SAE International
 | |
| Founded | 1905 |
|---|---|
| Type | Professional Organization |
| Focus | Automotive, Automobile, Aerospace, Commercial vehicle. |
| Location | |
Area served | Worldwide. |
| Method | Industry standards, Membership, Conferences, Publications, Professional Development. |
Key people |
Andrew L. Riker Henry Ford Thomas Edison Glenn Martin Orville Wright Charles Kettering |
| Website | http://www.sae.org/ |
SAE International, initially established as the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a U.S.-based, globally active professional association and standards developing organization for engineering professionals in various industries. Principal emphasis is placed on transport industries such as automotive, aerospace, and commercial vehicles.
SAE International has more than 127,000 members globally. Membership is granted to individuals, not through companies. Aside from its standardization efforts, SAE International also devotes resources to projects and programs in STEM education, professional certification, and collegiate design competitions.
History
In the early 1900s there were dozens of automobile manufacturers in the United States, and many more worldwide. Auto manufacturers and parts companies joined trade groups that promoted business. A desire to solve common technical design problems and develop engineering standards was emerging. Engineers in the automobile business expressed a desire to have "free exchange of ideas" in order to expand their individual technical knowledge base.
Two magazine publishers, Peter Heldt of The Horseless Age, and Horace Swetland of The Automobile were advocates of the concepts for SAE. Heldt wrote an editorial in June 1902 in which he said, "Now there is a noticeable tendency for automobile manufacturers to follow certain accepted lines of construction, technical questions constantly arise which seek solution from the cooperation of the technical men connected with the industry. These questions could best be dealt with by a technical society. The field of activity for this society would be the purely technical side of automobiles."[1]
Horace Swetland wrote on automotive engineering concerns, and became an original SAE officer. About two years after Heldt's editorial, the Society of Automobile Engineers was founded in New York City. Four officers and five managing officers volunteered. In 1905 Andrew L. Riker[2] served as president, and Henry Ford served as the society's first vice president. The initial membership was engineers with annual dues of US$10.
Over the first 10 years SAE membership grew steadily, and the society added full-time staff and began to publish a technical journal and a comprehensive compilation of technical papers, previously called SAE Transactions, which still exist today in the form of SAE International's Journals. By 1916 SAE had 1,800 members. At the annual meeting that year, representatives from the American Society of Aeronautic Engineers, the Society of Tractor Engineers, as well as representatives from the power boating industry made a pitch to SAE for oversight of technical standards in their industries. Aeronautics was a fledgling industry at that time. Early supporters of the concept of a society to represent aeronautical engineers were Thomas Edison, Glenn Curtiss, Glenn Martin, and Orville Wright.
Out of the meeting in 1916 came a new organization, to represent engineers in all types of mobility-related professions. SAE member Elmer Sperry created the term "automotive" from Greek autos (self), and Latin motivus (of motion) origins to represent any form of self powered vehicle. The Society of Automobile Engineers became the Society of Automotive Engineers.
Charles Kettering presided over SAE during World War I and saw membership pass the 5,000 mark. During this time, SAE emphasized the importance of developing member activity through local chapters - called Sections. After World War II, the Society established links with other standards bodies and automotive engineering societies worldwide, and since then has founded sections in countries including: Brazil, India, China, Russia, Romania, and Egypt. By 1980, membership surpassed 35,000 and over the next two decades the society, like the industries and individuals it serves, became larger, more global, more diverse, and more electronic.
By the mid-1980s, membership edged close to 50,000; by the end of the 1990s, membership topped 80,000 with members in more than 80 countries.
