Every successful business has to deal with changes. Sometimes these changes are wanted, but equally often, an operation has to implement them in order to address new requirements or simply to stay competitive. The same is certainly valid for MFN and we had to struggle with one issue in particular. Being traditionally a free of charge magazine, in the early part of this year it was decided to make the publication subject to a charge for a certain category of readers. After long evaluation, we are convinced that the changing circumstances justify this adjustment.

Starting with 12 black & white pages only 6 years ago, MFN now has 72 full color pages. The circulation increased from 1300 to over 5300 issues distributed to 64 countries. A team of 28 specialists from 12 different countries (see also www.mfn.li/contact) contributes to the global success of this publication. However, since the magazine and the organization has grown so much in size, we had to adapt our concept in terms of offering a free subscription for everybody. From March 2007, a subscription of MFN is subject to a charge of USD 108 (EUR 90) per year for suppliers to the metal finishing industries or companies within these industries. For subscribers in the aviation, automotive, foundry or other industries, the magazine remains free of charge. Naturally we were concerned how our readership would react to this change. After all, nobody particularly appreciates being suddenly asked to pay for something which has been free of charge for years. However, we were very glad with the feedback. MFN received a high number of subscriptions within the last few weeks. With few exceptions, most readers in the defined industries understood or at least accepted our reasoning. So looking at the number of subscriptions of this category, the circulation just slightly decreased temporarily, but has now been compensated with new addresses, mainly from the Far Eastern region.

The accomplishment that MFN could successfully make this difficult change brings the publication certainly to a different level. A magazine which is subject to charge enjoys a better reputation among publications. This fact will also benefit our advertisers. While MFN already maintains marketing cooperation with various professional magazines, organizations and exhibitions, this change of concept will allow us to look at new partnerships to maximise global synergies and to improve the branding of MFN.

We would like to thank our readers for this trust! MFN will do its utmost to inform it readers with interesting articles, columns, science updates and interviews from around the globe.

Best Regards
Andrzej Wojtas (Ph.D.), Chief Editor MFN

andrzej@mfn.li

Author: Andrzej Wojtas (Ph.D.)