New Year, New Face, New Challenges

In the last couple of years, numerous precision parts manufacturing heavyweights have written and been written about in this column. It has hosted Bruno Schmitter of Hydromat, Rudiger Kapitza of DMG, Tom Dierks of Tornos, Yves Scemama of LNS, Klaus Voos of Index and Alan Konieczka of DeVlieg Bullard, to name a few. Each has voiced his views about the industry and other topics.

So it’s not too much of a stretch, owing to the previous company occupying this space in PM, to ask “who the heck is Travis Egan?” It’s a fair question. Allow me to introduce myself, because my plan is to be involved in this business for a long time, and my hope is that we get to know each other well. There’s no time like the present to begin.

My experience in trade magazine publishing dates back to the early 1990s. In less than 10 years, I have seen all sides of the trade publication desk: from ad production to publication layout and design to field sales.

I’ve been directly involved with Production Machining since its inception—first as field salesperson in Chicago and then as associate publisher. Now I have been given the exciting challenge to sit at the helm of Production Machining magazine as its publisher.

My continuing education in manufacturing has taken me to all corners of North America and throughout Europe. In my travels, I have witnessed many different manufacturing philosophies and approaches. My strong affinity for our business has grown beyond simply an interest in publishing into a passion for the screw machine industry.

As publisher, I will continue to look for and learn about techniques and technologies that can positively impact your shop’s business. Art and science come together in screw machine shops around the world, and I see it as our job to describe to you processes that work and products that perform, and then present them in a context that can relate to your business.

I recently had the opportunity to attend the PMPA annual meeting in Palm Springs, California. While challenges to our industry are large and serious, they are not insurmountable. At the meeting, I had the opportunity to witness the great passion for the screw machine industry of many of those attending. That passion and “can do” attitude give me renewed confidence in the future of this industry. It is this passion that I would like to instill onto the pages of PM in every issue.

It is especially true that in times of worldwide economic downturn, an industry’s trade magazine is uniquely positioned to be an important and positive symbol for that industry. For the industry to continue successfully, we must react by continuing to develop our businesses and products. It is our job to look past these difficult economic times and into the future to provide you with new ideas and focused technology solutions.

I hope that as we move forward into 2003 you will see, on every page of the magazine, information that is useful and interesting. I know I speak for our editors (Chris Koepfer and Leo Rakowski) who are out in the field each day, our editorial production manager (Katie Kelley), and everyone else involved with the magazine in saying this. We want this magazine to be of use to you.

We welcome your input and comments about how we can continue to improve the contents of this magazine. We are deeply devoted to the continuing development of the screw machine industry in North America.

If you’d like to get in touch with me, you can e-mail me at tegan@gardnerweb.com.