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2020 was certainly an unusual year—for SME, for our industry, and for the world. There is no question that these unusual times will carry over into 2021. Unusual does not necessarily mean bad; it just means different. Often hidden within those differences are opportunities.

Technical debt is not on your balance sheet, not addressed on your roadmap and often an afterthought, but ultimately can be the difference between executing swiftly and being paralyzed as you scale, grow and support your product(s).

Technology is improving at a rapid pace, and these developments are being incorporated into the manufacturing industry. According to Deloitte’s “2018 Skills Gap in Manufacturing Study,” the industry could have a shortage of 2.4 million skilled workers by 2028.

My first experience with additive manufacturing was 10 years ago when I managed a project to develop a 3D-printed, remotely piloted aircraft. Within this program, a 3D-printed parts producer, that mainly printed prototypes at the time, collaborated with a university and an aerospace systems manufacturer.

My first participation in SME’s North American Manufacturing Research Conference (NAMRC) was in 1994 at NAMRC-XXII, hosted by Northwestern University (Evanston, IL). I presented my work, “Development of a New Type of Magnetic Finishing Tool for Internal Finishing of Tubes Using Rotating Magnetic Field,” in the Machining Innovation 1 session at 10:30 a.m. on May 25, 1994.

In manufacturing, the internet is getting quite a bit of attention lately—and for good reason. The Internet is bringing our industry to new frontiers, to the promised land called smart manufacturing.

On June 22-23, SME hosted a Smart Manufacturing Working Group meeting at Texas A&M University (College Station, TX) followed by an international workshop on Smart Manufacturing for the Factory of the Future.

Digital twins are breathing life and innovation into increasingly more areas of manufacturing as well as solving challenges for machine shops of all sizes. With the skilled labor shortage and an ongoing effort to reshore high-tech manufacturing to the U.S., digital twins have a lot to offer.

Today, I am a mechanical engineering student who dreams of working in the aerospace industry. Today, I know where my passion lies, where my future may take me and the kinds of problems I may be solving.

This year, Edye S. Buchanan celebrates 32 years as a member of SME. After serving in many volunteer positions she is now chair of the SME Member Council.