Molykote's Chad Chichester Takes NLGI Presidency: What It Signals for Industrial Grease Specs

Source: DuPont MOLYKOTE Official Site (June 11, 2026)

At the 2026 NLGI Annual Meeting held June 8-11 in Palm Springs, CA, DuPont MOLYKOTE Application Development Engineer Chad Chichester assumed the presidency of the National Lubricating Grease Institute. MOLYKOTE participated as a Platinum Sponsor, and the DuPont team presented a technical session on electrical testing and characterization of lubricants.

For shop owners and fleet buyers, this is worth paying attention to beyond the headline. The NLGI sets the consistency grades (NLGI 0 through 6) and the GC-LB service classifications that govern what goes on your specification sheets, your OEM approval requirements, and your shelf-stocking decisions. Having a working engineer from a major specialty grease manufacturer step into the NLGI presidency means the person helping shape those standards is someone who develops formulations for real-world industrial and automotive applications, not a committee bureaucrat.

The DuPont technical session on electrical testing of lubricants is also directly relevant to buyers stocking shops that service electric vehicles, motors, switchgear, or any application where a grease's dielectric properties matter. As high-voltage and electrified equipment becomes more common in service bays and on fleets, the electrical characterization of a grease is no longer a niche spec. It is becoming a baseline purchasing criterion.

Why Molykote Specialty Greases Belong on Your Approved Vendor List

Molykote's product line is built around application-specific formulations where a general-purpose grease will not hold up: extreme low temperatures, high-vacuum environments, O-ring and valve assemblies, metal-to-metal assembly under high load, and electrical insulation. These are not products you substitute casually. When a spec calls for Molykote 111 on a valve seat or Molykote 33 in a low-temperature bearing application, the formulation detail matters and the NLGI grade is part of that specification.

Buying in case quantities through a wholesale source locks in consistent batch sourcing from a single vendor relationship, reduces your per-unit cost, and means you are not scrambling for individual tubes from a retail distributor when a job comes through. Molykote compounds have long shelf lives when stored properly, so carrying a case is a low-risk inventory decision for any shop doing regular valve work, electrical assembly, or precision bearing service.

Molykote 111 Compound: O-Ring and Valve Lubricant

The Molykote 111 Compound O-Ring and Valve Lubricant (14.1 oz. / 400g Cartridges, 20-piece case) is one of the most broadly specified Molykote products in industrial and pneumatic applications. It is a silicone-based compound with a translucent appearance, compatible with most elastomers, and used where petroleum-based greases would degrade O-ring materials or cause swell. It carries no NLGI classification in the traditional sense (it is a compound rather than a grease), but it is subject to the same kind of formulation-level consistency that NLGI membership and standards work helps protect across the industry.

At bulk quantities, the 20-cartridge case brings the per-unit cost down significantly compared to sourcing tubes individually. For shops doing valve repair, pneumatic cylinder rebuilds, or plumbing assembly at volume, this is the format that makes sense.

View Molykote 111 Compound (20-Cartridge Case) on Bulk55.com

Bulk55 also stocks a full range of other active Molykote compounds including Molykote 33 Light and Medium (extreme low-temperature grease), Molykote BR2 Plus (multi-purpose EP grease), Molykote D-321 R (anti-friction coating aerosol), Molykote 55 O-Ring Grease, Molykote Hi Vac Grease, and Molykote G-N Plus Metal Assembly Paste. If your shop runs multiple Molykote specs across different applications, sourcing them through a single wholesale account simplifies ordering and keeps your per-case pricing consistent.