Hands-on experience
By Kevin Delaney, STLE President | TLT President's Report January 2026
Start 2026 with one of these upcoming STLE training courses.
I can hardly believe that this is my sixth President’s Report—it means that my term is a little more than half over. 2025 is totally over—I hope everyone has enjoyed the holiday season and is recharged (or relieved) to get back into the regular work routine. On the other hand, perhaps you need a break from that routine already. If so, there is an upcoming STLE event that I think is particularly interesting: the new Interactive Lubrication Training Experience. It will take place at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, on Feb. 10 and 11. While the title might sound a little pretentious, it will actually be an experience. It’s a two-day course combining classroom training with hands-on laboratory testing. People new to the industry will get a basic introduction to lubricants and lubrication fundamentals. Laboratory examples will help to imprint that information for use throughout their careers. The course could also be helpful for professionals who have never seen lubricant tests being performed in-person. Southwest Research Institute is a world-class facility, and the instructors are tribologists with real-world practical experience. The attendance is limited to 50 participants and the training is already halfway full, so you should register as soon as you can. For more information and to register, visit
www.stle.org/handsontraining.
Another upcoming STLE event is the Metalworking Fluid Management Course which will be held at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Ill. (near Chicago), March 10 and 11. Metalworking lubricant suppliers, compound blenders, additives suppliers, field managers and new employees can benefit from this exclusive training. This popular STLE training will include expanded case studies this year. In addition to metalworking fluid training, the course will also help to prepare for the STLE Certified Metalworking Fluids Specialist™ (CMFS) exam. A CMFS certification can lend credibility to sales and tech service people when helping metalworking fluid user customers solve problems with their systems. For more information and to register, visit
www.stle.org/MWFManagement.
You can find out more about these and other upcoming events on STLE’s website (
www.stle.org) under the “Events” tab. Either of these trainings will make a productive addition to your 2026 calendar.
Kevin Delaney is global sales director for the Petroleum Group at Vanderbilt Chemicals, LLC, based in Norwalk, Conn. You can reach him at kdelaney@vanderbiltchemicals.com.