Future looks green for S.T.L. Lubrifiants

S.T.L. Lubrifiants heads Robert Soucy, President and CEO, and Alain Simard, Director of Operations, are genuine promoters of innovation. For them, leading-edge technology, green energy and forestry have proven to be as winning a combination as have gains in efficiency, safety and health.

Robert Soucy is the inventor of ENVIROSYS, a lubrication system that is revolutionizing the logging sector. Just talking to this trained chemist is enough to make anyone want to rush out and order four cases of lubricant for feller head cutting chains and chain guides!

The ENVIROSYS, which uses biodegradable vegetable-based grease to lubricate moving parts on feller heads, is an alternative solution to the use of conventional lubricants.

The system reduces the oil discharged into the environment by 90%, which means the equivalent of the contents of 214 cistern trucks could be saved every year if the 3,000 or so fellers in operation in Canada were to convert to the ENVIROSYS!

The system is simple to use: a small hose that runs from the tank to the feller head makes it easy to regulate the flow and quantity of grease required.

Alain Simard is categorical:
“You have to be able to inject a specific quantity of grease when it is needed.”

Robert Soucy adds: “The precision of the injection is our system’s strength, but it is also its weakness because there is very little leeway.”

The precise regulation is achieved using a touchscreen installed in the vehicle cab. Users can opt for the pre-determined setting custom established for their needs or choose to manually enter the different parameters.

Thousands of tests and adjustments were needed—not to mention extensive tweaking and fine-tuning of various prototypes—to arrive at the final version of the ENVIROSYS system. But the leaders of the company were so convinced of the value and merit of their product that they never let themselves get discouraged.

Among its other advantages, the system, which helps reduce the number of handling operations along with about 65% to 70% of the lubricant costs per feller head, also provides 12 times more autonomous operation per fill-up, eliminates the performance losses normally caused by refueling, increases the useful life of parts and improves worker safety.

“To deliver this version of the system—our most complete to date—we had to consider tonnes of parameters and understand a multitude of details. It was a lengthy and complex process, but we had to go through it to achieve the level of precision we were after,” says Alain Simard, displaying the inner working of the latest version’s control box.

Customers agreed to field test the system’s functions in real conditions for a year to validate the company’s hypotheses. The initial findings exceeded all expectations: “It was almost too good to be true,” says Mr. Soucy.

In 2007, after the process was further strengthened and validated and the results proved conclusive, S.T.L. Lubrifiants filed for a patent with financial support from Canada Economic Development.

“The Agency really gave us a helping hand.  We wanted to patent the use of grease in the place of oil on forest machinery,” explains the CEO. “Patent research and certification are costly propositions.”

In August 2008, the company attended its first trade show in Finland, where the invention won top honours. Since then, S.T.L. Lubrifiants’ client list has been steadily growing, with its biodegradable grease and ENVIROSYS systems flying off the shelf for export markets in Europe, the United States, South America and even New Zealand.

“We are now getting to know the markets better and better,” says Robert Soucy.  “This year, we managed to gain inroads into Caterpillar, a key player in the United States. That proves that our system is on point.”

“The forest crisis is tough on everyone, but it’s also the best time to be doing what we’re doing,” adds Alain Simard. “Companies are looking for ways to improve their operations, to be more cost-effective…”

And, as they both conclude, “ENVIROSYS is the only way. It’s the path of future!”