Today's competitive marketplace in both the utility and industrial marketplaces has created the need to squeeze the most from operating equipment.  Optimizing air preheater performance can provide one of the most cost effective of efficiency improvement projects at a given plant. Environmental compliance has created its own unique challenges for equipment not originally designed to meet today's emissions requirements.  Fuel switching and low NOx burners, the most popular strategies utilized to date, have resulted in undesirable side effects on many units.  In many cases a shift to an alternate type of heat transfer surface has been found to offset these side effects.  The installation of ammonia based NOx controls has created a host of new fouling, cleaning and corrosion issues within the air preheater. ABS Tolerant™ air preheater reconfigurations can minimize the impact. Manpower reductions, which have become the norm in today's marketplace, often present a challenge for essential maintenance planning and record keeping. Many industries are turning to the OEM to fill voids which have opened as a result of their own staffing level reductions.  The Air Preheater Company can provide trained technical personnel to perform routine inspection services or condition assessments. Not only are these individuals trained specialists, they have access to records detailing OEM replacement parts and service history.  Access to Air Preheater's engineering staff often brings additional value to the table when technical supervision is provided to oversee refurbishment of equipment. Preparing for tomorrow's needs is a concern of all industries planning to compete in tomorrow's marketplace. Research and development work being performed at our in-house laboratories will help assure that the products and services we are able to supply tomorrow will be consistent with the marketplace's needs.