We’ve been discussing progress a lot lately in the industry. We’re seeing gradual progress in the U.S. manufacturing recovery. We’re seeing it in the finishing industry as well. We’re also seeing progress in the steps we’re taking to improve the NASF.
One of these steps is improving Plating & Surface Finishing. The publication’s legacy and distinguished past speaks for itself. Now, as stewards of its future, its continuity and well-being is up to us.
With changes to the industry in recent years and the right-sizing of the organization, the future of P&SF has arguably been in question. But even with various challenges the magazine has faced, its technical content has remained solid under the very able efforts of our editor, Jim Lindsey, whose work has been of immense value to the industry over time.
With this as a backdrop, we’re looking to make productive changes. Our ultimate objective is to return to a hard copy publication with a strong following and readership. We’re committed to that. In the meantime, we’re committed to maintaining P&SF’s quality, improving its format and readability and strengthening its distribution and relevance for the surface finishing community and beyond.
That’s why we’ve partnered with Gardner Publications to assist us in transforming the magazine in the coming year. Our work with Gardner and our launch this month of P&SF in a new E-magazine format is the first phase of a step-by-step, incremental turnaround for the publication.
NASF will remain in charge of all articles and editorial content. Don Kline and his staff at Gardner will handle the technology platform and the so-called “content management system” to upgrade accessibility and improve distribution.
You’ll notice that under the new format, the articles are definitely easy to access and the content is well-organized. Our aim is also to allow readers the ability to easily download and print full copies.
You’ll also get the impression that the topics and headlines will get before a much wider potential readership, and you’ll be right. With these and other features, the possibility of bringing back our advertising strength will also be a more realistic goal under our new partnership.
We’ve also recently announced that we’ll also be forming a magazine task group to address two things. First, we’d like to solicit feedback from our readers on how the immediate changes are working. Second, we’d like to consider appropriate next steps in the transformation of P&SF. Here, we’ll review and make recommendations on content, the magazine’s role in industry promotion and marketing, new areas for potential coverage and other topics.
In this way, we can ensure that P&SF meets the needs of the industry and the finishing supply chain, and be relied upon as a valued resource for coverage of technical, management and policy issues facing the industry.
We look forward to taking our next steps on what will assuredly be progress ahead.
In response to a backlash of litigation, multiple federal courts have blocked implementation of OSHA and other new vaccine mandates for general industry, the healthcare industry and federal contractors.
Porous alumina can be fabricated electrochemically through anodic oxidation of aluminum. This paper reviews sol-gel chemistry and applications, which also offers unusual nanoporous microstructures. The ability to control pore chemistry at different scales and geometries, provides excellent bioactivity, enabling the entrapment of biologically active molecules and their controllable release for therapeutic and medical applications.
The NASF Research Board has funded a research grant at Wayne State University on sustainability in the surface finishing industry, under the direction of Professor Yinlun Huang. The objective of the work is to create a surface-finishing-specific sustainability metrics system to measure economic, environmental and social sustainability. In this report, a benchmarking study of five plants was undertaken to illustrate how the sustainability assessment works.