My proud boast is that I never got a job at a competitive interview but was continuously employed for over 30 years. The sensible version of that statement is that I worked so hard and well at each current role, I was either headhunted or made myself the blindingly obvious choice for my next role. For example, in my role as the leader on the ground of John Evans’ group at Southampton, I was the group’s spokesperson at the Daresbury user conferences. This marked me out in the eyes of my future boss at ICI. As I was leaving ICI, I was told by my HR officer that she had been instructed to headhunt me, but I saved her the trouble by applying for a job anyway!
Are you a lifer? If yes, how do you see your career panning out over the next 20/30/40 years? I guess 27 years in Lubricants (as of February 2025) is close to “life.” But the earlier experience of postdoctoral research, my 5 years in the chemicals industry and 8 years in analytical science have all been important. If I’m a “lifer” in anything, it’s in Chemistry. My PhD was on model systems for Fischer- Tropsch catalysis, which is used in GTL manufacture and a lot of fuels from waste. My post-doctoral research was on metallocene catalysts that are used in manufacturing the newer PAOs.
I’m loving what I do: consulting, writing, podcasting and speaking at conferences. This year I’ll begin to moderate conference sessions.
How has the industry changed since you started? Working in a large corporation (Shell), globalisation was a massive thing. It drove the creation of Shell’s global lubricants business, the consolidation and optimisation of the product portfolio, assets, lines of business, supply chain activities and customer relationships. De-globalisation is going to be an interesting challenge, but you see evidence of it with almost every global player having R&D centres and manufacturing capability on at least 3 continents.
I see the migration east as being part of globalisation, but now there’s a counter current. I’m not sure that Europe has placed itself well for the flow of cheap EVs from China, in particular.
The other major change has been in regulation; although I can comfortably say that we were well-ahead of the curve. I was privileged to have a powerful and motivated woman in my team who
drove business compliance with corporate policies on environmental and social responsibility, years before they were buzz words. The emerging lubricants business took time to build its ESG structures. We were well ahead of REACH, and championed things like RSPO-certified palm oil in the noughties. She was way too junior to be the decision-maker, but she did what was right and kind of dared the decision makers to challenge what she said. Everyone trusted her integrity and depth of knowledge.
What do you like about the industry? And what would you change if you could? I love that there are so many “lifers” in the industry: people I’ve known while they have been with three or four different employers. Flippantly, the thing I’d change is that they offered me more work!
What challenges do you think the industry faces? Our perennial problem has always seemed to be persuading more customers to view lubricants as components that enhance the effectiveness of their machines: whether that’s lower energy consumption, longer maintenance intervals or less pollution (noise, particulates, smells, ease of disposal). If they are not convinced, they just look at the price per litre or quart, which leads to commoditisation.
How do you balance work life with home life? Since I’ve been self-employed, my wife is much more resistant to the concept of business travel. The other thing we have (business trips excepted) is a commitment to “wine Wednesday.” Whereby we eat and spend the evening together with no work interruptions.
Favourite quote? “’I presumed’ is a swear word.” I used this a lot with my team, as I’d usually hear it when someone was trying to explain how they arrived at the wrong decision through insufficient research.
The full length interview with Trevor can be read on the Lube Media website.
www.lube-media.com/ digital-exclusives
www.gauntlettconsulting.co.uk
LUBE MAGAZINE NO.187 JUNE 2025
65
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
