With readers in 130 countries, ILS continues to expand its global reach
A former sales manager used to refer to ILS as “The little magazine that could.” He was also the one that coined the ILS slogan “All lasers all the time.” I mention this because of an annual circulation audit from BPA Worldwide, publishing’s equivalent to the Good Housekeeping seal of approval, which, in effect, endorses both of these statements.
For any given month, take February for example, more than 72,000 people globally obtained information about industrial laser materials processing from ILS. This number includes all those who receive the print or digital versions of ILS, check out our Website, subscribe to our E-Newsletter, and those who read ILS China.
ILS is read in 130 countries, outside of the U.S., on six continents and assorted islands. North America is number one, followed by Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America, and Oceania in that order. Readers range from a high of 34,000 in the U.S. to 1 in about 15 countries.
It’s interesting to look at some of the less industrialized nations to learn why readers are subscribing to ILS. I contacted Kevin Bumesh Nandkishore who is the director of MDI, a producer of knitwear and woven goods, in Mauritius. The Republic of Mauritius is located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Southern Africa, east of Madagascar. It’s a small country of about 1.2 million people, nearly 11 times the size of Washington D.C. that received its independence from the U.K. in 1968. Originally a low-income agricultural economy, this country has experienced rapid growth (currently six percent) in the industrial, financial, and tourist sectors.
I know Mauritius from the labels sewn into garments sold in U.S. department and specialty stores. Assembling these products is one of the reasons Mauritius has earned one of Africa’s highest per capita growth rates.
Kevin’s company produces T shirts and polo shirts for export. Basically his job as director requires him to interface with customers before and after contracts are signed. He is also responsible for producing samples of the customer’s products. He became aware of lasers through reports of people who underwent vision correction, and in his mind laser implied precision. He learned about textile companies that were using lasers for cutting and subsequently introduced laser cutting of appliqués into his company.
The laser’s cutting precision reduces the amount of waste material and also saves time. A new laser engraving machine can produce patterns on raw and finished materials, including leather, man-made, and natural fabrics. And laser marking software allows them to etch and cut at lightning speeds.
Kevin says ILS is definitely helpful because, “The world is always changing and I need to be aware of ways to be more productive.” ILS, he says, “Takes me away from the routine of business and shows me how other companies are using lasers. Should an opportunity be present in ILS that concerns our business, we would not hesitate to grab it, if it was beneficial to the company.”
I’ve enjoyed corresponding with Kevin and I only wish I had the time to contact other ILS readers around the world to learn how we are impacting their companies. If you are interested in sharing this with ILS readers, send me an e-mail. Meanwhile I’ll continue to seek out countries using lasers that we hadn’t known about.
David A. Belforte [email protected]