What a year.

No matter your job, your industry, or your political beliefs, this year has been a heck of a ride. The (still ongoing) trade war with China, manufacturing gains (and losses), the 737 MAX, Hong Kong riots, North Korea, Brexit, impeachment. What a mixed bag of ups and downs that has influenced all aspects of our life. Including our work. (For insight on how our editorial director deals with all this on a personal level, read her op-ed here.)

But on a workaday level, we each continue to do our job as best we can. That’s what we are paid to do. We take pride in the product or service we provide and try our best to deliver what our customers want when they want it, despite what turmoil swirls around us. And quality professionals are critical to that effort. Whether you are an inspector, auditor, calibration tech, metrologist, quality manager—or for most of our readers in small companies, all of those—the economy would suffer without the work you do to oversee quality. A robust economy is built in large part upon the quality of the products and services it produces.

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