SME (society)

Last updated
SME
PredecessorSociety of Manufacturing Engineers, Society of Tool Engineers
Formation1932
TypeProfessional association
PurposeTo advance manufacturing and attract future generations.
Headquarters Flag of the United States.svg Southfield, Michigan, United States
Location
  • 1000 Town Center, Suite 1910, Southfield, MI 48075
Region served
Worldwide
Official language
English
Secretary General
Vincent W. Howell Sr., FSME, CMfgE
President
Michael D. Packer, FSME
Executive Director & CEO
Robert Willig
Subsidiaries SME Media, Tooling U-SME, SME Education Foundation
Website sme.org
Formerly called
Society of Manufacturing Engineers

SME, formerly the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, is a non-profit student and professional association for educating and advancing the manufacturing industry in North America. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

History

SME was founded in January 1932 at the height of the Great Depression. Originally named the Society of Tool Engineers, and renamed the American Society of Tool Engineers one year later, it was formed by a group of 33 engineers and mechanics gathered at the Detroit College of Applied Science. [4] By April of that year, just four months after its beginning, membership increased from the original 33 members to 200 members and continued to grow rapidly with new chapters popping up across the country. [5] As the economic troubles of the 1930s pushed the world ever-closer to war, Society members responded by helping to convert America's industries into the primary military supplier for the Allied war effort, or what President Roosevelt referred to as the "arsenal of democracy." The organization also tailored their educational materials to meet the needs of the defense program and established the Emergency Defense Training Committee. [5] Between 1941 and the end of the war in 1945, Society membership more than doubled, rising from 8,700 to nearly 18,000 members.

Following the end of the war, the Society helped convert America's wartime industry into a producer of consumer goods. Switching focus from defense to research, appointing a planning committee and setting aside $25,000 for establishing a Research Fund in 1950, the society proceeded to establish a $50,000 educational fund and awarded its first scholarships in 1951. In 1960, the Society changed its name to The American Society of Tool and Manufacturing Engineers and in 1970 it became the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. However, since 2013 only the abbreviation SME has been used as the official name. [6]

The Society launched the SME Manufacturing Engineering Education Foundation in May 1979. By 2007 SME had successfully expanded into more than 72 countries, establishing itself as the world's leading provider of knowledge, networking and skills development for the manufacturing industry. [5] In September 2010, SME acquired Tooling University LLC, an educational technology and blended learning company that provides learning management system software and online manufacturing training content. [7] [8]

In 2018, SME moved its headquarters from Dearborn, MI, to Southfield, MI. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockwell International</span> Defunct American manufacturing conglomerate

Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics and industrial products. Rockwell International's predecessor was Rockwell Manufacturing Company, founded in 1919 by Willard Rockwell. In 1968, Rockwell Manufacturing Company included 7 operating divisions manufacturing industrial valves, German 2-cycle motors, power tools, gas and water meters. In 1973, it was combined with the aerospace products and renamed Rockwell International. At its peak, Rockwell International was No. 27 on the Fortune 500 list, with assets of over $8 billion, sales of $27 billion and 115,000 employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SAE International</span> Professional association and standards organization for transport and other industries

SAE International, formerly named the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a United States-based, globally active professional association and standards developing organization for engineering professionals in various industries. SAE International's world headquarters is in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, 20 miles north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Principal emphasis is placed on global transport industries such as aerospace, automotive, and commercial vehicles. The organization adopted the name SAE International to reflect the broader emphasis on mobility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Kahn (architect)</span> American architect

Albert Kahn was an American industrial architect. He was accredited the architect of Detroit and designed industrial plant complexes such as the Ford River Rouge automobile complex. He designed the construction of Detroit skyscrapers and office buildings as well as mansions in the city suburbs. He led an organization of hundreds of architect associates and in 1937, designed 19% of all architect-designed industrial factories in the United States. Under a unique contract in 1929, Kahn established a design and training office in Moscow, sending twenty-five staff there to train Soviet architects and engineers, and to design hundreds of industrial buildings under their first five-year plan. They trained more than 4,000 architects and engineers using Kahn's concepts. In 1943, the Franklin Institute posthumously awarded Kahn the Frank P. Brown Medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metro Detroit</span> Metropolitan area in Michigan, United States

Metro Detroit is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and over 200 municipalities in the surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the official statistical areas designated by the Office of Management and Budget, a federal agency of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlas Copco</span> Swedish multinational industrial company

Atlas Copco is a Swedish multinational industrial company that was founded in 1873. It manufactures industrial tools and equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Society of Automation</span>

The International Society of Automation (ISA), formerly known as The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society, is a non-profit technical society for engineers, technicians, businesspeople, educators and students, who work, study or are interested in automation and pursuits related to it, such as instrumentation. It was originally known as the Instrument Society of America. The society is more commonly known by its acronym, ISA, and the society's scope now includes many technical and engineering disciplines. ISA is one of the foremost professional organizations in the world for setting standards and educating industry professionals in automation. Instrumentation and automation are some of the key technologies involved in nearly all industrialized manufacturing. Modern industrial manufacturing is a complex interaction of numerous systems. Instrumentation provides regulation for these complex systems using many different measurement and control devices. Automation provides the programmable devices that permit greater flexibility in the operation of these complex manufacturing systems.