As of 2016, the society serves more than 127,000 members, with more than a quarter from outside of North America.[3]
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1900s[3] | |
| 1904 | Edward Tracy Birdsall, charter member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, invites others to the Automobile Club of America at 753 5th Ave., New York, NY to organize a society of engineers concerned with all aspects of automobiles.[4] Those invited included Horace Swetland, publisher of the trade journal The Automobile, and seven others. Henry Ford, though invited, did not attend.[5] |
| 1905 | 30 founding members of the society of automobile engineers meet in New York to elect officers. They were:
SAE Council:
|
| 1906 | Membership listed at 52; 32 attend meeting from nine different states. Volume 1, no. 0, of SAE Transactions printed with three papers. |
| 1907 | Membership listed at 100. |
| 1908 | Membership listed at 150.[7] |
| 1909 | Society is incorporated, debut of original SAE logo.[8] Membership approaches 400.[7] |
| 1911 | SAE is formally incorporated in New York. The Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers effectively dissolves following court ruling. SAE takes over ALAM's technical section, beginning SAE's standardization program.[9][10] SAE opens associate membership to anyone "in a responsible commercial or financial capacity." The SAE Bulletin is founded. |
| 1912 | SAE publishes its first standard. ALAM officially dissolves.[9] |
| 1913 | Membership exceeds 1700.[7] |
| 1914 | Initial publication of SAE's annual compilation of standards in the SAE Data Book. |
| 1915 | SAE moves headquarters to the Engineering Societies Building.[7] SAE standardization efforts reduces the different types of lock washers used in vehicles by 90% (originally 300), reduced 1600 sizes of seamless steel tubing to 221. First student branch is formed at Cornell University. |
| 1916 | SAE opens a Detroit office. Admits members of the American Society of Aeronautical Engineers, the Society of Tractor Engineers, National Association of Engine and Boat Manufacturers, the National Gas Engine Association, and the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. The National Gas Engine Association and the National Association of Engine and Boat Manufacturers merge their standards work with SAE. SAE publishes first aeronautical standard. |
| 1917 | Elmer Sperry coins the word automotive; SAE changes its name to Society of Automotive Engineers in February.[8] National Automobile Chamber of Commerce begins to support standards work.[7] Found Washington DC Office in the Munsey Trust Building.[11] Cooperated with the Quartermaster Corps to produce the liberty truck and with the U.S. Navy department and the Signal Corps to produce the Liberty airplane engine, the Liberty L-12. SAE's Journal is founded. |
| 1918 | Orville Wright writes to Charles Witteman of the Witteman – Lewis Aircraft Company. It begins: "My dear Mr. Witteman: as your name does not appear on the roster of the Society of automotive engineers, I suspect the advantages of membership have not been presented to you. The work covered by the S.A.E. is of such value that everybody identified with the industry should take out membership." [3]:24 |
| 1919 | Membership exceeds 4300.[7] |
| 1920s[3] | |
| 1920 | Membership reaches 5000, including SAE's first woman member Nellie M. Scott, treasurer of the Bantam Ball Bearing company of Bantam, Connecticut. |
| 1921 | SAE standards number 224. Automotive Industries estimates SAE standards save $750 million, or 15% of the retail value of all automobiles sold. |
| 1922 | Membership exceeds 5000.[7] |
| 1926 | Membership exceeds 6000.[7] |
| 1927 | The first SAE award is created – the Wright Brothers medal – for the best paper on the topic of aircraft. |
| 1930 | 25th Anniversary.[12] Membership exceeds 7000. |
| 1933 | Fuels and Lubricants Meetings Committee is formed. |
| 1935 | Tractor and Industrial Power Equipment Meetings Committee is formed. |
| 1936 | SAE's first National Aircraft Production Meeting is held. |
| 1939 | The SAE War Engineering Board is established to evaluate problems defined by the military and to assign committees of specialists to ascertain prompt solutions.[13] |
| 1940s [3] | |
| 1940 | Membership reaches 5855. |
| 1942 | The War Activity Council is formed to coordinate efforts for the Allied forces. |
| 1943 | The War Activity Office is established in Detroit. |
| 1944 | The Special Publication Department is formed. |
| 1945 | Membership exceeds 12,000. |
| 1946 | The Technical Board is formed, creating standards for design, manufacturing, testing, quality control, and procurement. |
| 1947 | Formal Engineering Meetings structure established. The Engineering Materials Meetings Committee is formed. |
| 1958 | The Sections Board is formed to guide SAE's local sections and keep the SAE board of directors informed. |
| 1960s[3] | |
| 1961 | SAE Aerospace standards number 1000. |
| 1966 | SAE publications gain international coverage. |
| 1967 | The phrase "land, sea, air, and space" is added to the SAE logo. |
| 1973 | SAE launches first design competition for college students called the Recreational-Ecological Vehicle contest. |
| 1974 | SAE moves headquarters to a new location on Thorn Hill in Warrendale, PA, 20 miles north of Pittsburgh, PA. Warrendale is christened SAE World Headquarters. |
| 1976 | SAE officially launches its Collegiate Design Series. |
| 1977 | The SAE Fellow award is established to recognize achievements in technology and engineering. |
| 1978 | The SAE Women Engineers Committee is formed. |
| 1980s [3] | |
| 1981 | The collegiate design competition Formula SAE begins. The first volume of Aerospace Engineering Magazine is published. |
| 1983 | SAE begins its Professional Development Program to educate and certify mobility engineers. |
| 1986 | SAE creates the SAE Foundation to fund and promote education in math and science. |
| 1990s[3] | |
