Welcome to the homepage of the Atlanta Chapter of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), where manufacturing comes together in North Georgia!

News and Upcoming Events

SME Atlanta celebrates 70 years in 2013!

Bell Aircraft, Marietta, GA - 1943 (courtesy Atlanta History Center)	Lockheed Martin, Marietta, GA - Modern Day (courtesy Atlanta Journal Constitution)

SME Atlanta is proud to announce that the chapter will be celebrating it's 70th anniversary in 2013! Since 1943 the chapter has been bringing together manufacturing professionals from around the state and throughout the Southeast region. As we reflect back on all of the meetings, tours, and activities that the chapter has hosted, all of the friendships that have been formed, and all that we have learned together, we want to take the opportunity to sincerely thank all of the volunteers and members who have made the chapter a great success.  We look forward to the future of Atlanta SME as the leadership team strives to continue to bring you exciting events throughout the Atlanta metro area. Stay tuned for more information about a 70th year celebration in 2013!

SME Atlanta is proud to announce our continued theme for 2013: GEORGIA MADE!
Our tours & presentations this year will continue to center around the reasons and benefits as to why companies choose to bring or keep their manufacturing in the Peach State. We are excited to promote manufacturing enterprises that grow, attain global competitiveness, and make metro-Atlanta a new manufacturing leader.

Check out our upcoming and past events below!

Saturday, June 8, 2013 - The Georgia Manufacturing Expo

Come visit the Georgia Manufacturing Expo on Saturday June 8th between 10AM - 6PM, hosted by NetworkingMFG. Exhibitors will include manufacturers of commercial products and consumer goods along with a select group of companies that support manufacturing in Georgia. SME Atlanta will also have a booth so stop by and see us!  

Click here to go to our Events page for more details and information about registering for the event!

Past Events

Tuesday, May 21, 2013 - Tour of Southwire

 SME Atlanta wants to thank the Southwire team for hosting a great tour. Founded in 1950, Southwire Company is one of the world's leading producers of wire and cable used to transmit power as well as the nation's largest building wire manufacturer. The company's offerings include building wire and cable; metal clad cable; cord products; industrial power cable; copper and aluminum rod; and utility cable products, including overhead conductor and high-voltage underground cable. The group was very greatful for the opportunity to see the awesome Southwire facilities.

 Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - Tour of the KIA Manufacturing Plant 

SME Atlanta wants to thank the wonderful hosts that we had at KIA for an excellent tour. Over 35 people attended and many commented on how glad they were to be able to see the top-knotch facility. We also want to thank all of the attendees who took the time out of their busy schedules to make the trip to the West Point, GA facility!

March 25, 2013 - Manufacturing Beyond the Classroom

We want to thank all of you who made it to the excellent event at Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) on March 25, 2013. The SPSU student chapter was well-represented and several senior chapter members were present as well. A special thanks to our gracious hosts - the Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) Faculty at SPSU, and all of our guest speakers. Congratulations again to our Program Chairs, Stephanie Strada and Lauren Romano, for receiving the 2012 SME Atlanta President's Award at the meeting. Their serivce in 2012 (and all years since starting with the group) is greatly appreciated. The Atlanta Chapter would not be what it is today without all of the hard work that they do! 

February 19, 2013 - Tour of CAT Engine Center

Our tour of the CAT Engine Center on February 19th was a great success. Thanks to the large number of you who made the trip to Griffin for the early morning start time. We would also like to thank our gracious hosts at Caterpillar for taking the time to show us the facility and for the great parting gifts that were given to the attendees. We hope to see all of you at the SPSU event in March!

December 12, 2012 - SME & TAG Manufacturing Holiday Social and Toy Drive at the TwinEngines Facility 

Thanks to everyone who joined us at the joint SME and TAG manufacturing Holiday Social and Toy Drive on 12/12/12! The Twin Engines in Inman Park was an awesome facility to hold the event and it was good to recap 2012 with old and new friends from SME and TAG manufacturing. The toy drive was a great success and we want to thank everyone for their incredible generosity in donating either a toy or money for the cause. We look forward to seeing all of you at our events in 2013!

