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EditorialOPPORTUNITIES TO SEIZE!Crisis! In Chinese, this word 1 has a double meaning, signifying a time of change which can without doubtindicate the presence of a threat, but which also stands for a source of opportunities. Of course, the dangerand its attendant threats need to be analyzed, but the opportunities are also there for us to discover andgrasp firmly. The emphasis should be placed on this second aspect!The world is always undergoing continuous changeand is ceaselessly calling for solutions which respondto needs which are perpetually being reinvented. It isby listening to customers, and through open-nessand transparency, that these needs can be transformedinto opportunities. These might be organisationalopportunities, or opportunities associated withproduct development, or opportunities relating tosales networks and to partnership with suppliers/vendors and customers, opportunities to improverelations with customers or opportunities to deliverturnkey solutions, to name just a few.The medical sector is one such area of opportunity,one to which many companies have committed theirresources. Every day, advances are made for our wellbeingand, on a frequent basis, these advances callfor expertise to be delivered at all levels. One suchexample would be the Da Vinci system (page 6) withwhich you can undergo an operation at the hands ofthe greatest specialist in the world, working remotelyfrom a base in the Antipodes! A new era hasalready dawned and the skills of listening and theability to respond to needs are tools at the service ofthis remarkable new world.Population growth, the democratisation of advancedhealthcare, the purchasing power of middle-agedpeople, and the growth in the complexity of hardwareand materials all contribute towards one thing,and it is this: manufacturing for this sector is nowbased on high-tech solutions and on personalisedadvice. Which is exactly what you will encounter atTornos.The automotive sector is a most fascinating industry.Even though oil reserves have not been exhausted,every day brings newly developed concepts for consumingand polluting less; hybrid, solar, electric andhydrogen-powered cars … and many other ideas aswell. In Iceland, one oil company is setting up a networkof service stations capable of refueling hydrogen-poweredvehicles. Automotive OEMs are unveilingone model after another, each with better environmentalcredentials than the previous one, andeven the “simple internal combustion models” arebenefitting from frequent innovations. Car racingalso makes it possible to develop solutions whichcould in the due course of time be “democratised”,i.e. made available to the general public. One exam-1Incidentally, most other languages harbour the same duality in this word.ple would be systems which use braking energy toboost acceleration.Things are definitely on the move here, and this is yetanother sector where the application of listeningskills and the ability to respond to customer needsreally can work wonders.In most cases, the technologies involved in creatingthe desired components for the opportunities presentedto the industry already exist, as do the humanskills and expertise they call for. However, there ismore to it than “simply” bringing the two sidestogether. Here at Tornos, we place ourselves alongsideour customers to help them respond perfectly tothese needs, which are in turn subject to constantchange. Our engineers and technical staff aroundthe globe are keeping their skills well honed, and arecommitted to being creatively inventive on yourbehalf.Feel free to contact them at any time – they will takegreat pleasure in helping you to transform opportunitiesinto successes.I wish you every success on the markets.Willi NefHead of Sales and Marketing01 / 09decomagazine 5