INTERVIEW Q&A
Jan Trocki, General Manager - Europe, SK Lubricants
What did you study in college? I studied Chemistry while I was working at Castrol.
You have an impressive career history. What made you choose the lubricant industry as your career? Can you tell us about your career path? I just fell into it really. Castrol Technology was not far from my home. I started in the laboratory in Product Development then moved to Technical Support which exposed me to everything. After a period in motorsport including Formula 1, I moved into more customer facing and marketing/commercial leadership roles. For over 30 years I’ve been a frequent traveller so learned about working remotely with other cultures and disciplines.
What projects or accomplishments do you consider to be the most significant in your career? I was heavily involved in the very first “Long Life” project which was a big change for the industry. I helped Toyota win the World Rally Championship by managing the lubrication – I never thought I’d end up following the Safari Rally in a light aircraft!
Your interesting career journey has taken you all over the world and this market place is truly international, which region fascinates you the most and why?
I find some of the emerging markets in Asia interesting – they are following the path we have already been through in Europe but they are at different points of the journey. The changes in Europe have been huge going from DIY to DIFM (and “Don’t Care”) and with that the changing market channels and technical needs.
What do you see as the biggest challenges to the lubrication industry?
The challenge has been and still is in demonstrating to end users the real value of higher performance technology. Too many lubricant marketers focus on low budget products and that doesn’t do the industry any favours. This leads to another challenge of defending quality but I think the Trade Bodies have just sat around and not addressed the real issues. Of course, the replacement
62 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.145 JUNE 2018
of internal combustion engines by electrified powertrains will be a challenge but it is not going to be as fast or limiting as some think – internal combustion engines will be around for another 30 years or more.
What do you see as the biggest opportunity for the lubrication industry? Realising the actual product is mostly irrelevant.
Assume we are having this conversation in one year’s time, what will have been your greatest achievement this year? I can’t tell you that right now!
Can you tell us about a time when things didn’t go the way you wanted - or a project that didn’t turn out how you had hoped. I survived some bad career moves but realised it is better to have a good reputation than a fancy job title.
Who do you most admire and why? In the industry, I’ve been lucky to work with great people and some real leaders. I named my dog after one of them – he’s a German shorthaired pointer called Hubert!
What advice would you give to people entering the industry? Stick at it. It’s a niche industry and it creates specialism. I’ve seen a lot of changes and never been bored so I think newcomers can expect an interesting career. Also remember you meet most people more than once!
Looking back what advice would you have given yourself at start of your career? I’m somewhat stubborn so I wouldn’t have listened, but I think going to bed earlier sometimes would’ve been helpful!
LINK
www.sk.com
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