UEIL News

UEIL Newsletter, June 2008

Date: 30 June 2008

 

The newsletter can be downloaded here.

 

UEIL appoints Interel

Date: March 2008

 

Change of Secretariat

The Board of Directors has decided to bring all its operations and activities under one single roof and has appointed Interel to act as the only Secretariat of UEIL. Interel will be responsible for the management and finances of the association, support to the Board and Committees, communications and Congress management, and EU public affairs. This decision aims to bring more efficiency and coordination to our activities.

 

ILMA Attends the UEIL Congress

Date: From December Issue of Compoundings Magazine

 

ILMA stresses the importance of networking at Association meetings, and ILMA Executive Director Celeste Powers followed that same advice when she accompanied the ILMA President, Anwer Hussain, to the UEIL Annual Congress.

 

“I look forward to attending this Congress every year and seeing the UEIL members — ILMA’s European counterparts — and being an attendee at what is becoming a very successful, important meeting for European lubricant blenders,” Powers said.  “This was my fifth UEIL meeting and I have enjoyed fostering the relationships with UEIL members, year after year, with ILMA’s current President.”

 

This year Celeste and Anwer traveled to Seville, Spain, for the Congress, “Sustainable Development and the Lubricants Industry,” which took place October 24-27, 2007.

Educational sessions included presentations on:

“I truly enjoyed meeting the UEIL attendees, as well as discussing business that was relevant to our companies,” Anwer Hussain said. “The educational sessions Celeste and I attended were excellent and I was intrigued to see that many European blenders face the same issues that we do in the U.S.  As a matter of fact, I learned that many of us share the same concerns, when it comes to automotive trends in our industries.  It is my hope that ILMA and UEIL’s respective engine and transmission lubricants committees can work together in the upcoming years.”

 

Hussain had an opportunity to talk to the UEIL membership about the various initiatives under way within ILMA.

Similar to Hussain addressing the UEIL attendees, Hugh Dowding also addressed ILMA attendees at the Annual Meeting and discussed the history of UEIL, its structure, and shared interests among European and North American independents.

 

Another initiative for the two groups, in 2008, along with AIHA (-American Industrial Hygiene Association) and AIAG (Automotive Industry Action Group), ILMA is partnering with UEIL to present the 3rd Symposium on the Assessment and Control of Metal Removal Fluids. “ILMA has come a long way with its relationship with UEIL,” Powers added. “The 2008 MRF Symposium will bring together independents and end users from across the globe and ILMA members will benefit a great deal from this continued partnership.”

 

For more information on the 2008 MRF Symposium, please visit www.mrf2008.org. For more information on ILMA, visit their Web site at www.ilma.org

 

 

ILMA Launches Metalworking Fluid Symposium - By Nancy DeMarco

Date: Wednesday November 8th 2006

 

Noting that it will soon be a decade since the last comparable event, the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association announced at its annual meeting last month that it will take the lead in sponsoring a multi-day symposium on metalworking fluid health, safety and environmental issues, tentatively targeted for mid-2008 in the Detroit area.

While emphasizing that plans for the symposium are still preliminary, several members of the ILMA planning committee fleshed out their vision for Lube Report. The idea for the symposium came from the Alexandria, Va. based trade group’s Safety, Health, Environmental and Regulatory Affairs Committee, noted Eugene White of Milacron Marketing. “Ike Tripp [of Etna Products] planted the seed, and it started germinating. Our goal is to bring the stakeholders together, so the industry can learn the latest science and discuss key issues.”

“We need a forum to get the players together to review the latest information from the scientists, and to provide an opportunity for planning what to do next” to improve health and safety in the metalworking fluid environment, said John K. Howell of D.A. Stuart Co.

“We want to present the most recent studies, and how to apply them,” agreed Carol Poole of Quaker Chemical. “We all want safe work places for our customers’ employees and our own. The mist issue is so complicated – there may be 15 or more factors affecting generation of mist alone, such as pressure, temperature, speeds, feeds … What new knowledge is there to help reduce mists? And what about mycobacteria, and new equipment, and raw materials?”

Poole continued, “We want more planning for end users and fluid suppliers” to come out of the symposium. “The academic information needs to have real-world applications. Focus groups, for example, could help.”

“The old concept of one number to provide a line between safe and unsafe [metalworking fluid mist] levels has been replaced,” noted Howell (who, at the last metalworking fluid symposium, famously told the UAW’s Frank Mirer, “It’s not the mist, stupid. It’s something else.”)

“How to manage fluids in the field to maintain health and safety and control costs is the key,” Howell said. “It’s a multidimensional issue.” Howell emphasized ILMA’s commitment to action-planning as a symposium goal.

While formal invitations have not yet been extended to possible cosponsors and participants, ILMA – whose members manufacture 75 percent of the metalworking fluids sold in the United States – intends that the symposium will be international and inclusive. End-users, suppliers, formulators, government, academics, organized labor and others will be invited.

ILMA’s first step is to bring partners into the planning process. Over the coming months the steering committee will be formalized, noted Etna’s Ike Tripp. “We will meet with other interested organizations to decide how to proceed, and we hope that formal invitations can go out by year-end” to prospective partners, to meet a target symposium date of mid-2008.

The Detroit, Michigan, area has been proposed for the symposium, to allow local union representatives at U.S. auto plants, with limited travel budgets, to participate.

“The ILMA board is excited to participate in something so far-sighted,” noted Cathy Novak of Eastern Oil, a board member. “ILMA wants to be inclusive, and we want to put the good science forward. In the past we have responded to regulations and issues. We need to sit in the driver’s seat, not be the trailer.”