Snow coming down, a layer of ice on its way to Chicagoland…Can I be faulted for letting my thoughts wander off in the direction of spring? Of course, that gets me thinking about baseball, which in turn gets me thinking about teams—our team, to be exact!

No, not the Sox or Cubs: I’m referring to LMT’s “LubeStarz Team.” It’s time to build this year’s roster, and you could be a big part of it—as a possible member yourself, or in nominating others from your organization’s lubrication team or elsewhere!

How often do hardworking lube pros receive the positive recognition they deserve? Not very! Our LubeStarz Team is designed to change that to some extent: We want to put a face to—and also applaud—the maintenance and operations professionals who play pivotal roles in successful lubrication-management programs across industry. To our way of thinking, they’re unsung heroes in that never-ending battle for reliability.

As Ray Thibault says in his introduction of a year-long series on equipment-specific lubrication strategies, it’s the individuals who are charged with inspecting an operation’s equipment (including lube techs, oilers and operators) that make up the first line of predictive and proactive defense. We think it’s high time to bring those types of people into the spotlight, don’t you?

So, please don’t hold back. We want to hear about you and/or other deserving lube pros. Go to www.lubestarz.com for details—ASAP. The sign-up process is easy. Then, as we did last year, we’ll select one or more applicants to feature in every 2012 issue of LMT.

If you haven’t picked up on it by now, we’re really proud of our 2011 LubeStarz Team and can’t wait to build our 2012 lineup. With your help, it’s sure to be a winner.

For now, let me add my voice to those of our Publisher Bill Kiesel and Contributing Editor Ken Bannister in wishing all readers, contributors and advertisers a very happy and prosperous new year. LMT

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it