Willard Frederick Rockwell, Sr. was an American engineer businessman who helped shape and name what eventually became the Rockwell International company. He created and directed a number of major corporations with a wide range of products for the automobile and aviation and related industries. By the 1970s he was a leading figure in American defense industries. "If it moves, we probably made something on it," was his boast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Morley</span>

Richard E. Morley was an American mechanical engineer who was considered one of the "fathers" of the programmable logic controller (PLC) since he was involved with the production of the first PLC for General Motors, the Modicon, at Bedford and Associates in 1968. The Modicon brand of PLC is now owned by Schneider Electric. The PLC has been recognized as a significant advancement in the practice of automation, and has an important influence on manufacturing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manufacturing engineering</span> Branch of engineering

Manufacturing engineering or production engineering is a branch of professional engineering that shares many common concepts and ideas with other fields of engineering such as mechanical, chemical, electrical, and industrial engineering. Manufacturing engineering requires the ability to plan the practices of manufacturing; to research and to develop tools, processes, machines and equipment; and to integrate the facilities and systems for producing quality products with the optimum expenditure of capital.

Edward Mardigian was an engineer, Armenian-American community leader and philanthropist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subir Chowdhury</span> Bangladeshi author

Subir Chowdhury is a Bangladeshi author of 15 books and noted for his work in quality and management. He is currently the chairman and CEO of ASI Consulting Group, LLC, in Bingham Farms, Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comau</span> Italian multinational company

Comau is an Italian multinational company in the automation field based in Turin, Italy, and part of the automaker Stellantis. The company is present in 13 countries and employs 4,000 people and provides services, products and technologies for automotive industry, shipping industry, logistics, food and beverage industry, packaging, electrification, renewable energy and heavy industry.

Richard E. "Dick" Dauch was co-founder and Executive Chairman of the Board of American Axle and Manufacturing. Previously, Dauch served as a manufacturing manager at Chevrolet, Chrysler and at Volkswagen's Westmoreland Assembly Plant.

Swissmem is the association for Switzerland's mechanical and electrical engineering industries and related technology-oriented sectors. It represents the interests of the MEM industries in the commercial, political and public spheres, and boosts the competitive capacity of its 1,250 or so member companies with needs-based services. These include training and development courses for employees in the sector, consulting services, networks and a compensation fund.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Detlef Zühlke</span> German engineer and professor

Detlef Zuehlke is a German engineer and professor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satyandra K. Gupta</span> Aerospace and Mechanical Engineer

Dr. Satyandra K. Gupta is a researcher and educator working in the field of automation and robotics. He started his career as a Research Scientist in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in 1995. He moved to the University of Maryland, College Park in 1998 as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He was appointed as the founding director of the Maryland Robotics Center in 2010. He was appointed as a Program Director for National Robotics Initiative at National Science Foundation and served in this role from 2012 to 2014. He was appointed as a member of the Task Force on Defense Science Board Summer Study on Autonomy in 2015 He joined the University of Southern California in 2016. He currently holds Smith International Professorship of Mechanical Engineering and serves as the founding Director of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing at Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. He is known for his research in manufacturing automation, robotics, and computer-aided design. He was appointed as the Editor for Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering in 2017 by American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Editor-in-Chief for Advanced Manufacturing Book Series by World Scientific Publishing Company in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Middle Eastern people in Metro Detroit</span> Aspect of history

In 2004, Metro Detroit had one of the largest settlements of Middle Eastern people, including Arabs and Chaldo-Assyrians in the United States. As of 2007 about 300,000 people in Southeast Michigan traced their descent from the Middle East. Dearborn's sizeable Arab community consists largely of Lebanese people who immigrated for jobs in the auto industry in the 1920s, and of more recent Yemenis and Iraqis. In 2010 the four Metro Detroit counties had at least 200,000 people of Middle Eastern origin, excluding Jews. Bobby Ghosh of TIME said that some estimates gave much larger numbers. From 1990 to 2000 the percentage of people speaking Arabic in the home increased by 106% in Wayne County, 99.5% in Macomb County, and 41% in Oakland County.

Industrial and production engineering (IPE) is an interdisciplinary engineering discipline that includes manufacturing technology, engineering sciences, management science, and optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations. It is concerned with the understanding and application of engineering procedures in manufacturing processes and production methods. Industrial engineering dates back all the way to the industrial revolution, initiated in 1700s by Sir Adam Smith, Henry Ford, Eli Whitney, Frank Gilbreth and Lilian Gilbreth, Henry Gantt, F.W. Taylor, etc. After the 1970s, industrial and production engineering developed worldwide and started to widely use automation and robotics. Industrial and production engineering includes three areas: Mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, and management science.

Tooling U-SME, formerly Tooling University, is an American non-profit educational technology and blended learning organization that produces learning management system software, certifications and content for the manufacturing industry. Owned by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Tooling U provides online industrial manufacturing training, development, and competency based apprenticeship programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galip Ulsoy</span> Prof. of mechanical engineering

Ali Galip Ulsoy is an academic at the University of Michigan (UM), Ann Arbor, where he is the C.D. Mote, Jr. Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and the William Clay Ford Professor Emeritus of Manufacturing.

References

  1. "SME - Society of Manufacturing Engineers". CalPoly.edu. California Polytechnic State University. Archived from the original on 12 June 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  2. "Society of Manufacturing Engineers". CitizenAudit.org. CitizenAudit.org. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  3. "Society of Manufacturing Engineers". GuideStar.org. GuideStar.org. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  4. "Society of Manufacturing Engineers". NNDB.com. NNDB. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 Krar, Steve. "Society of Manufacturing Engineers (Manufacturing, the largest contributor to the Wealth of a Country)" (PDF). AutomationMag.com. Automation Magazine. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  6. "SME History". SME. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
  7. Del Ciancio, Mary (24 September 2010). "SME to acquire Tooling U for online training". Manufacturing Automation. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  8. "Training". ManufacturersEdge.com. Manufacturer's Edge. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  9. SME moves 130 workers from Dearborn to Southfield Town Center", "Crains Detroit Business", Detroit, May 14, 2018