As the saying goes, “All good things must come to an end.” That end is coming for a storied brand, Industrial Heating, as well as FORGE. At various anniversaries, we have documented that IH began as Fuels & Furnaces 100 years ago. As our cover indicates, F&F became Industrial Heating in 1933. IH has weathered many a storm in the cyclic manufacturing and steel industries for more than 90 years, but that resilience could not weather the most recent storms.
Our parent company, BNP Media, has decided that the manufacturing books of Industrial Heating, FORGE, Process Heating and Process Cooling will cease operations as of August 31. You are reading the last of more than 1,000 issues. Without too much boring detail, the “storms” to which I refer are the Internet (digital media), COVID-19 and a potential looming recession. These three and more conspired to create the perfect storm, which we could not weather.
Within those stormy factors, many decisions were made. Some of those business decisions were not the best for our brands, and each one chipped away at our viability. I won’t get into those weeds, but no single factor was to blame for where we are today.
Needless to say, our staff (for the most part) is scrambling to find the next career opportunity. That is not exclusively true, however, because my career ends with Industrial Heating. Three years ago, I documented my 40-year career path. Check it out if you are interested. Being now 43 years deep into this field, I am simply unwilling to move to yet a new career. As the sage Bilbo Baggins once commented, “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”
So, that means that an era and a career are coming to an end with this corporate decision. I am so grateful for the trust that you, our readers, have put in me these past 17 years and grateful to have had the opportunity to serve you. I wish it could have been longer, but 17 years is a “good run” (as a friend recently commented), and you have been an important part of that. Thank you!
Reed Miller
Technical Editor
412-225-9472
