SAE collaborates
Greg Reed, Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 6/1/2005
The Society of Automotive Engineers met for its 100th World Congress in April at Detroit's Cobo Center with 35,000 attendees joining the celebration. Emphasizing the international competition among automakers, exhibitors represented 37 countries, while conference sessions included presentations by authors from all global automaking regions.
Collaboration—in the form of alliances, partnerships, and trading partners—emerged as a dominant theme. Booth visits and individual meetings confirmed several collaborative test efforts underway by numerous automotive suppliers. One common refrain confirming collaborative test and integration efforts was, "aerospace safety at automotive cost." This declaration was heard from both commercial and military suppliers of test equipment. Moreover, technical paper presentations on test and measurement systems consistently reflected industry, academia, and government collaboration.
Among test technology providers, collaboration to integrate platforms, data-acquisition tools, diagnostics equipment, hardware, and software appears to transcend traditional proprietary mindsets since the emerging alliances offer compelling competitive advantages.
Creating a competitive edge, eliminating waste, and reducing customer lead times have long driven manufacturing and test operations. With such intense international competition inside the automotive industry, perhaps collaboration among competitors has become a survival necessity?
Contact Greg Reed at editor@aatr.net.
