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December 18, 2001
by Ted Mooney
We at finishing.com can't complain about lack of visitor
participation; we get over a hundred e-mails a day and it's daunting
just to keep our Hotline-Letters page up to date. As willing as
everyone is to ask or answer a technical question though, and as much
time as they spend here, I continuously find it surprising that there
aren't even a handful of "opinions" expressed over the course of a
year.
By "opinions", I mean do you feel that our industry is headed in
the right direction, or do we have our collective heads in the sand?
Are you happy about where our professional societies and trade
associations are taking us? Is the quality movement going anywhere?
Are the local, state, and federal governments following the right
policies as they affect us as metal finishers? What should our
industry be investigating? Should we finishers of America be
cooperating with the finishers of Europe, Asia, and etc.? What do you
think we need to do to get young blood into our industry? Is the rush
to implement non-toxic substitutes a good public policy or are we
putting the public at risk from products with inadequate and poorly
tested finishes? Should finishing shops be confined to either the
cities or the rural areas? Should the government fund centralized
waste treatment? Is the millions of dollars spent by the government
to research finishing issues well spent or a disgraceful waste?
Should cyanide, chrome and cadmium be outlawed? Should America follow
the European lead and get nickel out of jewelry? Should the industry
adopt positions on consumer issues like inferior jewelry plating or
non-galvanized crash replacement parts for autos?
Speaking for myself, I feel strongly enough about so many issues
that I could write an editorial nearly every day; my tongue bleeds
from biting it. But the world mercifully doesn't want an hour by hour
account of what personally pleases or irks me; it wants a second
opinion on finishing issues. And a third, and a fourth...
The finishing world cares what you think! The auditorium overflows
with eager listeners while the podium stands idle, and the power
which you have to lead us in the right direction remains a talent
lying buried.
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