ASME Strategy Outlined During Special Member Assembly at the Annual Meeting

ASME Strategy Outlined During Special Member Assembly at the Annual Meeting ASME Strategy Outlined During Special Member Assembly at the Annual Meeting ASME Strategy Outlined During Special Member Assembly at the Annual Meeting July 8, 2016 ASME President Julio Guerrero (center) addresses the attendees at the Member Assembly. Several members of ASMEs leadership outlined the Societys new strategy during a special Member Assembly that was held June 5 at the ASME Annual Meeting in Louisville, Ky. The session, titled Building for Impact, provided the packed room of approximately 150 people with an overview of the Societys new constituent-facing strategy focusing on the technologies that are impacting industry, the economy and the quality of life around the world. Following an introduction by ASME Executive Director Thomas Loughlin and opening remarks by ASME President Julio Guerrero, ASME President-Elect K. Keith Roe provided a brief summary of the origins of ASME NOW, which is designed to position the Society as the go-to organization for thought leadership in critical enduring and emerging mechanical engineering technologies and to help ASMEs members and other stakeholders utilize those technologies to help the Society fulfill its mission of making the world a better place. ASME President-Elect K. Keith Roe outlined the history of the Society’s new strategy during the Member Assembly. To enable ASME to accomplish that mission, the objective of the strategy, which the Board of Governors began developing last fall, calls for the Society to double its revenue by 2025, with more than half of that revenue coming from products and services other than codes and standards. In other words, ASME needs to diversify its revenue streams and provide more valuable offerings to its members and other customers. In developing the strategy, the board set an Enterprise Goal of enhancing ASMEs relevance and impact to global constituents by becoming the leader in advancing engineering technology. Being a market leader has real impacts on the Society, Roe said. It means we really have to be good at know-how. We have to know how to focus. We have to be forward-thinking. We have to be highly competent. We have to have a significant footprint. And we need to be a thought leader. ASME Board of Governors member John Goossen provided an overview of the technology selection process for attendees. During the sessions next presentation, Board of Governors member John Goossen and Mike Ireland, associate executive director, Engineering, provided some details of the process for selecting the core technologies that will be the foundation of the Societys future product portfolio. The technology identification process began at the start of the year when a Staff Technology Team refined a list of more than 2,000 individual technologies to the 50 considered most relevant for achieving ASMEs strategic objectives. The results of a survey of 125,000 ASME members and meetings with ASMEs divisions and other member groups helped the team further narrow the list to 24 technologies, which were then reviewed by the Technology Advisory Panel (TAP), a diverse group of technology thought leaders who were appointed by the volunteer Sector Management Committee. The top 10 technologies identified by the panel were then reduced to a final list of five recommended technologies - manufacturing, clean energy, bioengineering, pressure technology and robotics - that were presented to the Board of Governors for approval at the annual meeting. Additionally, based on feedback from the TAP team, the Board were also presented with a list of supporting or enabling applications that affect the 10 selected technologies: the Internet of things (IOT), big data analytics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, sustainability, materials, nanotechnology and design engineering. Although these technologies will serve to integrate and focus the Society, Ireland said that ASME would also continue to be a resource for information, products and services related to other mechanical engineering technologies. Former ASME Federal Fellow Thomas Kurfess discussed the topic “Manufacturing the Future” during his presentation at the Member Assembly. As for the next steps in the strategy implementation process, Ireland said, These selected technologies will help to focus the organization and create a more integrated approach in serving our constituents. Our products and programs, communication, marketing … everything were doing with staff is becoming aligned to position ourselves as a thought leader and to understand our customers. Were going to take our current portfolio, adjust it, and find new products and opportunities. Noting that more than 90 percent of the Societys staff has been realigned to fulfill the mission and the strategy, Ireland said ASME needs to also align its volunteer partners to the strategy to better serve and engage the Societys various communities. The Member Assembly also featured a presentation from advanced manufacturing expert Thomas Kurfess, the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control at Georgia Institute of Technology, who served as assistant director for Advanced Manufacturing in the White Houses Office of Science and Technology Policy during his term as an ASME Federal Fellow in 2012-2013. During his talk, titled Manufacturing the Future, Kurfess discussed current developments within the manufacturing sector and highlighted some of ASMEs initiatives in the area of manufacturing. These included the establishment of the Manufacturing Public Policy Task Force, through which ASME offers its technical and professional expertise to the executive and legislative branches of the government to help identify opportunities, develop strategies and provide recommendations for public policy issues involving advanced manufacturing. Through its efforts in fostering innovation, supporting and advancing codes and standards and providing much-needed training and workforce development resources, ASME is addressing the needs of the nation and the world, Kurfess said. But I want to highlight that it is an ongoing process. Its an ever-changing process. Its not good to enough to say, Heres our five-year plan. Or heres our three-year plan. This is a continuous process and technology is accelerating. Weve got to keep our fingers on that pulse.