September 12, 2012 - Tour of Lockheed Martin
SME Atlanta had a great time during its tour of the Lockheed Martin Facilities in Marietta! A special thanks goes out to our gracious hosts as everyone enjoyed seeing the incredible facilities and aircraft assembly as we toured through the plant! Thanks to all of our memebrs and guests who came out to join us as well - we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our upcoming CAT tour.

August 16, 2012 - Happy Hour and Tour of Sealed Air's Packforum Americas
SME Atlanta wants to say many thanks to our friends at Sealed Air for a wonderful tour of the world-class Packforum facility. It was great to kickoff our fall season with an eye-opeining tour of an incredible facility and spend some time with friends during the Happy Hour. We hope to see all of you again at our upcoming tour of Lockheed Martin in September! 

May 10, 2012 - "Big M Manufacturing of Small m Materials"

SME Atlanta & the TAG Manufacturing Society were honored to host a special joint-event with guest speaker, Dr. Ben Wang, Executive Director of the Manufacturing Research Center (MaRC) and Chief Manufacturing Officer at Georgia Tech. Dr. Wang's talk  focused on two inter-related topics: 1.) an overview of Big M Manufacturing R&D at Georgia Tech, and 2.) a case study of Big M Manufacturing: scaling up of a special type of nanomaterial, called carbon nanotube buckypaper, and its applications to build ultra-lightweight, high-performance engineered systems. SME Atlanta was very pleased that Dr. Wang's talk drew a crowd of over 40 attendees and alot of positive feedback was received. Thank you to all of you who joined us and we look forward to seeing more of you at our upcoming events in the fall. 

April 12, 2012 - Tour of Lehigh Technologies

Thanks to our gracious hosts at Lehigh Technologies for putting together a great tour of their facilities on April 12th! April was National Recycling month and what better way to celebrate than by holding an SME tour at the Lehigh Technologies manufacturing plant & Advanced Development Center in Tucker, GA? Lehigh Technologies is a green materials company that is helping solve the important environmental problem of end-of-life tires and post-industrial waste rubber. Lehigh turns this high-value waste material into a micronized rubber powder (MRP) that is used in a wide range of consumer and industrial applications, including high-performance tires, consumer goods, and construction materials. This third generation technology is being used in more than 100 million tires at a rate of 140 million pounds per year. 

March 20, 2012 - Tour of Seasons 4, Inc.

Exceeding expectations since its founding in Douglasville, Georgia in 1971, Seasons 4 has been providing custom HVAC systems for supermarkets, schools, commercial and office buildings, government facilities, and other applications. Their systems provide superior performance and quality for new construction and replacement, each engineered to meet the customer's specific performance requirements. Their replacement HVAC systems are built to fit on existing curb, platform or steel, and can be installed in eight hours or less so that operations are not disrupted. Many thanks to Seasons 4 for hosting a great tour of their facility on Tuesday, March 20th!

February 16, 2012 - Tour of YSS Athletics

Thanks to our friends at YSS Athletics for hosting a great tour of their facility on February 16th. More than 25 people attended the event and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. YSS Athletics is a custom athletic apparel manufacturer in Snellville, GA which started as a result of a high school varsity coach being frustrated with uniform vendors. She was challenged by her principal to make her own team's uniforms and, as a result, YSS Athletics was created. YSS Athletics has become an innovator in the sports uniform industry, producing cutting-edge, custom design and custom fitting uniforms, especially for the female athlete. All of its uniforms are designed with the customer and program in mind, and customers can come to its facility and design their own uniforms for subsequent production. Using the latest technology for apparel manufacturing, which is often only seen in off-shore plants, YSS uniforms are created in software which allows for uniformity regardless of the sport for which they are created. Every aspect of the uniform is created and completed in the YSS facility in Snellville, GA, beginning with design, cutting, sewing and decoration which can include embroidery or screen printing. 

January 26, 2012 - History of Mfg Presentation: How Dalton Became the Carpet Capital of the World

SME kicked-off 2012 with a special presentation on the history of manufacturing in Georgia - specifically, Dalton's incredible domination of the carpet industry. On Thursday, January 26th, guest speaker Douglas Flamming, Professor in the School of History, Technology, and Society at Georgia Tech told the fascinating story of southern entrepreneurship and regional transformation that led to Dalton, Georgia becoming the carpet capital of the world. Many thanks to Dr. Flamming for taking time out of his busy schedule to provide us with an engaging night of talking about manufacturing history in the state of Georgia.

