My, how time flies. I remember the launch of The Shot Peener in 1987. Seems like a hundred years ago. It was the result of my effort to advertise. This led to adding names to our database and identifying individuals who sought to enhance the shot peening process.
The format changed in 1994 with the addition of Kathy Levy to the team, resulting in significant improvements to the format. We enhanced the masthead and evolved to a four-color design. This led to substantial improvements, including attracting new advertisers.
And then, the world changed forever with the advent of the internet and the launch of the shotpeener.com’s web page. Mary Doezma Cooper was our webmaster, and we offered our library of articles along with a Buyer’s Guide. She then continued to create the web page for Electronics Inc. so we could offer our products for shot peening control, such as the MagnaValve, the Almen gauge, strips, and much more. That same year she created the website for the International Scientific Committee on Shot Peening at www.shotpeening.org. This helped promote the work started by Abbas Niku-Lari in 1980 for tri-annual conferences and provided a repository for conference papers, allowing free access to them.
However, as time passes, change inevitably includes retirement. Both Mary and Kathy get to close their work chapters and start new adventures. The Shot Peener magazine is now read around the world. The EI website is the portal for the finest equipment for shot peening control.
Thank you, Mary and Kathy. You were the driving force behind our success. Enjoy your retirement and don’t forget to maintain your subscription to The Shot Peener magazine.
Going forward: Taylor Bowman will now coordinate the publishing of The Shot Peener magazine and the websites for EI, www.shotpeener.com, shot peening training, and the magazine. With the retirement of Professor David Kirk, we are looking forward to periodic articles from the Purdue University Center for Surface Enhancement and Engineering (CSEE). Time goes on. Join us for “the rest of the story.”
