Happy New Year

Change is good.

Welcome to 2006! On behalf of everyone at Quality Digest magazine, I’d like to wish you a prosperous, safe and happy new year. It’s our continuing pleasure to serve this industry, full as it is with good people, good work and good ideas.

Over the past few months, you’ve surely noticed several changes in our publication. More—much more—has been changing behind the scenes. The biggest change is the most recent; as of January 1st, after 21 years with Quality Digest, Scott Paton has moved on to dedicate his efforts to his own company, Paton Press. With Scott’s blessing, Don Dewar named me as his replacement in the publisher’s chair.

Scott is still passionate about Quality Digest and continues to help us in numerous ways… from giving generously of his friendship and serving as one of our goodwill ambassadors to counseling our sales team and writing challenging, albeit curmudgeonly, columns. Oh, and providing wise advice to me (when I’m smart enough to listen to it).

The new year also happens to be our long-awaited 25th. Partly in celebration of this milestone, and partly out of necessity, every single person at this small company of ours has been stretching his or her wings. We’re excited at the opportunity to grow individually as people, and together as a magazine. In this vein, we intend to continue publishing thought-provoking material similar to our recent articles on the state of the U.S. auto industry and the challenges of outsourcing. Issues such as these have far-ranging implications for everyone in the quality profession.

We’ve been extraordinarily fortunate to replenish our staff with some very talented people over the past several weeks. Anthony Peyton Porter, our new editorial director, is a superb writer and editor, and Scott Sleeper, our new art director, brings with him a wealth of artistic skill and experience. You’ll see the influence of Anthony and Scott more and more in the coming months, both in our print magazine as well as our online media undertakings. Their talents will enhance our company and enrich your reading of all Quality Digest media.

Change isn’t easy, but it’s effective; it demands the best from people and leads to good results in team projects. With that said, none of us is ever satisfied that Quality Digest is “good enough.” We always strive to do better, and our readers help us chart that course. Your letters to us are the lifeblood of this endeavor. Without them, it’s a one-way conversation, and those are never the best kind. Please e-mail us at comments@qualitydigest
.com and continue letting us know what you like and, especially, what you don’t. With your advice in mind, we will do our best to embody the spirit and principles of continuous improvement.

On the following pages you will find our seventh-annual Quality Sourcebook. We hope that you will refer to this information time and again through the coming year. We’ve divided our 15 buyers guides into seven tabbed sections, which should make it easy to find the product or service you need. For further information on the organizations listed in these directories, including complete company and product descriptions, visit us online at www.qualitydigest.com/directories.

Thank you for your support of Quality Digest. May 2006 be your best year yet

Mike Richman
Publisher