There was a time not too long ago when just about every feature article in this magazine, and many of the columns, too, began with a rundown of the challenges facing industrial enterprises and service providers:

• Increasing competition from all corners of the globe
• Greater demands for quality
• Greater demands for timely delivery of good and services
• Shorter product lifecycles
• A dynamic work force
• Rapidly changing technology

Most of that boilerplate gets hacked out of articles these days, because these challenges represent the status quo for business in the closing years of the 20th Century. Why waste precious paragraphs describing our travails when we can use that space to offer solutions to common problems? Everybody is aware that the only constant is change.

And there will be plenty of changes in this magazine in 1997. The editors and publisher of this magazine have taken steps to increase its utility for readers. Beginning this month you'll note changes to our lineup of monthly and bimonthly columns and you'll see some new names on the masthead.

Tom Inglesby, former editor of Manufacturing Systems and well-known manufacturing analyst, is writing a column, "Zen and the Art of Systems." Every month he'll offer up his insights on the resource management software arena and the application of technology in manufacturing enterprises.

Also debuting this month is a new "Back to Basics" column, the brainchild of software editor Steven Melnyk and R.T. "Chris" Christensen, director of the executive education program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Each month the column will offer up a short, information-rich lesson in basic production and inventory management theory, designed as a tutorial for beginners and as a refresher for experienced practitioners.

Julie Fraser of Industry Directions Inc. will write a bimonthly column on supply chain management that will debut next month. She has been a regular contributor to the magazine for several years and is a well-known and respected industry analyst. She pulled a stint recently with Berclain and before that was an analyst with Advanced Manufacturing Research.

And book reviews are returning to APICS -- The Performance Advantage after a three-year sabbatical. They'll run every other month under the direction of James D. Reeds, who was the book review editor the first time around.


Say hello to Dave
As soon as I see this issue of the magazine printed and in my hands, I will leave the editor's desk (a lovely particleboard and vinyl laminate number with a broken drawer) in the capable hands of my good friend David Greenfield. Dave has been with the company for two years, working as associate editor on this magazine and as managing editor on the bimonthly ORMS Today magazine and on our Intelligent Manufacturing and Intelligent Systems Report newsletters.

According to my new business cards, I'll be senior editor of APICS -- The Performance Advantage, responsible for supplements and software surveys. And I'll be writing a monthly column that focuses on the impact of technology on the workplace. You'll see it in next month's issue.

-- Gregory A. Farley, Editor

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