Editorial

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Supply chains and logistics are an integral and important part of a successful manufacturing operation. They have always been so, but with the advent of the COVID-19 virus and its having shut down the world’s economy for a time during a period of global quarantine, supply-chain issues have since taken center stage for consumers and manufacturers alike.

This month, we are shining the spotlight on a variety of associations within our industry to discuss the resources they have to offer readers. 

Believe it or not, there is good news out there regarding the economy. In fact, if you were to browse through the news section of our website, you can find several large investments in U.S. manufacturing – as well as the resulting creation of jobs – since the start of the year.

Industrial Heating published its first Buyers Guide eBook in July 2021. Well, it’s back in 2022.

Yesterday I bought a simple, gas-powered Craftsman lawnmower with a Briggs & Stratton engine. It wasn’t very fancy, it wasn’t self-propelled and it didn’t have a lot of “bells and whistles.” It did, however, happen to be exactly what I wanted – a basic workhorse lawnmower to cut grass at my daughter’s rental property.

There is a plethora of automotive news this month. Never before have I seen so much significant news coming out of the auto industry. We will do our best to parse it in this column and in the podcast.

As an editor in business-to-business media, I have watched for more than 30 years as good-paying manufacturing jobs slowly disappeared from the United States toward foreign countries eager to build up their economic prospects through basic manufacturing and job creation.

The cool thing about this treasure trove of technical information is that we are able to track what visitors look at – including articles that were posted in the early 2000s. 

With this issue, we continue the circle of life for FORGE magazine. For those of us who have been around since 2006, you are aware that FORGE started from Industrial Heating (IH).

Since January is the month we try to focus on new technologies and products impacting the thermal-processing industry, let’s take a look at some recent news items that have come across my desk (or rather appeared in my inbox).