RSVP from RSLeads

Tooling & Production, Apr 2002 by Lorincz, Jim

You can get needed product and process info fast

Yes, it's easy to take potshots at the Internet. Many are still recovering from a severe case of dot.comitis. Others, however, continue to build on the incomparable immediacy of the two-way communications that the Internet offers.

Such is the case here at Nelson Publishing. RSLeads.com is our way of giving readers access to information about developments in advanced technology-the products and processes-that appear in the pages of T&P. After all, access and information are what the Internet is all about and what it does best.

Each editorial item or advertisement in T&P that has a circle number and web site associated with it has an RSLeads.com Internet address attached to it.

Simply enter the RSLeads.com URL into the address line on your Internet connection and voila you're connected to the web site of the prospective information provider. Not only are you only a click or two away from getting exactly the information you need, but you can contact suppliers directly using e-mail on their web sites. RSLeads.com is our answer to Reader Service Card (RSC) snail mail blues. In the pre-Internet and even pre-fax machine days, readers requested information the old-fashioned way-by mail. Reader inquiries were initiated by returning the postage paid Reader Service Cards with the appropriate "bingo" numbers circled. Four weeks later, okay, maybe six weeks later, the reader might receive the requested information. By then, the inquirer probably had even forgotten why the information was wanted in the first place.

To speed things along, publishers streamlined the RSC by adding an "urgent" category. It called for faster service, or at least the impression of faster service. A "have the salesman contact me" box was added, as with our RSC indicating that the inquirer was as serious about the inquiry as one can get.

Even handy supplier telephone numbers and dedicated "800" numbers involved a layer of uncertainty. The inquirer could play a lot of telephone tag before getting to the right person.

RSCs are still great for information gatherers, but for timesensitive solutions to problems on the shop floor or on the production line, they miss the mark.

The Internet is vastly superior. In the old, pre-Internet days, a reporter who needed factual information for a story, say about the price of a Boeing 777, might call the library, call Boeing public relations etc. or consult his Civil Air Patrol handbook. Today, simply go to Boeing.com and find out that Boeing 777s are available in five configurations, ranging in price between $152 million and $231.5 million.

Or if you need information about machines, replacement parts or consumables to keep your machines up and running, try RSLeads.com in T&P.

By Jim Lorincz

Editor-at-Large