Michael Goldstein, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of Gear Technology, started his career in the gear industry in 1964 when he joined his father at Cadillac Machinery. As a machine tool dealer specialising in Gleason bevel gear machines, he rose to prominence in the industry, with leadership roles in the Machinery Dealers National Association (MDNA) and the European Association of Machine Tool Merchants (EAMTM). He founded Gear Technology in 1984 and has been involved with the American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) throughout his 50-year career in the gear industry.
The Cadillac Machinery company, under the Goldstein family, was a used machinery dealer specialising in gear machinery, specifically bevel gear equipment. This firsthand experience highlighted the unique and sometimes insular nature of the gear industry. As a member of AGMA, Michael often attended AGMA events, which included the Fall Technical Meeting, where the latest research, technology, and manufacturing approaches for gears were shared year after year.
Technical conferences were a crucial part of the industry, with companies sending their top-gear engineers to learn from experts worldwide. These engineers would return with binders full of technical papers, which unfortunately often ended up on a shelf, only to be referenced by the person who attended the conference.
In the early 1980s, Michael realised that the information in those binders could benefit a wider audience if more broadly disseminated. While other trade publications existed at the time, none were as highly focused or technically oriented as the gear industry required. The fundamental purpose of Gear Technology was to educate the community. Even republishing some of those technical papers for a wider audience would have been a significant service to the industry.
The idea was met with great enthusiasm. David Goodfellow, then president of American Pfauter, pledged his support immediately and became the magazine’s first advertiser. Other suppliers, including Klingelnberg, Starcut Sales, Liebherr, and Gleason, were equally eager to support the project, all advertising in the inaugural May/June 1984 issue.
There was a clear hunger for this type of information. From the beginning, readers responded enthusiastically and supportively. Over the years, Gear Technology’s content expanded beyond technical papers to include news, back-to-basics articles, in-depth feature stories, and trend analysis. The magazine became known as “The Gear Industry’s Information Source,” yet its mission of being the industry’s educational resource never changed.
A notable memory is Marty Woodhouse, then sales manager at Star Cutter, recounting his experience in a gear company lobby in China. Despite the language barrier, a copy of Gear Technology was delivered with the mail, proving the magazine’s global reach. Many engineers have mentioned keeping every single issue, often proudly displaying their Gear Technology library during plant visits.
In the early days, before digitization, the magazines were printed using plates and film. To create a digital library, a firm was hired to scan everything, and staff members’ teenage children helped break up the scans into articles for database import. Michael recalls spending vacations adding keywords to articles on his laptop, creating a digital library that remains one of his proudest career projects.
Today, this library is available online as the Michael Goldstein Gear Technology Library, accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This digital transformation realized Michael’s vision of spreading information beyond binders on a shelf, creating the world’s greatest collection of gear knowledge.
Gear Technology, started by a gear industry insider and read by professionals worldwide, is now published by AGMA, the gear industry’s association. It remains unmatched in the industry.
Although Michael retired at the end of 2019, he is pleased to see the legacy continue under AGMA’s auspices. Gear Technology appears to be in good hands, ensuring its relevance for at least the next 40 years.
Source
