in your career?
Susinski: I wish I had learned to strike a better balance of understanding the different areas of tribology. 

Back in the late 1980s, training courses were few and far between, and although I did a lot of them, I wish I had spent more time on the balance of all specialty areas of tribology and how they interact with each other. This would have helped my knowledge and experience become more rounded earlier in my career.
 
You can reach Gord Susinski at Gord.Susinski@HFSinclair.com.