We are changing the name of Welding Design & Fabrication to Welding with our January issue.

This magazine has carried the same name since 1959. Since then, there have been many dramatic changes in the welding industry which have resulted in unprecedented pressures on the managers and owners of welding shops today, to speed their welding process, to cut waste, reduce weight, and never forget safety and environmental issues.

With this change of our own, we acknowledge that the full content of what we must continue to deliver to the welding industry goes beyond the design of a weld and the fabrication of a part.

The process of renaming our magazine started just over a year ago, when we began to look outside welding arcs and shielding gases and began covering all elements that have to come together so that a welding shop can produce high quality welds. Our new name declares our focus on that content and our goal, to spotlight the issues that managers face daily in making their operations more competitive and efficient.

Along with the new, comprehensive name, we are adopting a new tag line for the magazine: Technology and process for the bottom line.

However, we are not changing everything about our magazine. We are keeping many of the favorite columns and the familiar features that readers look for and enjoy. You will continue to find Omer Blodgett, the internationally recognized welding expert talking about the correct design and execution of welds in his "Blodgett's Basics" column, and Dave Barton will continue to take questions on welding and answer them in our popular Q & A column.

You also will find straightforward information on the subjects that managers face in the shop or in the field: metal cutting, preparation, welding and safety. And, we will deliver information on subjects such as automation, gas and consumables management, and industry segments that managers have to be aware of to make their operations competitive.

We began to announce that we would change the name of our magazine at the FabTech International & AWS Welding Show, with a poster that showed the concept for our new name. We found many readers walked by and said they wanted to get THAT magazine. Our new name gives us a role that is easier for us to define and for our readers to know who we are because it is much more direct.

We told people at FabTech who wanted that magazine they would have to wait to get it, and we are going to deliver it - a more complete publication to help you to be more successful - in January.

Miller Electric Mfg. Co. and Hobart Brothers Company announced Oct. 4 that they would donate $1 million as initial funding for the American Welding Society Welder Workforce Development Program. Both companies challenge other companies in the welding industry to step forward to address this vitally needed initiative.

In his keynote address at the FabTech show, John Engler, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Manufacturers, highlighted the urgent need for trained welders, saying: "It's becoming clear that the lack of skilled employees is one of the most daunting challenges facing manufacturers."

Miller and Hobart are to be congratulated for stepping up to address that need in the welding industry.