25 Years of FTD

Twenty-five years is a long time in the publishing industry, especially here in New Zealand where magazines seem to come and go faster than you can blink. To survive a couple of stockmarket crashes and several recessions we think is quite an achievement, so this edition of FTD is something of a celebration. Even more remarkable is that in its quarter-decade of existence, the magazine has had only four owners.

The very first edition (pictured) was published by Brian Fairchild under the ownership of PDM Publishing, and the editorial was penned by Bill Davies, chairman of the cumbersomely named NZ Physical Distribution Management Association. The magazine was titled Freight, Transport & Distribution, with the initials as its logo; Ken Bailey was its editor, and content featured articles on how to achieve the ‘physical distribution’ of goods. Advertisers comprised cargo carriers and materials handling equipment suppliers.

Production ceased after the Oct/Nov 1988 edition, and there was a six-month gap until a March/April ’89 edition was published, with Brian Fairchild and Ken Bailey as the sole owners. The Nov/Dec ’89 edition introduced a well-known name to FTD regulars – Stu Freeman arrived as editor. Archived material indicates that production stopped again some time after the Aug/Sept 1991 edition, and it wasn’t until early 1994 when the magazine reappeared with a March/April edition that looked very different. Now owned by Stu’s company, Promag Publishing, and edited by Stu, with wife Trish in support, FTD became the ‘bible’ for forklift distributors in New Zealand. Well-known names AB Equipment, Lees Forklifts, Fantuzzi, Crown, Nissan, Centra Forklifts, Eurolift and CENZ Holdings dominated the advertising pages. I spoke to Stu and he recalls his time with the magazine with fondness, saying FTD could not have survived without the valued support of the materials handling giants – and this is still true today.

FTD was steered very successfully by Stu for 10 years until late in 2003, when Stu and Trish, with their focus moving towards running shows and expos, sold the magazine to Andy Hobbs at Hayleymedia. The February 2004 edition arrived with a swathe of new faces – Angela Penteado as editor, and Mike Barke as sales manager.

I arrived on the scene in August 2005, with the Oct/Nov edition my first as sole editor. They were heady days – I spent most of them visiting as many regular advertisers as possible, including all the forklift distributors, and attending conferences run by CBAFF, the Cold Storage Association and CILT NZ.

The last big change for FTD was in March last year, when Andy and partner David Silver split the Hayleymedia empire between them, and FTD became the property of David’s Aston Publishing. Although the logo has changed, and the magazine has been through a number of evolutions (and revolutions!), its principal aim remains the same – to cover all aspects of ‘physical distribution management’ (or supply chain management as we now know it) for all New Zealand businesses.

Until next time …

Lynne Richardson, editor