2009 sees the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin – somewhat appropriate in these difficult times where ‘survival of the fittest’ will most certainly describe those companies that manage to work their way through the recession and be in a position to pick up the reins once global economic conditions start to improve.
Recent months have seen a huge decrease in manufacture and construction, the two main end-user areas for industrial diamond. Most companies within our business have reacted with some form of retrenchment and downsizing, two modern day euphemisms that are now all too familiar to us all. The key element in this is how much flesh to leave on the bone so that normal business can be resumed as quickly as possible once the economy starts its recovery. The problem is that nobody knows how long this will take so we’re all entering unknown territory.
The above scenario has of course affected IDR and this is reflected in this current issue, which represents a whole new direction for the magazine.
You will see that issue 1/2009 is different in many ways. The page numbers are down – but this is solely a cut in advertising pages. The number of editorial pages remains the same and, crucially, the print run and circulation is also the same. This means that the magazine continues to be sent to all the important diamond toolmakers as well as practically all the large and middle-ranking end-users throughout the world. Over 70 countries in fact.
Hopefully, you will also find that the quality is also what it was, maintaining our role as the leading international journal reporting on all the major happenings in the world of industrial diamond and CBN.
On the positive side, this also enables us to adopt a more independent position within the industry, which means our coverage will be more diverse and a truer reflection of what goes on. This can only be of benefit to everyone.
The downside is of course that embarking on a new plan of action at a time like this is – to put it mildly - not ideal. We’ll need your support, in both advertising and supplying editorial and this is obviously not the easiest times for all of you.
It may be that we are one of those that fall by the wayside, but it won’t be for lack of trying. And personally, I’d rather try and fail than not try at all.