The Rapid Technology and Additive Manufacturing Community: Knowledge is Power!

At the Society of Manufacturing Engineers' (SME's) first rapid prototyping event in Schaumburg, Illinois in 1990, a few people decided its members weren't reaping all of the potential rewards the organization had to offer, so the Rapid Technology and Additive Manufacturing Community (RTAM) was formed to provide members benefits such as easier access to other SME technical groups and an opportunity to get more involved within the SME technical communities. Since then, the group has been proactive within the RP community-supporting the industry, sharing information and promoting education. The RTAM is broken down into seven technical groups, each chaired by a member of the RTAM Steering Committee. Three of these groups have completed mission and vision statements.

According to Irene Spanos of SME's Communications Division, the 30 to 50 active members in the RTAM Community have undertaken a number of activities, including: finding ways to make an applications database available to the community; developing educational programs; soliciting articles and papers for the technical database and community e-newsletter; and recruiting key speakers for RP&M as well as industry-wide events such as the Manufacturing Tech Summit and the IMTS 2004 Manufacturing Conference. They also are beginning to actively recruit members. "Jane Wellington, community relations manager at SME Headquarters, is dedicated to supporting the RTAM community-coordinating the development of events, certificates and other programs that are generated by the ideas that come from the members," Spanos notes. The community meets quarterly in addition to monthly conference calls and e-meetings.

Since the community is just getting underway, the biggest hurdle has been working out the logistics of more member involvement and how best to use everyone who has expressed interest.

Another positive outcome of the RTAM is the Education and Information Exchange Technical Group, comprised of chair leader Scott Schermer, senior rapid prototyping specialist at SC Johnson (Racine, WI)-a manufacturer of household cleaning products and products for home storage-and six to eight main members. "When the education group wanted to develop the certificate program, they organized a group of four certificate program leaders," Spanos explains. This group-who aren't all SME members-then recruited additional volunteers to support the development of the program. This provides opportunities for people who are interested in getting more involved, but are limited in the amount of time they can commit. "There were close to 20 people who got involved with the cert program with time commitments ranging from an hour or two to more than 40 hours."The RTAM's future focus centers around helping manufacturing professionals by continuing to build the Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Certificate program, which may include the development of a Master level course. "Right now, the Associate and Professional levels include a course portion and exam portion," Spanos comments. "At this point, the Master level course is just an exam to recognize the knowledge gained through experience. Our hope is to eventually develop an entire course that will allow individuals to gain additional knowledge."Discussions among the RTAM also have included ways to certify instructors and organizations to administer the certificate programs and ways for Master level certificate holders to maintain their status," Spanos continues. "Other community plans include continuing to build our flagship event-Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Conference & Exposition-striving to meet the needs and bring together not only industry leaders but also those new to the technology. We'd also like to find ways to make it easier for manufacturing professionals to get answers to their questions, and making connections that help everyone are the goals of the all plans of the community."Furthermore, the RTAM would like to expand on its technical groups. In addition to the aforementioned seven, Spanos notes that four additional groups are currently in the recruitment and development process. "We are interested in forming many technical groups that explore and educate the members of the RTAM Community," Spanos says. "The rapid prototyping technologies are very powerful and not yet fully understood or used. Our goal is to help develop and educate people on current and future rapid technologies."For more information contact Jane Wellington of SME (Dearborn MI) at (313) 425-3228. Boris Fritz, Engineer Senior Technical Specialist, Northrop Grumman Corp. (Los Angeles, CA)Vito Gervasi, Manager of Research & Development, Rapid Prototyping Center, Milwaukee School of Engineering (Milwaukee,WI)Tim Gornet, CAE Consultant, University of Louisville (Louisville, KY)Douglas B. Mitchell, Development Engineer, Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, MI)Scott Schermer, Senior Rapid Prototyping Specialist, SC Johnson & Sons, Inc. (Racine, WI)Stephen M. Schmitt, DDS, MS Prosthodontics (San Antonio, TX)Michael Siemer, President, Mydea Technologies Corp. (Orlando, FL)Those individuals new to the RP industry who desire a basic understanding of rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing technologies can take this review course and exam. This course can provide more information on rapid technologies for the purchasing manager, tooling, engineering or RP manager, or others interested in advancing their knowledge and skills on different manufacturing technologies.This review course and exam focuses on a need or interest to expand an individual's knowledge of rapid technologies. This course appeals to those who purchase many different types of prototypes, operate RP equipment, or who are interested in the many different technologies, process and materials, and techniques available.This course is designed for the advanced user who possesses an in-depth knowledge of current methods, material and technologies available in RP. This individual is able to order the correct part for a given application, has a solid understanding of RP equipment capabilities and limitations of commercial RP equipment.--by Scott SchermerTim Gornet, CAE Consultant, University of Louisville (Louisville, KY), Andrew Layton, Research Engineer, Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA), Scott Schermer, Senior Rapid Prototyping Specialist, SC Johnson & Sons Inc. (Racine, WI), Carl Dekker, President, Met-L-Flo, Inc. (St. Charles, IL)