No, the headline isn’t a reference to a bestselling tale set in a foreign country and involving an espionage ring. Instead, it has to do with two important, if not intriguing, innovations that will impact readers of Finishing Today.

FIA, as in Finishing Innovation Awards, is our way of recognizing the industry’s greatest breakthroughs in the following categories:

• Coatings/Coating Technologies
• Plating/Anodizing Technologies
• Pretreatment/Cleaning Chemicals
• Ovens/Curing Equipment
• Application Equipment
• Materials Handling/Finishing Lines
• Quality Control/Testing
• Environmental/Pollution Control

Though the competition itself is entering its third year, we have restructured the competition to include concise and critical criteria, an outside panel of industry experts to serve as jurors, and an online format that will make it simpler for you and your team to enter. For entry details, please visit http://fia.finishingtodaymag.com.

Like you, the Finishing Today staff is committed to innovating, and FIA is one of the ways that we can showcase important breakthrough achievements in finishing materials, equipment and technologies.

The P/S Factor, as in Problem/Solution Factor, references a new feature that you will now find in nearly all of our articles. We believe that one of Finishing Today’s greatest strengths is our ability to deliver current examples of companies responding to specific industry problems with innovative solutions. This information is contained in our articles, but now it is also presented in an attractive “Post-It Note” format for easy at-a-glance access.

The P/S Factor is also an important criterion for selecting FIA awards.

We look forward to receiving your FIA entries. (Yes, you can enter multiple innovations.) If your finishing operation has benefited from an innovative technology, please encourage your suppliers to enter that technology in the FIA competition. And, as always, we look forward to hearing your comments about this issue of Finishing Today. Please e-mail yours to the address below.