Producing the January Issue: Making Planners

While the publisher is thinking about making waves, I am busy editing and producing this Logistics Planner issue. It’s what I look forward to most each year. I guess I love pain, because I am writing this—the last page to go to the printer—in the office late Sunday afternoon. But it’s worth the effort. My prime directive as editor is to make sure you get the most out of what we publish. That’s what keeps me, and the entire Inbound Logistics team, going through the long hours, nights, and weekends it takes to produce this issue. We hope you like and use the final product all year long.

This year’s effort got off to a slower start than usual, given the changes in our world of late. But in terms of size and scope, it’s as editorially ambitious an issue as we’ve ever undertaken.

Readers tell us they constantly use and refer to the Planner Profiles. But there’s much more to this issue. You’ll find 13 features covering a range of topics important to business logistics excellence in 2002. Some of the articles may be long and that flies in the face of conventional publishing wisdom: business magazine readers “can’t, or won’t, take the time to read long articles.” We disagree. Our hope is you’ll find plenty of useful information to help you throughout the year. You be the judge.

Here is a partial lineup:

• The central feature, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, is a 27-page opus exploring what leading companies have done logistically right over the decades (page 80).
• The events of 9-11 changed our lives. To help you navigate the new complexities of our world, we devoted 22 pages of editorial to trade, security practices, compliance, and hazmat (page 142).
• Given the urge to merge these days, the article Disparate Measures examines what Wall Street and most corporate execs forget: integrating supply chains can be a key driver of M&A success (page 192).
• Have you been shell-shocked wondering why your IS team can’t deliver the backbone to support your supply chain dreams of glory? Then take a look at Executive Editor Robert Malone’s guru-fest. You might get some answers (page 220).
• And of course there is the Logistics Planner section, profiling the logistics leaders that help you drive change and excellence (page 297).

As much as I love working on the Planner issue, I have to put my pencil aside now to catch the next train home. But I’ll be back here bright and early Monday morning to put the finishing touches on this issue for you.

As you read the final product, keep these questions in mind. Have we fulfilled our mission—to provide you with many opportunities to get hard ROI for reading time invested? Can you take action on what you read? Let me know your suggestions for improving next year’s Logistics Planner. Send me an email: [email protected]