| 1990 | SAE foundation launches A World in Motion, "with the specific aim of bringing a new style of pedagogy to physical sciences in grades four, five, and six." SAE establishes the Performance Review Institute, a nonprofit affiliate, to develop performance standards and certify systems accordingly. SAE forms its first international affiliation with SAE Brazil [3]:132 |
| 2000s[3] | |
| 2002 | SAE recognizes its second organizational affiliate, SAE India. |
| 2004 | The Institute of Vehicle Engineers, UK, merges with the United Kingdom's Midlands SAE Section to form SAE UK. SAE membership reaches 84,000. |
| 2005 | SAE Aerospace standards number 6200. SAE celebrates its 100-year anniversary with SAE 100.[14] |
| 2006 | SAE officially changes its name from Society of Automotive Engineers to SAE International to reflect the increasingly international scope of its activities and membership. |
| 2010s[3] | |
| 2010 | SAE membership reaches 120,000. |
| 2012 | SAE International acquires Tech Briefs Media Group.[15] |
| 2014 | SAE International Completes Asset Purchase of ARINC Industry Activities - Expands Aerospace Portfolio.[16] |
Technical standards
SAE International provides a forum for companies, government agencies, research institutions and consultants to devise technical standards and recommended practices for the design, construction, and characteristics of motor vehicle components. SAE documents do not carry any legal force, but are in some cases referenced by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Transport Canada in those agencies' vehicle regulations for the United States and Canada. Outside North America, SAE documents are generally not a primary source of technical provisions in vehicle regulations; the United Nations' World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations includes expert working parties to devise technical prescriptions. Ongoing harmonization efforts seek to bridge gaps between North American SAE technical prescriptions and the UN standards in use outside North America.
Ground vehicle standards
SAE publishes more than 1,600 technical standards and recommended practices for passenger cars and other roadgoing vehicles. These provide industry references for measurement of engine power, motor oil classification, tool and fastener sizes, and onboard diagnostic connectors and codes. SAE also publishes standards and recommended practices for headlamps and other vehicular lighting, brakes, automatic transmission fluid, communication networks, electric vehicle charging systems, vehicle ergonomics, and numerous other aspects of vehicle design, construction, performance, and durability.
Aerospace standards
SAE publishes over 6,400 technical documents for the aerospace industry. These include Aerospace Standards (AS), Aerospace Recommended Practices (ARP), and Aerospace Information Reports (AIR). Aerospace Standards apply to missile, airframe, ground-support equipment, propulsion, propeller, and accessory equipment. Aerospace Material Standards are a subset of Aerospace Standards governing materials science and engineering for aerospace applications. Aerospace Recommended Practices are recommendations for engineering practice. Aerospace Information Reports contain general accepted engineering data and information.
Events, conferences, meetings and symposia
SAE organizes or administers more than 25 international meetings and exhibitions each year that cover all aspects of technology related to design, manufacture, and total life cycle technology for the automotive, aerospace, off-highway, truck and bus, fuels and lubricants, and other related mobility industries. These events bring engineers and technical experts from around the world together to share information and network.
Each of the three industry sectors has a primary congress:
- SAE World Congress and Exhibition held annually for the passenger car industry
- SAE Commercial Vehicle Engineering Congress held annually for the trucking, construction and agricultural industry
- SAE AeroTech Congress & Exhibition, held biennially for the aerospace industry
Other notable conferences include Convergence, the premier transportation electronics event (held biennially) and International Conference on Environmental Systems, focusing on manned space systems (held annually).
SAE Symposia are one-day to three-day events focused on emerging technologies, new applications to emerging technologies or other expanded technical subjects.
Additional activities and events are organized at the regional level through sections and collegiate chapters.
Professional development
The SAE mission statement emphasizes the organization's commitment to lifelong learning. In addition to conferences and meetings, SAE also offers more than 450 separate professional development events every year. Offerings include seminars, engineering academies and webinars, offered in the classroom and online. All seminars are approved for IACET Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and Professional Development Hours (PDHs) for the professional engineer.
Encouraging students in science, technology, engineering & math
In 1986, SAE International established the SAE Foundation to support science and technology education. One of the most pressing issues facing industry today is the decline of students enrolling in science and technology programs.[17] This decline and its impact threaten the ability to meet future workforce demands. The SAE Foundation encourages and supports the development of skills related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
A World In Motion is a teacher-administered, industry volunteer-assisted program that brings science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education to life in the classroom for students in Kindergarten through Grade 12. Benchmarked to the national standards, AWIM incorporates the laws of physics, motion, flight and electronics into age-appropriate hands on activities that reinforce classroom STEM curriculum.
