SME Integrates Motorsports Industry Into Charlotte SOUTH-TECH Show

[DebWilliams-GFN]

By Deb Williams

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Oct. 4, 2007) – With the return of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers SOUTH-TEC show to the Queen City, the region's motorsports industry became an integral part of the manufacturing trade show and one can only expect SME's involvement in that industry to increase.

“We'll be here in Charlotte in the years when we don't have the show, supporting and partnering with the (race) teams, the North Carolina Motorsports Association, the state government, the North Carolina Business Center for Education, and launching some programs with our education foundation in partnership with project Lead the Way,” said Rodney Glover, SME's development leader motorsports/oil and gas. “We're working with UNC-Charlotte, Clemson, Winston-Salem State University, and East Carolina University in support of their programs and internships. We're just here to support the industry.”

In the three-day show at the Charlotte Convention Center, Andy Papathanassiou, the executive director of the North Carolina Motorsports Association and the personnel director for Hendrick Motorsports, opened the manufacturing conference's motorsports segment on Tuesday with a presentation on the business of motorsports in North Carolina. He was followed on Wednesday by Bobby Hutchens, vice president of research and development for Richard Childress Racing, who addressed the hiring of qualified technical employees. Also on Wednesday, a panel of professors from university motorsports programs in North Carolina, Indiana and Michigan presented their programs and future plans, while consultant Charles Jenckes discussed the differences in Formula One and NASCAR engines. Gillett Evernham Motorsports president and CEO Ray Evernham and GEM's lead design engineer Eric Kominek focused on the challenges of managing the life cycle of the team's race cars.

Penske Racing President Tim Cindric spoke Thursday on the manufacturing and implementation of NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow.

NASCAR drivers Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch appeared at the Mazak booth during the event, while NHRA competitor Doug Herbert talked with event attendees at the Gibbs and Associates booth. Several race cars and a simulator also were on display.

“There was a time, maybe back in 1998, that we had a racing theme in the show, but not integrated into the event like this year,” said Gary Mikola, director of expositions for SME. “We had Joe Gibbs come in and speak. We had a keynote breakfast. But it's only been within the last two years that SME has aligned itself with this motorsports initiative, as we recognized that many of our members and anybody that has a machine shop has got a tendency to get motor oil in their fingertips as much as coolants and lubricants because they like to play with the engines and racing. These guys like cars, they like performance. We have some exhibitors who are into antiques and we have some people that are racing everything. It's quite a diversification.”

Grover noted that integrating racing into the expo was a “passionate way to attract young people to manufacturing and engineering.”

“When you talk to young men and women nowadays, and you talk to them about manufacturing, manufacturing has such a negative image,” Grover said. “But tying it to something like the performance industries, whether it's NASCAR, the NHRA, the IRL, or like Gary said, the performance snowmobiling, jet skis, boating, the kids get it. They get excited about it because they can see the end product of manufacturing.”

At least 5,000 people were expected to attend the show that had nearly 400 exhibits, covered 80,000 square feet and had 2.2 million pounds of equipment.

First held in the Carolinas in 1977, the show last visited Charlotte three years ago. On opening day this year, 2,526 people attended the event, and Grover said the massive show would return to Charlotte in 2009.

SME's last show this year is in November, it is conducted in partnership with the American Welding Society, and it is its largest – FABTECH International in Chicago. Next year's expos include shows in Los Angeles, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and W. Springfield, Mass. Prior to the show's return to Charlotte in 2009, Grover said SME may conduct several small training and conferencing type programs with the North Carolina Motorsports Association. He said those events would focus on the technologies that are vital to the motorsports industry, from the weekly racer to the sport's top professional levels.

“We're much deeper than a trade show and a magazine,” Grover said. “We have a membership base of nearly 27,000 that are willing to help, network and share knowledge. We have a technical community network of members that are the world leading experts in their technology field. They are like the volunteer firefighters of SME. When the buzzer goes off, they're there to help.”

Excluding the major changes that have occurred in manufacturing equipment through the years, Mikola cited the global market in which everyone must compete as the industry's biggest change and challenge.

“Each region has a characteristic that is reflective of the geography, but everyone is being challenged by a reduction work force, the notion of being competitive has required them to pick up new practices on how they produce, lean philosophies, so they have to really be in a position to compete globally,” Mikola said. “More recently, I think, people are beginning to think it's almost more economical to produce here than to go to China, of course it all depends on what you are producing.”

Glover notes SME offers corporate training, conferences, and educational support through its foundation.

Mikola said the technology that's occurring in the medical and aerospace industries also was putting challenges on manufacturers.

“What is being thought of eventually has to be made,” Mikola said. “Technology continues to drive people to do things differently.”

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