Meet our Industry Person of the Week Chris Mathers, ELITE RELIABILITY Managing Director – Mobius Institute Instructor – Condition Monitoring Consultant.
Q: How did you get started working in your field?
Chris: I began my career in the mining industry in 2010, starting in hands-on maintenance roles where I gained a strong appreciation for how equipment operates in real-world conditions. I later moved into a specialised Fleet Health Management team, which introduced me to vibration analysis, acoustics, and lubrication. At the time, I didn’t realise how influential these disciplines would become, but they quickly formed the technical foundation of my career.
That experience led me into Fixed Plant Condition Monitoring, where I developed a strong passion for condition monitoring, asset reliability and asset health. As my technical experience expanded, I transitioned into training and instruction with a global company, Mobius Institute, delivering courses in vibration, lubrication, thermography, and asset reliability to professionals around the world.
Teaching the theory and linking it to real field application made me realise that helping people understand condition monitoring is where I feel most at home.
Q: What do you love the most about your job? What are you most proud of?
Chris: There are a lot of things I love about my work. When I left the mining company where I had spent nearly a third of my life, I expected to focus mainly on consulting. What surprised me was how much I enjoyed teaching reliability and condition monitoring courses.
The best part of teaching is meeting people at the start of a course, understanding where their knowledge is, and then watching that grow as the course progresses. Seeing the change in confidence and understanding from the first day to the last is incredibly rewarding.
I also value the opportunity to travel overseas, meet people from different backgrounds, learn about other cultures, and build genuine connections along the way.
What I am most proud of is achieving all 11 International Council of Machinery Lubrication (ICML) certifications, something only a small number of people worldwide have accomplished.
Q: What advice would you give to someone considering this line of work or new to the field?
Chris: My biggest advice is to expand your knowledge across all condition monitoring disciplines, not just one.
When I first moved into condition monitoring, I noticed a common trend where many analysts specialised in a single technology, such as highly skilled vibration, thermography analysts etc., with limited interest in the others.
I was thrown in the deep end early when I showed interest in a lubrication project and became the department’s lubrication champion, which forced me to learn extremely quickly. While lubrication became my strongest area, I made a conscious effort to continue learning vibration, thermography, ultrasound, and other technologies, often spending time after hours building my knowledge and experience to the same level. It was not an easy task.
Having a broad understanding across multiple disciplines makes you a far more capable condition monitoring professional and gives you a stronger foundation as your career develops.
Q: Can you talk about a project you recently worked on?
Chris: This wasn’t a traditional project, but rather an assignment I was asked to undertake by management in another country. I was brought in to deliver a Mobius Institute Asset Reliability Program course for a group of maintenance and operations leaders working across the site.
The objective from management was for the team to gain a clear understanding of what reliability actually means, how their day-to-day decisions and actions contribute to building and maintaining a reliable plant, and how this directly supports the company’s business objectives.
The group wasn’t briefed on these goals prior to my arrival, which made it especially interesting to see their actual perspective at the start of the course.
By midway through the first day, one of the participants commented, “I now understand what reliability is”. Hearing that was music to my ears and reinforced the value of connecting reliability concepts back to real world operational and maintenance experience in the field.
Q: Anything else you would like to add?
Chris: If you do go into the condition monitoring and reliability field, it’s worth knowing that it’s a fairly niche industry. It’s smaller than people expect, and over time you realise that many people know each other, even around the world.
One thing I’ve learned is that, despite its size, the reliability community is extremely supportive. There are a lot of people in this field who genuinely enjoy sharing their experience and knowledge.
If you’re willing to ask questions, learn, and put in the effort, there’s no shortage of people out there who are happy to help you grow.
Connect with Chris on LinkedIn
THANK YOU, CHRIS! WE LOOK FORWARD TO KEEPING UP WITH YOU THROUGH THE #PUMPTALK COMMUNITY!
