The quality of a car depends on the technology which it contains. However, even if it was equipped with the very latest technology, if a car looked like the legendary "Trabant" from the VEB Automobilwerk Zwickau, serious marketing problems would be inevitable. In the same way, a balance between content and appearance is highly relevant for success.

What have the Trabant and inspect in common? - Strictly speaking, nothing at all! The Trabant has long since become part of a nostalgia for the former DDR, while inspect is in its 14^th successful year of publication and is the leading German language publication in the field of image processing.

Is it a good idea to "tinker" with such a successful publication? - Tinkering would certainly not be a good approach in order to improve inspect . This only rarely produces convincing improvements, but rather amateurish results without any noticeable additional benefits or helpful new functions.

According to plan

The new inspect is not the result of chance. A dedicated team with great experience in creating and designing journals has planned and implemented the relaunch with a great deal of creativity. This is oriented to current developments and was able to draw on the entire feedback from the inspect readers' committee.

At this point, the new inspect layout does not need to be described in dry words. It speaks for itself and visually it is very appealing to the reader. There is far more to this than the mere desire for a nice design. The layout takes into account our knowledge of reading habits, both with regard to the optimum structure of the printed content as well as to ease of reading.

Of course, the team also paid just as much attention to the inner values of inspect. To anticipate the result: what was good has been retained. The familiar headings of VISION, AUTOMATION and CONTROL still form the solid core of inspect .

However, we can also see how rapidly vision technology and in particular image processing are developing in all areas of technology. Modern industrial society is learning to see. This means not only the recording and transmission of images, but also the understanding of image content.

More room

Under the heading NON MANUFACTURING we present application examples and technological developments which can no longer be categorised as purely industrial products. You will find reports from the fields of medicine, agriculture, aerospace and even sport, which we do not want to withhold from our readers.

How innovations are faring in the market in combination with tried-and tested solutions, and how companies and their managers are coming to terms with the rapid pace of developments is described in even greater detail under the new heading MARKETS and MANAGEMENT (MÄRKTE und MANAGEMENT).

Under the heading VISION PLACES we examine the vital environment of the vision industry with reference to what is going on locally. Research and development which is close to the market is just as much at the focus as the education and further training of engineers. The relevant industrial associations also have their say, and finally under this heading we also report on the exhibitions and key events of the year. There is also a new expert interview IN FOCUS (IM FOKUS).

Two further new interview formats supplement purely factual content with the personal points of view and experience of competent vision experts. The manager interview IN THE MARKET (IM MARKT) also takes a prominent position and the technology interview IN TREND (IM TREND) can be found under one of the four technology headings - according to the topic.

Our ambition in the making of a modern and better inspect was to retain what has proved its worth and to add good new features. We believe that we have achieved this with the new inspect . Our readers and our many partners in industry will now decide on its success.