b'A message from the editorsWe would like to start by saying a big thank you to everyone who contributed to this edition. We have thoroughly enjoyed reading and designing every article, from stories to insights about an industry podcast, big milestones, charity work, expanding trade divisions and much more. We truly appreciate the time and effort you put into making it a success.This edition was created by Sophie, Henry and Gus from the Marketing team. We welcomed Henry, our newest editor, to the team back in August, and you may recognise him from the Vienna User Meeting, where he was busy taking lots of photos of our members networking.A lot has happened since we last connected with you in the autumn 2024 edition. One of our most notable achievements was hosting the Vienna User Meeting, which brought together over 500 industry professionals from across the globe. This memorable gathering provided an incredible opportunity for distributors and manufacturers to meet face-to-face, build valuable connections, and share valuable insights. We are also proud to announce that we will be releasing an additional magazine this year: our summer 2025 edition. Keep an eye out for it in the coming months, the perfect time to browse the latest updates and information from many industry professionals under the summer sun. We want to make Best Bits a publication that reflects the voices and needs of our readers. Your feedback and suggestions are invaluable to us. If you have any thoughts about this edition, ideas for future articles, or if youd like to contribute to the upcoming summer edition, wed love to hear from you. Please feel free to reach out to us at marketing@bearingnet.net.Heres to a fantastic year ahead, we look forward to seeing you at our events and hearing your stories.Sophie SoadyHenry RoddaAugusta AnnisF O C sophies@bearingnet.nethenryr@bearingnet.netgusa@bearingnet.net +44 1279 844044DE U SB EP GRALL BE OOVE ARINGS A big thank you to Gary Jenkins!W H E R E V E RGary is one of the founders of BearingNet and he played a vital role in the success and growth of the 2 02 5platform. He is now taking a step back and enjoying a well-earned rest! You may have met him at one of our User Meetings over the years. Gary will still be keeping a close eye on the business, but we wanted to say a huge thank you and show our appreciation for all of the great work he has done over the years.Its been 30 years since John Bass had the idea of a bulletin board for posting bearing request lists, instead of a daily fax. He discussed it with Tony Ogden, his financial friend from his time in bearing manufacturing, and approached his nephew, Peter Annis with the idea. Peter then got me involved to do the technical I TE N D SU P. work. We started with a dial up system, where we sent software on floppy disks to our first users, whot Peter had convinced to give it a try. It was no easy task for Peter to convince people to try the idea and stick with it, but many of those early users such as Midland, Shuster, ZEN, GeDe, ROECO and many others are still with us today. Acorn was the first to pay which convinced us that maybe it might just work! We soon moved to the World Wide Web which made it much more accessible. We know of many companies that joined BearingNet and found that it helped them improve their trade, some didnt do exporsales until joining BearingNet. A lot of hard work has been put in by all the people at BearingNet over the years to build up the user base and provide first class service to all members, because the members make WE SHIP IT TODAY. it what it is, ultimately. We are grateful for every person and every company thats supported BearingNet over the years, and its been wonderful for us to have so many members as friends and see their businesses grow and develop at the same time as ours.If only John and Tony were still around to see what it hasGary back in 1997 become; but I know they would be happy with their legacy. 3'