October 18, 2011 - Tour of Millennium Mats (Suwanee, GA)

Thanks to the team at Millennium Mat for a great tour of their manufacturing facility in Suwanee, GA on October 18th. The group had a great time and was glad to have the chance to see a state of the art facility that has re-shored products from Mexico and China by increasing efficiencies, utilizing recycled products and a implementing a state-of-the-art monitoring system.

September 20, 2011 - SME Laser Marking & Engraving Presentation/Demo Presented by: MECCO Marking & Traceability

Dave Sweet, President of MECCO Marking and Traceability, gave a great presentation on laser marking technology. Thanks to Dave for making the trip to the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Research Center and providing a very interesting talk and demo.

August 25, 2011 - SME Happy Hour at SweetWater Brewery!

 Thanks to all who came out and joined us at Sweetwater Brewery on August 25th. Everyone had a great time catching up after our summer break!

May 24, 2011 - Tour of Price Industries

Thanks to our friends at Price industries for putting on a great tour on May 24, 2011. We appreciate the efforts of our gracious hosts and enjoyed seeing the top-notch facilities!

 April 19, 2011 - Chicago White Metal Casting in-depth Die Casting Seminar - Joint SME/ASME Event

Many thanks to Jody Scollard who gave an interesting and informative presentation on advanced die casting and the work that Chicago White Metal Casting has done in this area. We also want to send a special thanks to the folks of ASME's Atlanta Chapter for their efforts in creating a great joint event.

March 24, 2011 - Tour of Applied Industrial Technologies Distribution Center

On Thursday, March 24th, SME Atlanta toured through Applied Industrial Technologies' distribution center in Lithia Springs, GA. It was exciting to see one of North America’s largest industrial distributors of bearings, power transmission components, hydraulic components and systems, pneumatic components and systems, industrial rubber products, linear components, tools, safety products, general maintenance and a variety of material handling products. Thanks to our hosts at Applied for providing such an interesting tour!

February 15, 2011 - Tour of WIKA Instrument Corporation

On February 15th SME Atlanta toured through WIKA Instrument Corporation with a total of 43 attendees!  Thanks to all of you who joined us for the tour and many thanks to our gracious hosts at WIKA who made it all possible.

November 16, 2010 - Tour of Meggitt Training Systems!

On November 16th SME Atlanta toured through Meggitt Training Systems and had a great time using the simulators that Meggitt has built its strong reputation on. Many thanks to our hosts for putting on a tour that everyone enjoyed!  

FABTECH Volunteer Opportunities - Complimentary Registration!

SME "Members Only" Meet and Greet at FABTECH - November 3rd!

SME held a "members only" meet and greet event on Wednesday, November 3rd in the Showcase Theater at FABTECH.  Click here to see the details of this event! 

North America's largest metal forming, fabricating, finishing and welding event returned to the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta from November 2-4, 2010!

Click here to see all of the details from the event.

SME's Manufacturing Engineering magazine now available online!

Manufacturing Engineering, SME's authoritative flagship publication is now available for viewing online! Click here to see a video about all the exciting benefits and features of the new format on the SME International site.    

October 28, 2010 - Lunch and Tour of Bonnell Aluminum!

The Bonnell Aluminum tour on October 28th was a fun and interesting lunch meeting.  Thanks to all of you who attended the tour and a special thanks to Bonnell Aluminum for hosting us!

September 21, 2010 – Tour of Nisshinbo

Thanks to everyone who attended the tour of Nisshinbo North American operations on September 21st! We also want to send a special thanks to our gracious hosts at Nisshinbo - they put on an excellent tour! 

August 26, 2010 – Tour of SweetWater Brewery

We had a fun time at the SweetWater Brewery and were glad to see many new and familiar faces!  Thanks to all who came out and made it a great night.  We hope to plan similar mixers in the future so stay tuned to the website for more information!