SME Honors Eight Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineers

DEARBORN, Mich., May 21 -- The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), the world's leading professional society supporting manufacturing education, announced today it awarded eight Serope Kalpakjian Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Awards. The SME Outstanding Manufacturing Engineer award, established in 1979, honors the accomplishments of individuals 35 years of age or younger who demonstrate outstanding leadership and achievements in the field of manufacturing engineering.

This year's award namesake, Serope Kalpakjian, is professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.

"It is always an honor to recognize the efforts of outstanding young manufacturing engineers," said Marcus B. Crotts, SME president. "These individuals exemplify the necessary skills, talents and determination that will shape the future of manufacturing."

SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer awardees representing academia:

Jian Cao, Ph.D., assistant professor, mechanical engineering, Northwestern University, Illinois. Cao's research activities center on the mechanics analysis and process optimization of forming sheet materials, including both metal and composites. Her most significant contribution has been in the wrinkling prediction and a new tooling process design concept in sheet metal forming and material characterization of continuous fiber reinforced composites. Cao's research on wrinkling shows a practical way to predict this important failure mechanism accurately. Cao has also developed several efficient simulation tools that should speed the development of new tooling. In addition to being a highly sought-after speaker, Cao's research is supported by material suppliers and automotive manufacturers, including Ford and General Motors, and by peer-reviewed grants from the National Science Foundation.

Wei Li, Ph.D., assistant professor, mechanical engineering, University of Washington. Li's research focuses on the development of scientific methodologies for manufacturing process/system design and improvement. He has developed integrated process modeling, monitoring, and control methodologies for complex and coupled mechanical-electrical-thermal processes and developed statistical experimental design techniques for processes that involve correlated variables. Wei has played a major role on a National Institute of Standards and Technology/Advanced Technology Project (NIST/ATP), Intelligent Resistance Welding (IRW), focused on solving a long-lasting problem in the automotive industry related to the quality variation of the resistance spot welding process. His research significantly advanced the scientific understanding of the resistance spot welding process. Li developed an on-line weld quality monitoring system, capable of estimating weld quality, detecting weld defects, monitoring electrode wear, and diagnosing process conditions. This system was validated at General Motors' Technical Center Welding Laboratory and DaimlerChrysler's Sterling Stamping Plant.

A. Senthil Kumar, Ph.D., associate professor, mechanical engineering, National University of Singapore. Kumar has made fundamental contributions in the area of fixture design by introducing dynamic clamping. He has developed the first complete fixture design system integrating set-up planning and fixture planning. This work has made a significant impact in the international fixture research community. Kumar's new research directions include macro machining and bio machining. Also, he is involved in the development of miniature machine tools for the manufacture of micro components. He has filed for two patents in the areas related to micro machining and sensor. Kumar co-authored with A.Y.C. Nee and the late Dr. K. Whybrew, Advanced Fixture Design for FMS.

Shaochen Chen, Ph.D., assistant professor, mechanical engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Texas. Chen, one of the nation's leading researchers working to advance the state-of-the-art laser-based micro-and nano-manufacturing technologies. By integrating laser technology with a near- field optical technique, Chen is able to process materials on a nanometer scale. His work in laser micro and non-processing of biopolymers will lead to biomedical applications. Chen's research also includes the use of pulsed lasers to modify computer hard disk surfaces for higher recording density, regarded as one of the key advancements in current magnetic media technology. Additional achievements include laser-based online machining depth measurement with micrometer resolution, optical probing of surface temperature and surface topography at nanosecond time scale and submicron and micro-fabrication of micro-fluidic devises using micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) techniques.

SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer awardees representing industry:

Robert Ivester, Ph.D., mechanical engineer, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Maryland. Ivester's technical achievements include research focused on the development of a generalized approach to optimization of manufacturing operations called Recursive Constraint Bounding (RCB), demonstrating the utility of RCB in cycle-time reduction of machining processes as well as tuning of injection molding machines. In the last few years, Ivester has focused on a public round-robin machining experiment called Assessment of Machining Models (AMM), providing an unbiased evaluation of the research community's current predictive modeling capability for machining processes. He has led collaborative efforts with Ford, General Motors and Caterpillar to provide an impartial and neutral evaluation of tool wear predictions obtained from various machining process models to facilitate higher-quality results. Researchers around the world recognize Ivester's work.

Daniel J. Timco, Eaton Corporation's Cutler-Hammer Technology and Quality Center, Pennsylvania. Timco has made significant achievements in the area of lean manufacturing, including various plant layout designs using one-piece flow, resulting in improved lead time from over two weeks to one day. He led efforts to implement for Eaton Corporation PokaYoke (sic) techniques on fixtures and tooling. He has organized cross-functional teams and schedules on projects, improving productivity 283 percent while decreasing inventory and lead times. Because of his expertise in lean manufacturing, Timco teaches at the technology center where he is recognized as the on-site expert. Recognized as a Six Sigma blackbelt and skilled leader of Six Sigma projects, Timco also has served as a Kaizen team leader. The projects he has led have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

Mark Allen Smith, senior project engineer, General Motors, Warren, Michigan. Smith assisted in the development that led to the implementation of math-based tools that have helped GM assembly plants significantly reduce manufacturing variation. He developed and implemented corporate-wide software for manufacturing tolerance optimization. In addition, he created a software training class and instructed engineers and other trainers to demonstrate its use. Smith has developed a Web site on the GM Intranet to support users in 12 plants around the country.

Sury Peddireddi, senior manufacturing engineer, Delphi Corp., Dayton, Ohio. Peddireddi is a recognized leader in analyzing and improving complex machining processes. With a background in advanced manufacturing engineering, Peddireddi capitalizes on his manufacturing floor experience and has implemented machining improvements with minimum interruptions to normal production. He led a team of manufacturing engineers and research scientists to analyze why current cutting tools failed in the production processes, leading to the development and implementation of new tools. This led him to the development of production processes for several product lines across many Delphi manufacturing plants in North America, Mexico and Brazil which utilized redesigned tools with better tool life and cycle times that are 15 to 20 percent shorter.

Celebrating its 70th anniversary, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers is the world's leading professional society supporting manufacturing education. Through its member programs, publications, expositions, and professional development resources, SME promotes an increased awareness of manufacturing engineering and helps keep manufacturing professionals up to date on leading trends and technologies. Headquartered in Michigan, SME influences more than half a million manufacturing engineers and executives annually. The Society has members in 70 countries and is supported by a network of hundreds of chapters worldwide. Visit us at www.sme.org .