Today the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML) announced two groundbreaking certifications that redefine the longstanding boundaries of the industrial lubrication and oil analysis workforce itself.

 

On June 15 ICML will officially launch exams for General Lubrication Concepts (GLC) and Advanced Lubrication Concepts (ALC). These new certifications are designed specifically for cross-functional personnel who have little to no technical lubrication training or direct machinery responsibilities, but whose decisions and actions impact those who do.

 

“A lubrication program is not sustained by technicians alone,” said CEO Bryan Coggins. “Until now, most learning opportunities were happenstance, not truly intentional, and thus they failed to adequately acknowledge, support, and emphasize the profound impact of non-technical influencers within a company’s lubrication management ecosystem.”

 

Historically, lubrication certifications have focused primarily on technicians, analysts, and engineers who work directly with machinery and oil sampling activities. Now, for the first time, a certification provider has developed a dedicated, holistic pathway that formally addresses the practical need for standardized lubrication knowledge well beyond the technical practitioners who perform the work.

 

“The GLC/ALC series offered by ICML represents a major shift in the marketplace, because it changes the way we should view knowledge relevance among the lubrication workforce,” Coggins continued. “Lubrication knowledge matters to a much larger group than the industry has traditionally recognized. This series now provides a standardized means for non-technical roles to acquire important knowledge and perspective in an organized and efficient manner. Everyone who touches the lubrication program, in any way, can now feel like partners, not outsiders, as they confidently work together toward shared organizational objectives. This is something that strictly technical certifications currently offered in the market are not designed to do. The GLC/ALC series changes all of that by enabling us to meet the needs of the entire lubrication ecosystem with a comprehensive suite of offerings.”

 

 

ICML believes the GLC and ALC certifications open up new opportunities for non-technical audiences who have been grossly underserved by training and credential combinations that were never suitably tailored to their actual backgrounds and functional responsibilities. Importantly, they are designed to complement—not in any way replace—ICML’s existing portfolio of technical certifications. The GLC/ALC series starts with “lubrication basics” and evolves into strategic considerations that will directly influence their ability to contribute in meaningful ways.

 

“Too often, lubrication programs succeed or fail based on decisions made outside the maintenance department,” said Mike Gauthier, ICML Board Member and Director of Global Services at Trico Corporation. “The GLC and ALC certifications equip supporting personnel and others with the knowledge needed to become active contributors to reliability rather than passive participants.”

 

“The GLC and ALC certifications are not intended for expert technicians,” said Paul Dufresne, ICML Chairman of the Board and Chief Reliability Officer of Reliability Playbook. “The goal is to help contributors and leaders understand the importance of lubrication as clearly as the technicians who perform it, because non-technical people who understand lubrication concepts are better prepared to transform maintenance from a cost center into a strategic business function, and to do so with a higher probability of success.”

 

The General Lubrication Concepts (GLC) certification provides foundational lubrication and oil analysis literacy for operational support personnel and cross-functional contributors. Ideal candidates include professionals working in procurement, supply chain, inventory management, sales, marketing, business development, workforce development, administration, finance, and other organizational support functions.

The Advanced Lubrication Concepts (ALC) certification expands upon the GLC foundation with deeper exploration of lubrication strategy, condition monitoring, contamination management, lubrication program considerations, and organizational decision-making factors. The ALC is intended for executive leaders, managers, supervisors, facility leaders, technical sales professionals, and other high-impact contributors who influence reliability outcomes through leadership, planning, oversight, and strategic decision-making.

 

 

With the addition of the GLC and ALC certifications, ICML now offers certification pathways that support virtually every participant within the lubrication ecosystem. The result is what ICML believes to be the industry's first truly holistic lubrication certification portfolio, a framework that reflects the full reality of a properly aligned lubrication management program.

 

Coggins explained it further: "When cross-functional teams lack a common vocabulary and understanding of ambitions and risk profiles, the resulting failure to reconcile competing organizational priorities WILL result in missed opportunities and, likely, poor outcomes. Consistent market feedback to ICML made it very obvious that there was an overlooked, critical-path opportunity to develop an efficient means of getting business operations people tuned to the importance of lubricant assets and lubrication practices.”

He continued: “In response, our GLC/ALC series enables these non-technical, cross-functional contributors to accelerate the development of their fundamental technical literacy so that they will contribute to technical discussions and activities in a meaningful, confident manner—thus leading to better business outcomes.”

 

The GLC and ALC certification exams will become available on June 15, 2026, with formal training sessions provided through ICML's global network of independent training partners.

 

For additional information regarding Bodies of Knowledge, eligibility requirements, training opportunities, and exam details, click the GLC and/or ALC tabs on ICML’s Certifications Page.

 

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