Canadian Industrial Machinery, a monthly national magazine that caters to the metalworking industry, has been sold to Illinois-based Fabricators and Manufacturers Association Communications. According to FMA Communications group publisher Ed Youdell, CIM was put on the market because former publisher Tom Dillon was facing health issues.

FMA is no stranger to Canada, having garnered Canadian subscribers through its other magazine, The Faricator. "We just thought [CIM] was a natural extension of supporting the metal fabricating industry,” Youdell said.

FMA Communications will stick with CIM’s existing, controlled-circulation business model, but wants to make a couple of changes on the editorial side.

The stories will still focus on metalworking, tooling, fabricating and processing, but the new publishers aim to promote editor Joe Thompson, one of the longest-serving editors in the genre, as the face of the magazine, Youdell said. “He does an excellent job and we just need to feature him more.”  Aside from the emphasis on Thompson, FMA also wants CIM’s cover designs to follow The Fabricator’s look beginning with the May 2009 issue.