Dearborn, MI – The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) announced a call for nominations for the 2009 Innovations That Could Change the Way You Manufacture list. Technologies on the 2008 list are direct digital manufacturing, self-assembling nanotechnology, ultra capacitors, intelligent device integration, and integrated 3-D simulation and modeling/desktop super computers. For more tips on innovation, also read:

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An SME member-driven program, which showcases new and emerging technologies that are making a difference in manufacturing, it provides an educational framework for SME members and manufacturing practitioners to keep up-to-date on the industry’s latest innovations. This is not a usual list of emerging technologies, but innovations useful today or within a few months, and which have already shown successful implementation. The goal is to help the manufacturing community sort through options available to support their efforts to remain competitive.
Innovations should cause change, bring significant business and financial benefits by minimizing cost and leadtime, improve product quality and performance, and be robust and adaptable to meet or exceed customer demand and requirements.
“SME members are always looking to the future but they are also very much focused on making things happen today,” said Mark C. Tomlinson, SME executive director and general manager. “Other lists focus on technology that is not yet available. We want to change this. The idea behind the list is to help our members and the manufacturing community sort through all the new’ innovations announced each year.”
The Innovations That Could Change the Way You Manufacture list is open to technology that directly affects manufacturing. Nominators will be asked to describe the technology area the innovation falls under, the impact it will have on the manufacturing community, the availability of the innovation, and how it works. If selected, nominators can count on media announcements, a series of articles in Manufacturing Engineering magazine, conference sessions, plus newsletters, technical papers and Technical Community Forum.
A multistep process determines which innovations make the list. Nominations will be reviewed by representatives of SME’s Technical Communities; SME Manufacturing Enterprise Council will make final selections. Technical experts and the nominator should be available during the decision-making process to answer questions and provide information to committees.
–  Control Engineering News Desk
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