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Tech-Op-ed March, 2012


SOUNDING OFF


By Walter Salm Editor


Trade Shows: You’ve Got to Love Them


T


rade Shows. They are a driving force behind the industries they repre- sent, and have a lot of advantages, not the least of which is to get out of the office for a few days. I’ve been going to them for many, many years.


At some of those shows, I walked past the publications offices where I ob- served groups of harried-looking journalists, working feverishly to publish a trade show daily. A daily? I had to wonder what type of mentality it required to work on such a publication. It didn’t take me too long to find out. The company I worked for in the mid-1970s published among other


things, show dailies for the two annual Consumer Electronics Shows in Chica- go. And there I was in the midst of it, interviewing manufacturers of CB ra- dios and car stereo systems, which were both growing at a frenetic pace. All too soon, I was presented with the “opportunity” to do my own show daily for the brand-new Personal Communications Show in Las Vegas. The year was 1976. The whole country had gone crazy for CB radios, and here I was ed- itor-in-chief for the PC-76 Show Daily, a high-gloss, 4-color tabloid. “PC” had not yet made it into the vocabulary as “personal computer” nor was it a “print- ed circuit”. In 1976, it was “Personal Communications”. The problem: there was not a decent 5-color rotary printing press available in all of Las Vegas (1976 population: 145,000). So we found a quality printer near the airport in Los Angeles. We had a highly experienced staff and set up shop in a large room off the


main convention floor — electric typewriters for all of us “reporters”, two IBM composing machines that looked like overgrown Selectric typewriters, and two expert typesetters. Oh and a refrigerator filled with food for everyone to keep writers from wandering off before deadline time. At the ready was our art director and his staff, geared up to paste up mechanicals. Our resident photographer set up a darkroom in the bathroom of his hotel room in the Hilton. It was really tight quarters when his roommate had to take a shower. Each day, I would run out of the Convention Center (it was a lot smaller


in those days, and I was a lot younger) with a large flat box under my arm that contained the finished mechanicals, would jump into my waiting getaway car driven by one of our staffers, and head for the airport. There was no airport security in those days, and I literally ran down the corridors to catch the 4:00 p.m. Western Airlines flight for LAX, arriving out of breath and panting just as they were about to close the door. At 5:00 p.m. I was met at LAX by the printer’s shop foreman who drove me (and my big flat box) to the printing plant nearby. This was a high quality printing plant, experienced in large press runs of monthlies like Playboy, Esquire, etc. They had absolutely no con- cept of the urgency of a show daily. They learned. And so did we. What I do at trade shows these days is a lot less flamboyant, the technol-


ogy is much more sophisticated, but my days are just as harried. There just don’t seem to be enough hours in the day to see all the people that I would like to, or that I have to. At the larger shows, I have a major helper, a rented elec- tric scooter. This is in deference to creeping arthritis and a healed but still balky right knee that I broke in Florida in January of last year. A big advan- tage of the scooter: I can get from one meeting to another in the exhibit hall very quickly, but have to be careful about collecting speeding tickets. It also makes it a lot easier to carry dozens of copies of U.S. Tech’s show issue. And towards the end of the day, I still feel fairly fresh (as fresh as I can feel at my age!) without feeling ready to collapse. Even though they wear me out, trade shows are forever energizing for me.


There was the time that I was accompanied by a particular lady friend (it was 1972 or 73 and I was between marriages) to a trade show — the NAB (Nation- al Association of Broadcasters) held in a Washington, DC hotel. I was Manag- ing Editor of Broadcast Management Engineering. My lady friend commented that when I walked through the entry door, it was as though I had been shot out of a cannon. Whoosh! I was off and running. I had many things and peo- ple to see. That part hasn’t changed for me. I still have many people and new things to see. It helps to keep me young. And I’m always afraid that I might miss something. r


PUBLISHER’S NOTE


By Jacob Fattal Publisher


2012: The Big Comeback Year? I


s this the year of decisive recovery for our economy? There are certainly some strong indicators out there. Unemployment in the USA has gone down to its lowest point in years, yet there are still many millions of will-


ing workers who don’t have jobs. The domestic electronics industry has been a shining example of recovery,


with a surprisingly large number of jobs coming back to the USA from foreign shores. While this influx is significant, so far it hasn’t really hurt any of our overseas manufacturing partners. And for what it’s worth, the Dow is at its highest level since before the recession began. Much of this manufacturing influx is part of a “Made in USA” movement


to EMS providers. It started several years ago when European companies found it cheaper to manufacture in the US because of the cheaper dollar. Now that the Euro is in so much trouble, the only strong currency that’s left is the Yen. Most domestic EMS houses have been steadily increasing their produc-


tion, adding new production lines and machinery. But at the same time, these same domestic providers maintain strong business ties with offshore suppli- ers who are capable of much higher volumes, when the need arises. Yet high volumes can return to the US at any time. The production capacity can be in- creased fairly quickly, sometimes only requiring changing from one shift to two shifts a day. It isn’t all about the return of contract manufacturing. Some companies


are simply finding domestic manufacturing is actually cheaper and less of a hassle. And it can circumvent all those trips to China to try to straighten out manufacturing problems. One company, Element Electronics, is reportedly starting a new TV production line near Detroit. While this may not be the electronics manufacturing center of the country, not too many years ago, Zenith TVs were made in Michigan. A March startup is planned, and it will be the only company making TVs in the US. Will others follow? We’re betting that they will, which will help make 2012 a banner comeback year. r


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