Our Industry Person of the Week is Lisa Williams, a Technical Training Manager at Ametek Spectro Scientific.
Q: How did you get started working in your field?
Lisa: I first started working in the industry when I was a junior in college. I was hired as an intern at MRG Labs, which was a small start-up at the time. I worked part-time in the lab my last two years of college and upon graduation was hired to manage the lab. From there, I never looked back and really feel in love with the industry. I had (and still have) great mentors in the industry that shared all of their knowledge with me and helped me grow as an individual and professional in this field.
Q: What do you love the most about your job? What are you most proud of?
Lisa: I enjoy the problem-solving that comes with the job. In OCM, everyone has different goals unique to their facility or site. In wind applications it may be to go up-tower less frequently, in manufacturing it may be zero down-time, or in off-road applications it may be less trips to the maintenance bay. Whatever the challenge is, CBM data can be used in any of those situations to help the end-user achieve their goals. There is nothing cookie-cutter about developing and optimizing a lubrication program. I find that very intriguing and exciting. I’m also very proud and honored to serve a Subcommittee Chair for ASTM D02 CS96. I took over the position in 2021 replacing long-time chair, Bryan Johnson. Bryan’s mentorship and leadership have certainly been appreciated as I develop in this role. It’s been very rewarding.
Q: What advice would you give to someone considering this line of work or new to the field?
Lisa: There is a lot of opportunity in this line of work. Be aware of the people around you and look for someone who can be a mentor. Not just with the everyday tasks, but also with overall professionalism. Take every training course that you can to learn more about the industry. Many of these topics (tribology, lubrication analysis, etc) are not taught in a typical four-year college so in order to be successful, additional education is needed beyond the science or engineering degree.
Q: Can you talk about a project you recently worked on?
Lisa: I recently served as editor and co-chair of the ASTM Symposium: “Standard Guides and Practices that Support the Lubricant Condition Monitoring Industry”. This was such a fun and challenging project that I was able to work on with my good friend and colleague, Mindy Villalba, of SGS North America. As a result of this two-year long effort, we were able to host an in-person symposium of 25 technical papers and also co-edit and publish an STP document (STP 1634) that went along with the symposium. It was a lot of fun sorting through all the technical papers and learning about all the new ideas in our industry.
Connect with Lisa Williams on LinkedIn.
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