Looking ahead to 2007, I must say that I am truly stoked about a number of new Metal Finishing initiatives on tap for the coming year. The entire staff has been hard at work over the last few months developing ideas and concepts to refresh the content within these pages. While I'm hesitant to completely spoil all the surprises for you at this point in time, eager reader, I will call your attention to one particular new feature section slated to kick off in January: "The Plater's Profile."

Here's the concept: Metal Finishing magazine will identify a select number of platers and/or coaters around the country (five to six, ideally) for the primary purpose of profiling those companies in targeted issues of the magazine next year. Mind you, we’re not talking about run-of-the-mill, cookie-cutter features here. What we envision are profiles uniquely tailored to the plater's business, be it a concentration on industrial accounts, a focus on niche services, environmental stewardship, etc. We're talking about well-thought-out feature treatments that are sure to catch—and retain—the reader’s attention.

Still not excited? Well, imagine this: at least three to four full pages of coverage spanning the spectrum of your company’s operations. In theory, this might entail high-impact, professional-grade photographs depicting your finishing processes and technologies (barring any trade secrets, of course). Or, it could involve a series of well-designed sidebars or full-color text boxes highlighting the most important components of your business. This, of course, would be supplemented by on-site interviews and perhaps follow-up telephone discussions with key principals of your company—all conducted by Metal Finishing representatives. (Heck, we might even call on some of your suppliers, or a "friendly competitor," for that matter, to get their views on why they think you’re one of the best at what you do.)

Why bother? The end game is to provide accurate, descriptive, and compelling editorial content that adequately captures what your business is all about while providing you with an outlet to showcase your strongest attributes. Besides, our ongoing readership surveys repeatedly tell us that platers and powder coaters like to read about other platers and powder coaters! Whether it’s for benchmarking purposes or sharing best practices, metal finishers—like many other product and service sectors—are curious to know where they stand among the pack.

The catch: We're asking for your help in identifying the crème de la crème. For example, if you’re an equipment supplier, chemical manufacturer, or even a consultant, perhaps you have a candidate in mind that you would consider worthy of a profile. And if you're a plater/coater, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with nominating your own company. Surely you must have dozens of reasons why you believe you have a competitive edge over both regional and national competitors.

Feel free to zip me an e-mail at re.tucker@elsevier.com if you have any particular metal finishers in mind. But please hurry; there are a limited number of profile spots available. Plus, quite frankly, all of us are eager to get this project rolling already!

See you in the field!

--Reginald Tucker, re.tucker@elsevier.com