Predecessor | Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Society of Tool Engineers |
---|---|
Formation | 1932 |
Type | Professional association |
Purpose | To advance manufacturing and attract future generations. |
Headquarters | Southfield, Michigan, United States |
Location |
|
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 |
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]
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]
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
Detlef Zuehlke is a German engineer and professor.
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.
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