SME Supports Ohio Manufacturing With Cleveland 2001 Advanced Productivity Exposition

    DEARBORN, Mich., Aug. 21 Some 6,000 manufacturing
decision-makers are expected at Cleveland's International Exposition (I-X)
Center October 23-25 for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers' (SME)
Cleveland 2001 Advanced Productivity Exposition (APEX).  Ohio's largest
machine tool and metalworking exposition provides a forum to compare the
latest machine tools and metalworking technologies.
    "With more than one million manufacturing professionals calling Ohio home,
manufacturing is key to supporting the state's economy,*" said Gary Mikola,
SME's director of expositions.  "The Cleveland APEX supports the resource
demands of Ohio's manufacturing market with solutions that increase
productivity and quality while reducing costs and time-to-market."
    Equipment and services from approximately 300 companies will be displayed
and demonstrated on the show floor.
    In addition, two-day Advanced Technical Sessions will be held Oct. 22 to
24 (separate fees are required).  Sessions include: Powder Coating
Fundamentals; Precision Machine Design, Modern Grinding Technology; Rapid and
Accurate Cost Estimating and Quoting; Systematic Planning of Manufacturing
Cells for Machining, Assembly, Lean, or Flow Operations; Geometric
Dimensioning and Tolerancing Level 1; and Advanced Powder Coating.
    Exposition hours are: Tuesday, Oct. 23, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday,
Oct. 24, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Thursday, Oct. 25, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  For more
information, contact SME Customer Service at 800-733-4763, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Eastern Time, Monday through Friday; or log onto http://www.sme.org/cleveland .

    SME Invests in Cleveland Manufacturing
    SME further supports Cleveland's manufacturing community through
involvement with local manufacturing awareness initiatives and grant funding
to Cleveland State University.
    In a collaborative effort between SME and the North East Ohio
Manufacturing Awareness Council (a consortium of economic development and
educational groups), 250 local students, instructors and counselors will visit
the show on October 25.  Participants will see manufacturing technologies in
action and learn about challenging and rewarding manufacturing education and
career opportunities.  The event will also feature a NASA Robotics display.
    Cleveland State University's Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC) received
an SME Education Foundation grant used to develop the Manufacturing Discovery
Laboratory to train teachers as "manufacturing ambassadors" and introduce
middle-school students to the exciting career possibilities of manufacturing
engineering.  Since its inception in 1979, SME's Education Foundation has made
cash grants of over $12 million and in-kind grants of more than $80 million to
397 colleges and universities, more than any other professional engineering
society.
    The Cleveland APEX is co-located with the Midwest Job Shop Show, sponsored
by Job Shop Shows.  Visit http://www.jobshopshows.com/apex for more information about
the region's largest source for contracting manufacturing parts and services
from metal, plastic, rubber, electronic and finishing industries.
    The Cleveland APEX is sponsored by SME, the American Machine Tool
Distributors' Association (AMTDA), and AMT-The Association For Manufacturing
Technology.  APEX events bring together builders, distributors and users of
machine tools and metalworking equipment in key U.S. manufacturing centers.

    *  Source, Bureau of Labor Statistics, February 2001

    CONTACT:  Dave Lipnik of SME Public Relations, +1-313-271-1500,
ext. 1856, lipndav@sme.org

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