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We have changed the format of SnP Day on Tuesday of the SAWE Conference in Norfolk VA.  We will only have a 30 minute opening an no recap session at the end of the day.  This will give each industry committee more time for discussions and some other exciting activities. The industry committee meetings will be from 8:30 to 5:00PM with the traditional coffee breaks and SnP Luncheon from 12:00 to 1:30 PM.

I am pleased to announce the following additional activities:

RP C- 9 Data Exchange – ISO-10303-242 Meeting from 3:30-5:00 in room 1783

Sebastian-Verian Herda will lead a meeting to define the scope of their project titled Mass Properties Digital Data Attributes for PLM data exchange & Reporting,  The purpose of the meeting is to review and to agree on a Project Proposal.   As I understand it (Andy Schuster VP-SnP), the purpose of the project  is create cconsistent PLM data and exchange protocols will simplify MPD functionality set up in PLM & ERP systems. The STEP AP 242 file (ISO 10303-242) is a system independent file format and is the best established specification within the Automotive, Aerospace, and Defence industries. It specifies the application protocol for Model based 3D engineering.  The STEP effort will be added to the other data exchange methods used by SAWE members such as MPEX, and RP M-1 to create a Cross Industry Function Recommended Practice.  The meeting will clarify my interpretation.

Mass Properties Engineer Certification Discussions

Each Industry Committee has set aside an hour of the day to discuss the impact of this program to their industry.  The program will be presented in a 90 minute presentation on Monday afternoon during the technical session.  The program leaders Yi-ling Tam, John Hargrave, Bill Boze and Clint Stephenson, will visit each meeting to get feedback based on a set of open ended questions to draw out your opinions.  From discussions at the SnP Standards Review Board meeting, we know that the impact of the Mass Properties Engineer Certification program will be dramatically different between industries, and we want to know how dramatic.  For example the Marine and Military Aircraft industries may want everything in English, while the Offshore industry may want the training materials and exams in English, Portuguese and Korean so that the detailed design and construction workers can do things in their native language.  The committee would like your thoughts on the program.

Weight Engineers Handbook – Update Discussions

Damian Yanez, and Andy Schuster will visit each Industry Committee for a 30 minute discussion of what should be updated in the new revision of the handbook.  For example :

• We know that some sections are so out of date (i.e. Crew Systems and Power Systems from the 1960’s Mercury program), and need to be updated.  The existing sections will not help us  to get to the moon in 2024 or mars in 2035. 
• We will also  ask each IC to commit to reviewing sections in the handbook that apply to their industry, by the end of the summer.  All we want to know whether the 2011 edition has the right information..  For example we’ll ask the marine Industry Committee to review the Marine section of the Handbook for errors omissions, etc.
• Finally, we will get commitments from those Industry Committees such as the offshore, for their schedule to provide a new section to the handbook.

The Gulfstream team of MPE’s is about a third of the way through converting the old handbook into MS Word.  This is a significant accomplishment!!!  We owe it to them to assure the data they convert or include is up to  date and accurate. 

Andy Schuster

SAWE has been blessed with a great supply of technical content for our May conference in Norfolk VA. Earlier the technical committee had started to refuse submissions due to a lack of presentation slots. It is now planned to open up an additional technical track, and so be able to include all of the initially proposed as well as some later incoming papers. We hope this is another great reason for you to attend our conference. Attendee’s receive electronic copies of our technical content as well.  So get registered, and get your accommodations. Remember, registrations conducted after May 3rd incur a $50 late charge, and training course registrations are to be completed no later than April 19th.

ANSI-SAWE STD M-4 is in the committee draft review stage and has been posted on the Standards Public Review page. Any comments should be submitted by 5/1/2019.

RP A-7 is in the committee draft review stage and has been posted on the Standards Public Review page. Any comments should be submitted by 5/1/2019.  

RP O-3 is in the public draft review stage and has been posted on the Standards Public Review page. This document is available for anyone to review (general public or SAWE member). Any comments should be submitted by 4/26/2019.

http://sawe.org/technical/rp/publicreview

Automotive Lateral Dynamics and Mass Properties
by Brian Paul Wiegand

On May 20th at the Norfolk Hilton (“The Main”) an eight-hour course in “Automotive Lateral Dynamics” will be offered under the auspices of the SAWE as part of the society’s 78th International Conference. The course objective will be to enable the attendees to make reasonably accurate maximum lateral acceleration, rollover lateral acceleration, directional stability, and steering responsiveness determinations in the course of vehicle design. In route to attaining that objective, attendees will also become acquainted with such things as the calculation of roll resistance, suspension roll center location, sprung mass roll axis inclination, sprung mass roll inertia, sprung mass roll moment arm, sprung mass roll angle under lateral acceleration, vehicle roll gain, vehicle dynamic index in yaw, transient center of rotation location, and transient yaw inertia. There will also be considerable time spent on “Ackermann Steering Geometry” relationships and the behavior of tires under lateral load.

The seminar achieves its objective through a classical engineering approach that emphasizes determining vehicle lateral performance through simple models and simulations which are easy to comprehend and apply. Mass properties will play a major role as attendees will become acquainted with the principles of “weight accounting,” mass properties manipulation, and mass properties optimization.

