It’s that time of year again—the annual transition between calendars.
As the year ends, it’s natural to evaluate your performance and how it measured up against the goals and objectives set back in January (and hopefully periodically updated and adjusted as needed in subsequent months). While it’s important to identify miscues, challenges, and areas for improvement, we also need to reflect on the other side of the ledger, recognizing and rewarding all the positive outcomes—including the daily minutiae that requires clockwork precision but is often unheralded and under-appreciated—documenting best practices and celebrating successes.
For SME and Manufacturing Engineering (ME), 2022 has proven to be consequential. As with most businesses, we continue to assess and plan for evolving business and societal conditions as the so-called “New Normal” takes shape. Challenges include workforce shortages—spurred in part by the well-earned retirements of several key ME team members—supply chain disruptions, rising costs, economic uncertainties, and changing demographics and marketing strategies.
There also was plenty to cheer in 2022, starting with SME’s 90th anniversary! The year was very eventful—literally. The importance and future of in-person events was underscored by the return of IMTS, where SME had a huge presence, as well as the continued success of our annual FABTECH Expo and growing emergence of RAPID + TCT and the Smart Manufacturing Experience.
At ME, there’s never a shortage of content as we continue to cover the latest advances, trends, and new technologies. This is especially true for the Voices AMplified series (in both ME and Smart Manufacturing magazine) launched in January to spotlight and share insights from dynamic leaders in additive manufacturing.
The change in calendars also marks a new beginning, filled with opportunities—building on past successes and planning for the future. One of the things readers will notice in 2023 is a change in frequency. Starting with our next issue (January/February), ME will be published 10 times a year. While you can continue to expect the same industry-leading content in print editions, covering key tooling and machining topics with insightful analysis from industry experts, we’ll be adding features and expanding our digital presence. We encourage all readers to let us know how we’re doing and suggest topics that you’d like to see covered in upcoming issues.
This issue is best described as energetic—with articles on energy parts manufacturing and design. In ”No Room for Error,” Contributing Editor Kip Hanson details how better design tools can reduce infrastructure risks and improve efficiency. Other highlights include updates on machine tooling and workholding trends.
I hope you enjoy this issue, and look forward to meeting you in 2023!
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