An intelligent ecosystem

May 1, 2016  |  Editorial

Last Friday (April 22), I’d meant to wear my original “Earth Day” button, purchased in 1970 as a callow youth in Morris, Minn.; but as a jaded professional in Minneapolis, Minn., I remembered to grab earrings but left the button sitting next to one that says “CTHULHU FOR PRESIDENT: If you’…
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Warp speed

April 1, 2016  |  Editorial, News

One of my friends emailed me this morning to ask about some research she was doing into the history of women’s participation in “technological” careers, wondering what was considered “high tech” 30, 40 and 50 years ago, and reminiscing about professional life before cell phones and compute…
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Forethought: The next job

March 1, 2016  |  Editorial

Back in September 1999, I wrote my first editorial for the Industrial Fabric Products Review. At the time, I described myself this way: “I’m a rabid science fiction fan and a relentless afficionado of robust red wines, and I have no children, no pets, six slowly petrifying house plants, and only…
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Forethought: Waging wars

February 1, 2016  |  Editorial

Last week’s blizzard was officially the fourth most powerful snowstorm to hit the Northeast in more than 60 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). On Jan. 20, NASA and NOAA reported their analyses that Earth’s 2015 surface temperatures were the warmest si…
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Forethought: The once and future industry

November 1, 2015  |  Editorial, News

As a life-long science fiction fan, I tend to think of the past in terms of the future (and vice-versa). So as I have spent the last ten months researching the history of an industry in the archives of this magazine, I kept compiling important events and themes in my head and letting them bubble &he…
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Forethought: On your mark…

October 1, 2015  |  Editorial, News

One hundred years ago, the first issue of The National Tent and Awning Manufacturers Review was issued to association members. In 1915, World War I deepened in Europe: in January, the first German Zeppelin attack occurred over Great Britain; in May, the SS Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine; i…
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Forethought: IFAI Expo 2015

September 1, 2015  |  Editorial, News

IFAI Expo 2015: Let’s talk Some of the most interesting conversations I have with people in our industry occur after I ask them to tell me about a connection that changed their business, or their jobs. Their stories are always interesting and informative, and I am often amazed to see how delig…
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Forethought: Patience and time

July 1, 2015  |  Editorial

We’ve now gone back 70 years in our voyage to the very first Review published in 1915. The issues published during 1945 were something of a surprise to me, in that so much “normal” business activity was subsumed by World War II. My father served on the U.S.S. Maddox in the Pacific; a good frie…
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Product, then procurement: MUST

June 1, 2015  |  Editorial, News

FORETHOUGHT By Mary Hennessy Something very exciting and potentially game-changing is occurring in the military market: IFAI members will soon have the opportunity to get into the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) supply pipeline before contracts and specifications are issued. It’s called MUST—Mili…
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Forethought: Face forward

May 1, 2015  |  Editorial

As I was reading through the 1965 copies of Canvas Products Review for this month’s “Future History,” an article in the November issue celebrating the magazine’s 50th anniversary caught my attention: a recap of a report from the very first issue of The National Tent and Awning Manufactur…
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