About Tesibis & Related Entities
Founded by industry pioneers with a track record of leadership in lubrication education, research & expert analysis
Tesibis’s business objective is to provide technical consulting services to law firms, practitioners and designers/builders of mechanical machinery. This includes lubrication engineering, lubricant analysis, and expert testimony. Tesibis’s consulting services are provided in partnership with Noria Corporation.
Professional Timeline in Lubrication
Decades of leadership and innovation in lubrication education, research, and expert analysis.
Tesibis was founded in Tulsa, Oklahoma to provide objective, technically rigorous consulting in lubrication, tribology, oil analysis, and machinery reliability. The firm supports industry, government, and legal clients with expert evaluation of lubrication systems, failure investigations, contamination control, and laboratory coordination. Tesibis blends hands-on field experience with scientific analysis to uncover root causes, improve asset performance, and deliver clear, defensible conclusions for both operational and litigation environments. Curious about the name Tesibis? Learn how it traces back to one of history’s earliest pioneers of precision engineering—Ctesibius of Alexandria. ↓
Mr. Fitch is co-founder of Pabelon LLC and Pabelon LATAM, sister entities offering consolidated workforce training solutions for site-level reliability and maintenance staff. Pabelon training is structured for data analysts, data collectors, inspectors, maintenance managers, reliability engineers and operators. Training subjects and curriculum include basic craft skills, planning & scheduling, work management, inspection, stores, RCA, RCM, troubleshooting, asset management, CMMS, TPM, and maintenance management. Alejandro Trujillo is the CEO of Pabelon.
Tom Fitch (CEO) and Jim Fitch co-founded Tulsa-based Luneta LLC, the world’s leading supplier of proprietary lubricant inspection products. These products include novel inspection sight glasses and wireless oil level sensors. Luneta’s products are sold through over 100 distributors worldwide. Tom Fitch is the son of Jim Fitch.
In 2000, Jim Fitch and Noria’s senior executives founded the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML), the largest competency certifying body in maintenance and reliability. It was incorporated as a 501 6C non-profit. During that time, Fitch served as U.S. delegate to ISO in developing lubrication standards, training and certification. Since its founding, the ICML has certified over 40,000 people worldwide. Mr. Fitch was instrumental in constructing the original Body of Knowledge and Domain of Knowledge for its numerous certifications including the prestigious Machinery Lubrication Engineer (MLE) certification.
Noria Corporation, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was founded in 1997 by Jim Fitch with the single focus of helping user organizations improve machine reliability through the deployment of best practices in lubrication and oil analysis. Its services business model included training, consulting, publishing and conferencing. Since that time, its approach has changed how organizations manage and monitor lubricants for maintaining optimum reliability and safety. In 2025 Noria became a part of the Reliability Won family of asset reliability and condition monitoring training and services companies. Noria’s president today is Bennett Fitch, son of Jim Fitch.
Diagnetics, Inc. was founded in 1982 by Jim Fitch and his father Dr. Ernest Fitch. Diagnetics developed, manufactured and marketed proprietary lubricant analysis instruments, software and services for the maintenance technology field. Products were sold in more than 40 countries and were endorsed by Caterpillar, U.S. Department of Defense (JOAP) and numerous other major corporations. Diagnetics is most well-known for inventing the pore blockage particle counter deploying the flow-decay principle. The international market research firm Frost & Sullivan, in their 200-page report on the condition monitoring industry, stated, “Diagnetics is the industry leader worldwide in oil analysis equipment for predictive maintenance.” Diagnetics designed and implemented a full-service commercial oil analysis laboratory for industrial customers. In 1997 Diagnetics was sold to the Entek IRD division of Rockwell Automation.
Jim Fitch began his lifelong career in lubrication and oil analysis as a part-time engineering technician at the Fluid Power Research Center (FPRC), Oklahoma State University. The FPRC was the preeminent research center in fluid power. It was founded in the mid 1960s by his father Dr. Ernest Fitch, emeritus professor at OSU. The 25,000 square feet FPRC laboratory employed over 150 people and conducted millions of dollars in research under industry and government contracts. The FPRC was the publisher of the Basic Fluid Power Research Journal.
Ctesibius of Alexandria
Ctesibius (spelling variations: Ktesibios or Tesibius or Tesibis) (Ancient Greek: Κτησίβιος; fl. 285–222 BCE) was a Greek inventor and mathematician in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt. He was likely the first head of the Museum of Alexandria. He wrote the first treatises on the science of compressed air and its uses in pumps (and even in a kind of cannon). Although none of his written work has survived, his research was chronicled by Athenaeus, Vitruvius, and others.
Ctesibius’s most commonly known invention today is a pipe organ (called a hydraulis), a predecessor of the modern church organ. He improved the water clock or clepsydra, which for more than 1,800 years was the most accurate clock ever constructed.
Ctesibius described one of the first force pumps for producing a jet of water, used for lifting water from wells. Examples have been found at various Roman sites.
First Recorded Use of a Lubricant. Why was a spelling variation of Ctesbius used to name a company? As cited in Duncan Dowson’s “History of Tribology,” a rare and earliest-known mention in written-record of the use of a lubricant in a machine occurred with the twin-cylinder water pump developed by Ctesibius. Vitruvius wrote “… pistons smoothly turned, rubbed with oil, and inserted from above in the cylinders…”
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Expert Witness Credentials
James C. Fitch
Lubrication Engineering Consultant & Expert Witness in Mechanical Failure Investigations
- 45+ Years of Experience
- Dozens of High-Profile Legal Cases
- 16 U.S. Patents Lubrication
- Founder of Noria Corporation
- Published Author & Keynote Speaker
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More About James C. Fitch
James C. Fitch brings over 45 years of battle-hardened experience in machinery lubrication, oil analysis, tribology, and machine reliability. He is a highly sought after consultant, lecturer and expert witness. He has served as trusted advisor to many of the world’s leading organizations.
Mr. Fitch is founder and former CEO of Noria Corporation that has served thousands of commercial, government and legal clients. Noria provides services in lubrication, tribology, chemistry, oil analysis, and machinery reliability. Mr. Fitch is formerly the editor of Noria’s Practicing Oil Analysis and Machinery Lubrication magazines.
Mr. Fitch has 16 patents and has published numerous books, journal papers, and technical articles. During his career, he has given more than 500 lectures in some 20 countries. Mr. Fitch is also the founder of the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML) and is co-founder/owner of Luneta LLC and Pabelon LLC.
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