Nick Reich: Twenty Years of Testing, Training & Tribologik

From cocktail parties to the local gym, when he meets people unfamiliar with the world of industrial testing, Nicholas (“Nick”) Reich, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at IIA Tribologik, uses this go-to analogy to explain his work.

“When you go to the doctor for your annual check-up, sometimes they take a sample of blood and send it to the lab. Our testing is like a blood test for machines,” says Nick, offering another everyday example: “When you go to a gas station and fill up your car, how do you know you’re getting premium gas when you press that premium button? Inspectors pull samples from those pumps and send them to a lab for testing. And we are the lab that does that.”

Founded in 1984, Tribologik Laboratories — operating today as IIA Tribologik — provides ASTM-compliant oil, fuel, coolant and grease testing to help customers monitor the condition of industrial, mining and transport equipment. Testing covers three key areas of concern: contamination, equipment wear-and-tear, and fluid degradation.

“We test any liquid that’s going to touch a machine,” says Nick. “We are looking for anything that doesn’t belong in the sample – metals that came from the machine, as well as foreign contaminants. We also look at degradation of oils and other fluids that wear out as they age and eventually expire, like food would.”

A born problem-solver, Nick has helped make IIA Tribologik the well-oiled machine it is today.

It all began back in 2004 when Nick joined Tribologik Laboratories in Quebec. Before putting his Finance degree to the test, he began learning the ins-and-outs of fluids testing. He earned his certification as a Level II Machine Lubricant Analyst (MLS) from the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML) and eventually moved into roles in finance, accounting, sales, marketing and management.

These days, Nick brings hands-on lab experience into his sales role, where he connects customers to the custom testing solutions they need. He travels frequently to conduct on-site training and enjoys getting back into the lab on occasion to assist with development and testing.

His days are filled with ever-changing faces, places and tasks, and Nick wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I like the variety of people, companies, and industries that I get to work with. I’m glad my life is not just a ‘copy-paste’ every day,” says Nick, who was curious even as a kid. “I was always trying to do something different – explore new sports and activities and learn new things. I never liked routine very much.”

With labs in Quebec and Indiana, IIA Tribologik serves customers in North America, Central America and South America. But it was his home country of Canada that brought Nick one of his most memorable work assignments in the famously inaccessible territory of Nunavet.

“It was a very big, complicated project for a utility client. On top of traveling to these very, very remote communities to do training, I had to work with haz-mat shipping and logistics and figure out how to get samples from basically the North Pole to our lab in Quebec,” recalls Nick. “We were successful in the end, and now we’re pretty much the only ones that provide these testing services for that client.”

In his free time, Nick brings his intense work ethic to his workouts as well. You’ll often find him at the gym, where he enjoys doing different types of workouts (although squash remains his sport of choice).

With clients ranging from aerospace and national defense to power generation and public transit, Nick is well aware of the vital role liquids testing plays in making the world safer.

“The work we do helps to ensure that power plants keep running, and that critical backup power systems for data centers and hospitals work when they are needed,” says Nick. “We help to make sure that city buses operate safely and that planes don’t fall out of the sky.”

Aside from the notable qualifications and experience you’ll find at IIA Tribologik, Nick says custom solutions are what set them apart from competitors.

“We don’t just offer clients pre-packaged services. We provide custom reporting, custom flagging limits, custom comments, and custom test packages,” he explains. “Anything they need, we work closely with our clients to make it happen.”

During his 20-year career, Nick has earned a reputation among co-workers and clients as the person to go to when you have questions or problems.

“Work is a big priority in my life. I care a lot about what I do,” he says. “If I don’t know the answer to your question, I’m going to find it.”