This seminar is very important for anyone engaged in vehicle design, in particular, those designing with an emphasis on performance, and special effort has been expended to make it particularly relevant for those involved in the SAE Student Formula Design Competition. However, no one completing this course will walk away without having acquired some degree of enlightenment; as well as a Certificate of Achievement, print-out of the course Vu-Graphs, electronic (flash drive) copies of the SAWE Paper #3528 (“Mass Properties & Maximum Lateral Acceleration”), and the seminar’s “Maximum Lateral Acceleration Estimation Spreadsheet” (MS-Excel).

Additional course information can be found at this link: SAWE Conference Announcement and Training Program .

The course is open to students and mass properties professionals alike; the cost of registration for full-time students is only $50! Individuals desirous of attending this seminar should inform their student motorsport team leaders, contact brnwgnd@aol.com, and/or register on the conference web site at http://www.sawe.org.

An email was sent to membership about a Mass Properties Engineer Certification. Below is the email you should have received along with a survey. This is an important opportunity for the Mass Properties career field, and we strongly encourage all members of SAWE to take the survey.

SAWE is exploring creating a Mass Properties Engineer Certification program.  The envisioned program would provide mass properties engineers with credentials of their qualifications in a tiered level of experience structure.  It would provide organizations with confidence that certified mass properties personnel have qualifications recognized by industry standards that will produce safe, efficient, and top quality results for their products.  Eventually we envision qualifiying this certification program for ANSI accreditation and ISO compliance. 

The following is a survey to get your feedback and thoughts about Mass Properties Engineer Certification.  The program is currently in development and results of our exploration will be reviewed this May at the International Conference both at the Board of Director’s Meeting and in a special forum on Monday afternoon.  Please take the survey and give us your thoughts and feedback.

Mass Properties Engineer Certification Survey

If you are interested in writing an article for the Spring Journal, submissions are due April 19th.

Please feel free to reach out to VP Publications Nick Marickovich (nmarickovich@gmail.com) or the Deputy Publications Melissa Gray (melissa.gray@sawe.org) if you have questions. The subjects can vary from mentoring to projects/papers you have been involved in.

If you have ever considered writing for the Journal, now is the time!

Please send all Journal Articles for submission to Melissa Gray (melissa.gray@sawe.org)

The Society of Allied Weight Engineers (SAWE) would like to extend a special conference invitation to our student members.  The SAWE organization, invested in encouraging and mentoring the next generation of mass properties engineers, is excited to host our student attendees in Norfolk, Virginia, May 18^th – 23^rd, with either free (for student presenters) or reduced cost (for non-presenting student attendees) registration for the entire conference, including the welcome reception; admittance to all paper sessions; standards and practices meetings and luncheon; a 90% reduced rate on the automotive lateral stability class; and the awards banquet at the conclusion of the conference.  In addition, our student attendees are invited to try their reasoning skills in the Escape Room, where you’re tasked to observe your surroundings, search for clues, and solve complex puzzles to find that special item in your room and escape in a defined amount of time – as challenging (but more fun) than a final exam! There are 1st Place ($1,000), 2^nd Place ($750), and 3^rd Place ($500) awards for the top three student papers. You do not have to attend the conference and present your paper to win, but you need to submit your abstract on or before March 1^st.  We hope you can attend the 78^th International SAWE Conference – with or without having written a paper – and find it a wonderful opportunity to talk to and interact with our professional members, vendors, and industry sponsors.  We are happy to answer your questions and share our professional journeys with you!

Dr. Donna Gerren

Vice-President, Academic Affairs

University of Colorado Boulder

This is the fourth installment of SAWE awards. Having covered the Ed Payne Outstanding Engineer, Fellow, Honorary Fellow, and Richard Boynton Lifetime Achievement Awards, we now turn attention to the other prestigious awards and recognition within the SAWE.
Still within the purview of the Awards Committee are the Benefactor and Student Awards. The Benefactor Award is bestowed upon an individual who “because of their interest in the advancement of SAWE, has contributed substantial sums of money from their own resources.” The student award (separate from the Scholarship Fund) is bestowed upon a student who “demonstrates knowledge of discipline via papers, seminars, or makes significant contributions to the advancement of SAWE.”
Awarded by the VP Technical Director are the Mike Hackney Best Paper Award and the Best Student Paper Award, which are determined by the Technical Awards Committee.
Awards presented by the VP Publications are the Best Chapter Newsletter and the Best Chapter Website. The VP Publications is responsible for the review, selection, and presentation of these awards.
Appreciation awards are presented at the discretion of the SAWE President or VP Technical Director for “individuals who contribute significantly to the goals of the International President” or who have expended an “effort beyond the call of duty or office”

Over the last year+ we have worked to grow our social media presence as a Society. We believe this has been an important step forward and has greatly helped keep members connected.

The two main items that we have put our focus on is the SAWE Blog and the Monthly Bulletin. I believe we are at a good place and routine with both of these items and it is time to start growing and focusing on other platforms we can have a presence.

We, as a Society, need to grow our LinkedIn presence. We want members to be able to attach SAWE to their resumes on the site. We also believe this will be a great way to reach potential members.

If you are interested in helping us grow our Social Media presence, please contact me, Melissa Gray (melissa.gray@sawe.org). I am hoping to add multiple members to the Social Media committee. Anyone that has experience with LinkedIn or is looking to get more involved in the Society, this is a great opportunity!

Melissa Gray

Social Media Committee Chair