The Society of Manufacturing Engineers engages its members to provide the networking and knowledge that enables their professional growth in the manufacturing community.

SME St Louis Chapter 17 is the common source of integration among area manufacturing professionals by providing the resources needed to enhance their craft and knowledge of the manufacturing industry.

As we continue to serve as a "living library" for our members, we will also make continued efforts in assisting and informing others of the importance and preeminence of manufacturing. To ensure this, we will continue to reach members, potential members, and manufacturers though our bulletins and web page. We will continue to search for additional methods of reaching those who can benefit from our resources.

We believe that the future of SME lies in its future members. To secure this, we will nurture manufacturing engineering students. One form of this nurturing is through scholarships. A self-sustaining fund is the primary way to ensure this. The core fund will be invested wisely utilizing areas that support and enhance manufacturing. It is our goal to be seen as a friend of students.

By creating and presenting fun and educational topics we will be able to maintain attendance levels that are above 10% of our membership rolls. We must create a value that our members find worth investing their time in. In addition, our efforts to attract a large, regional, periodic machine tool show will ensure that our local manufacturing community is in the forefront of leading technology.

Our executive board will plan for the future by documenting the past. We will mine our members' expertise and commit that information to written documents that all members have access to. Through this, our committees will have written guidelines to maintain the necessary actions needed to run the chapter on a daily basis. As these records are made available and utilized, Chapter 17 will be ensured of being financially and organizationally viable.