Change is the Law of Life

September marks the beginning of autumn—the days are getting shorter, the nights are getting cooler and those beautiful, bright, crisp days are right around the corner. Fall brings on numerous changes in our lives, and as I think about the change of seasons, I am reminded about the tremendous change the Finishing Industry has undergone—consolidation, tough regulatory laws, offshore competition and so much more. Yes, we have experienced change—change of season, change of jobs, change of business techniques and change of life. We all should be conditioned to change. As they say, change is the one constant in this world.

I started with Products Finishing 29 years ago as a sales guy and as I think about my experience with PF, I reflect on the incredible evolution, change and growth the industry and the magazine has seen.

But to go back even further, Products Finishing magazine was started by Don Gardner in October of 1936. When the magazine was first published, everything was done by hand. Each letter had to be placed in its proper position and then a circular stamp would stamp each page with the proper text. Let it be said, the staff of PF is incredibly grateful for the invention of the computer. Although the magazine has continued to change with the industry and its own publishing technology, one thing that hasn’t change is PF’s commitment to the industry, its readers and its mission. Since its beginnings, Products Finishing has covered all aspects of finishing. With its first issue, PF assumed the task of "searching out and disseminating the newest and best information available concerning metal finishing methods in all of its various ramifications, including cleaning, polishing, buffing, plating, lacquering and so on, and neither effort nor expense will be spared in the performance of this task." PF’s commitment to provide the highest service to the industry served as the foundation of the magazine then and that service continues today.

As a further commitment to excellence, we are pleased to announce the addition of James Destefani as the editorial director for PF. Jim has been a professional communicator for more than 20 years. In that time, he has written on topics including metal cutting and forming, quality management, plastic injection molding, materials science and industrial controls. Jim comes to us from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers where he was Senior Editor for Manufacturing Engineering and was also editor of Molding Systems. Jim has a B.A. in journalism from Ohio State and studied at the OSU college of Engineering for two years before switching to journalism. I have personally known Jim for most of his career and have grown to respect his excellent skills in writing excellent application articles.

John Kennedy once said "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." We here at PF are excited about this change and are looking forward to the future and to a long and fruitful relationship between the industry, PF and Jim.