The SAE Collegiate Design Series provides an opportunity for college students to go beyond textbook theory and replicates the process of engineering design and manufacturing. In the CDS program, a company wants to sell a product for a specific market segment, for example a radio controlled airplane, a single seat off-road vehicle, or a single seat Formula style race car. Instead of doing all the design, manufacturing and testing in house, the customer chooses to contract out those processes to a supplier, and sends their requirements out for bid. Student teams act as the suppliers and design, build and test a prototype vehicle that they believe meets the customer's specifications. Each team then presents its prototype to the customer at the annual competitions and is judged on several criteria. The team with the highest points essentially wins the contract.
Each year, these design competitions host more than 4,500 students from 500 universities around the world. The SAE Collegiate Design Series competitions include the following:
- SAE Aero Design
- Baja SAE
- eBaja SAE
- SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge
- Formula SAE
- Formula Hybrid
- SAE Supermileage
Publications
SAE International has been publishing technical information since 1906. Industry magazines published monthly include: Automotive Engineering International, Aerospace Engineering and Manufacturing, Off Highway Engineering, Truck & Bus Engineering, SAE Vehicle Engineering, e-newsletters, Momentum magazine for student members, and various journals. SAE also produces the monthly Update newsletter for its members and publishes more than 100 books a year in print and electronic formats. Ranging from compilations on various technical subjects, to textbooks, to historical and enthusiast-oriented books, SAE’s titles cater to a variety of readers.
In April 2007, MIT canceled its subscription to SAE because of required Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology implemented on SAE web-based database of technical papers.[18] SAE International removed the DRM restrictions for colleges, universities, and other academic institutions.[19]
See also
- SAE steel grades
- Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers
- ARP4761
- Electronic control unit
- IEEE
- SAE JA1002
- SAE J1269
- SAE J2452
- FISITA
- SAE India
References
- ↑ Hillstrom, Kevin; Laurie Collier Hillstrom (2006). The industrial revolution in America: automobiles. Oxford: ABC-CLIO. pp. 33–36. ISBN 1-85109-749-X.
- ↑ http://www.sae.org/sae100/people/riker.htm
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Post, Robert C. (2005). The SAE Story: One Hundred Years of Mobility. San Diego, California: Tehbai Books. p. 29. ISBN 0-7680-1489-1.
- ↑ "Founders Recount the Early Days". S.A.E. Journal. XXVI (Six): 662. June 1930.
- ↑ Wilton, James (January 1894). "University Biographies". The University Magazine. X (One): 204. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- ↑ Society of Automotive Engineers (1955). The SAE Story. New York. LCC TL 1 .s68 A58 1955. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Society of Automotive Engineers. French Lick Springs, Indiana: SAE International. May 24, 1930.
- 1 2 Scientific and Technical Societies of the United States (Eighth ed.). Washington DC: National Academy of Sciences. 1968. p. 164.
- 1 2 "Licensed Association Dissolved". Automobile Journal. XXXII (1): 114. Jan 17, 1912. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ↑ Greenleaf, William (2011). Monopoly on Wheels: Henry Ford and the Selden Automobile Patent. p. 252. ISBN 978-0-8143-3512-3. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ↑ "SAE Ensures Close Co-operation". The Automobile. XXXVI (18): 847. May 3, 1917. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ↑ "Society of Auto Engineers will Observe Anniversary". The Evening Independent. St. Petersburg Florida. April 30, 1930. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ↑ "List of "Society of Automotive Engineers. War Engineering Board" publications, 1945-1947". Google Inc. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ↑ "SAE 100". SAE International. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ↑ http://www.sae.org/servlets/pressRoom?OBJECT_TYPE=PressReleases&PAGE=showRelease&RELEASE_ID=1739
- ↑ http://www.sae.org/servlets/pressRoom?OBJECT_TYPE=PressReleases&PAGE=showRelease&RELEASE_ID=2325
- ↑ Azad Ali, Charles Shubra (2010). "Efforts to Reverse the Trend of Enrollment Decline in Computer Science Programs". Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology (PDF). Informing Science Institute. 7: 209–224.
This trend is not limited to computer science programs, but extends to all technology centric programs.
- ↑ "MIT Faculty and Libraries Refuse DRM; SAE Digital Library Canceled". MIT Libraries News Blog. MIT Libraries. March 16, 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
- ↑ "SAE Removes FileOpen Digital Rights Management for Students, Faculty" (Press release). SAE International. November 6, 2007. Retrieved 2 September 2011.