A 14-Week Educational Series for Reliability and Maintenance Professionals
Lubrication influences approximately 55% of total maintenance cost across most industrial facilities. It is one of the most impactful disciplines in manufacturing — and one of the least formally trained.
This series exists to change that.
The Lubrication Fundamentals Series is a 14-week educational resource covering the science and business of industrial lubrication — written for reliability engineers, maintenance professionals, plant managers, and anyone responsible for keeping equipment running.
No product angle. No vendor agenda. Just the science and the discipline.
What You Will Learn
The series builds from the ground up — starting with why lubrication matters and progressing through every major topic a reliability or maintenance professional needs to understand:
- Why most equipment failures are preventable — and what’s actually causing them
- The four wear modes and what each one is telling you about your equipment
- The science of friction at the microscopic level — and what lubrication is actually interrupting
- The five lubricating film types and how your equipment cycles through them
- Viscosity — the single most important lubricant property and why it’s so frequently misunderstood
- What’s actually inside your lubricant — base oils, additives, and thickeners
- Thermal properties — oxidation, flash point, and pour point
- Contamination control — the silent killer in every lubrication system
- Grease fundamentals — the most misunderstood lubricant in the plant
- Over-lubrication — why more is not better and how to get intervals right
- Automatic lubrication systems — when they work and when they don’t
- L.E.T.S. — the four parameters that should drive every lubricant selection decision
The Series
- Week 1 — Why Education Is the Most Powerful Tool in Lubrication
- Week 2 — Why 65% of Equipment Failures Are Completely Preventable
- Week 3 — The Four Wear Modes — and What Each One Is Telling You
- Week 4 — Why We Lubricate — The Science and the Business Case
- Week 5 — What Is Friction Really Doing to Your Equipment?
- Week 6 — The Five Lubricating Films — and Why Getting Them Wrong Costs You
- Week 7 — Viscosity — The Single Most Important Property Nobody Fully Understands
- Week 8 — Base Oils, Additives, and Thickeners — What Is Actually In Your Lubricant?
- Week 9 — Oxidation, Flash Point, and Pour Point — The Properties That Protect Your Equipment
- Week 10 — Contamination — The Silent Killer in Every Lubrication System
- Week 11 — Grease — The Most Misunderstood Lubricant in the Plant
- Week 12 — Over-Lubrication Is a Real Problem — and It’s More Common Than You Think
- Week 13 — Automatic Lubrication Systems — When They Work and When They Don’t
- Week 14 — L.E.T.S. — The Four Parameters That Should Drive Every Lubricant Selection
You’ve finished the fundamentals. The next step is applying them.
Reading this series builds understanding. Building a reliability-led lubrication program in your own plant takes structure, practice, and accountability — with your equipment and your people.
That’s what Lubrication Mastery is for: a structured 8-week program that takes a facility from reactive lubrication and untrained technicians to a standardized program run by people who understand why every decision is made.
It opens later in 2026. Add your name and we’ll tell you the moment enrollment opens.
About the Author
Danny Stephens is a Certified Lubrication Specialist (CLS), credentialed by the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE), with 30 years of field experience in industrial lubrication and reliability. He is the founder of Environmental & Lubrication Solutions, Inc. (ELS), an independent lubrication consulting firm based in Kerrville, Texas.
This series is published every week on LubeSolutions.com and cross-posted to the Lubrication Fundamentals LinkedIn Newsletter.
© 2026 Danny Stephens, CLS. All rights reserved.