SME Honors Outgoing President

By Michael C. Anderson
Senior Editor 

 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) on Dec. 7 honored manufacturing authority LaRoux K. Gillespie, Dr. Eng., FSME, CMfgE, PE for his service as SME president for the year 2012.  

At the unveiling of a plaque bearing Gillespie’s likeness at SME’s world headquarters in Dearborn, MI, SME Executive Director Mark Tomlinson said that “LaRoux truly understands the value of SME and is passionate about what we do.”    

Gillespie, a metal finishing consultant, author and retired Kansas City Honeywell quality leader, noted that he has been an SME member since a University of Kansas professor introduced him to SME (then ASTE) in 1963—“an event that truly changed my life”—and said that “that the past year has been a great learning experience.”    

Gillespie has led SME in a year that has seen manufacturing—as well as SME itself—in the public eye as concerns about jobs and the economy were spotlighted during the presidential election campaigns. Throughout his more than four decades with the Society, Gillespie has held a number of leadership roles, including terms on the SME Executive Committee and Board of Directors, the Profile 21 study of manufacturing engineering in the 21st century, education committees, certification, machining technology, deburring conferences, publications, accreditation, group technology, student leadership and most recently a study of taxonomies for use in identifying information. He was elected an SME Fellow in 1988.   

Gillespie will be succeeded in 2013 by SME president-elect Dennis S. Bray, PhD, FSME, the president and CEO of Contour Precision Group, LLC (Clover, SC).