International Appliance Manufacturing 2008 - (Page 2) Publisher’s Message Changing Drivers Fern Sheinman, Publisher International Appliance Manufacturing, Appliance Design It was not that long ago that the title of this publication, International Appliance Manufacturing, would have seemed curious. The appliance industry, instead of being international in scope, was largely provincial. For much of its history, the industry consisted of regional manufacturers marketing to a regional base of consumers. Factories were located in the same region as the market, and they sourced materials and components from regional suppliers. Appliances were designed and built to regional needs and standards. The drive toward globalization of the industry started incrementally at first, but then accelerated rapidly, as both appliance makers and their suppliers started looking beyond their traditional regional boundaries. Toward the end of the last century, two events spurred the trend and heralded the future: Electrolux jumping into North America with the purchase of Frigidaire, and Whirlpool leaping into Europe by buying Philips’ home appliance business. Appliance industry suppliers mirrored the trend with their own acquisitions and entries into new territories. By the turn of the century, everyone in the business was eyeing China as a land of opportunity, for cost-effective manufacturing and sourcing, and for developing a new and fertile market. Seeing what the future held, two visionaries, Malcolm Barnes and Katie O’Donnell, launched this publication in 1997. They realized that a global appliance industry required a global exchange of knowledge. Their goal was to collect technical information from a variety of international appliance industry suppliers, and share that information with appliance manufacturers globally. The need for such knowledge sharing was compelling because, as the trend toward globalization raced ahead, new technology was also rocketing forward. The advent of low-cost semiconductors fueled an electronics boom in the industry. At the same time, progress continued in the development of innovative materials and manufacturing processes. These changes made it imperative for everyone to take a world view of knowledge. Industry suppliers had to spread their message everywhere, and appliance makers had to search for new ideas everywhere. appliance industry. Appliance Design is a monthly magazine that has been serving the global appliance industry for more than 55 years. It is a publication of BNP Media, a leading business-to-business publishing company based in Troy, Mich., U.S.A. The goal of the acquisition was to achieve some marketing synergies between the two publications, both of which provide appliance industry suppliers opportunities to reach appliance manufacturers. International Appliance Manufacturing was established to serve those needs, and has done so for more than a decade by annually publishing a collection of technical papers and distributing them to more than 5,000 appliance industry professionals around the world. Readers consist of managers and engineers at companies that make household appliances. In July 2007, Appliance Design magazine acquired International Appliance Manufacturing magazine from Ashokan International to further its service to the global Appliance Design goes to market somewhat differently, in that it focuses on reaching design engineers. However, it will continue to publish International Appliance Manufacturing magazine in its current format, to its current circulation, and with the same mission: to serve the global appliance industry with new and useful information. As a vehicle for touring the world of appliance design and manufacturing, this publication will stay the course. Only the driver has changed. We hope you will stay along for the ride. Fern Sheinman, Publisher sheinmanf@bnpmedia.com www.applianceDESIGN.com 2 International Appliance Manufacturing 2008 http://www.applianceDESIGN.com
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