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About Us

Who We Are and What we Do...
Mission
Goals
Members of Our Board
More about SPE



Who We Are and What We Do...
The Automotive Division of SPE is dedicated to recognizing and communicating technical accomplishments in all phases of new automotive plastics and plastic-based composite applications and has over 1500 members worldwide. Ours is one of 22 divisions or sections within SPE. It was chartered on September 9, 1970 to communicate with Division members as well as to industry and the public about current and developmental automotive and ground-transportation uses of polymeric materials, such as rigid and elastomeric thermoplastics and thermosets, rigid and flexible foams, composites, nanocomposites, films, and more.

The Division presents technical sessions at ANTEC (SPE's ANnual TEChnical Conference) and organizes topical conferences (such as our popular Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition (ACCE) and our new Automotive Engineering Plastics (AutoEPCON) Conference), and works with other technical societies to increase knowledge about current and future automotive plastic applications. We fund college scholarships and sponsor and participate in additional educational outreach programs for school children through the PlastiVan Program from the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI).

SPE members are invited to attend board meetings and are welcome to participate on committees organizing any of the annual events. Meet at 5:00 pm for networking and dinner and then stay for the meetings, which typically run from 5:30-8:30 pm. Please contact our current Automotive Division chair (e-mail auto-div-chair@speautomotive.com), in advance if you are interested in attending a meeting.

In addition to educational activities, the Division sponsors the oldest and largest awards competitions in the automotive and plastics industries to recognize the year's Most Innovative Use of Plastics in ground-transportation applications. Winning teams are recognized at our annual SPE Automotive Innovation Awards Gala, a glittering evening of celebration to recognize excellence in automotive plastics engineering and executive leadership.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR E-MAIL UPDATES: If you're not a member of the SPE Automotive Div. you can still receive our eMail updates by clicking on this LINK and adding your eMail address.



Mission


The mission of the SPE® Automotive Division is to advance automotive plastics technology worldwide and to educate industry, academia, and the public about these advances.

The SPE Automotive Division is dedicated to educating, promoting, recognizing, and communicating technical accomplishments for all phases of new automotive plastics and plastic based composite developments in the transportation industry including:
  • Applications
  • Materials
  • Processing
  • Equipment
  • Tooling, and
  • Design.
The SPE Automotive Division (SPE AD)
  1. Secures authors and papers for presentations at technical conferences
  2. Provides members with the latest information on technical developments in automotive plastics
  3. Publishes a quarterly automotive newsletter
  4. Sponsors educational outreach programs at middle-, high school, and college levels
  5. Recognizes individuals and companies for innovative new uses of plastics in the automotive industry.
In conjunction with SPE, other divisions and technical organizations, the SPE AD organizes technical sessions:
  • ANnual TEchnical Conferences (ANTEC)
  • TOPical TEchnical Conferences (TOPTEC)
  • REgional TEchnical Conferences (RETEC).

Goals


The Division's first goal is to "inform and educate" the public and potential members about plastics by being a central source for information and contacts through:
  • Establish easy to access information network
  • Provide strong educational / informational-based programs and conferences
  • Respond to member feedback
  • Partner with SPE divisions and other organizations.
The second goal of the Automotive Division is to "communicate" with the automotive community to:
  • Inform our audience, including, SPE members, students, OEMs, Suppliers, and
  • Interested Partners of the resources within SPE Automotive Div.
  • To provide highly effective and responsive service to our members.
The third goal of the Division is to "implement and execute" the goals of our mission through:
  • Individual Member Involvement in events and activities to support the automotive plastics industry
  • Industry Involvement via technical sessions and conferences to promote new and advancing technologies in automotive plastics to the broader automotive and transportation community
  • Stability of Division Finances. Manage budgets, resources and events to meet on-going program needs.


Current Board of Directors


To see the members of our division's current board of directors, please click HERE.

More About SPE


Our parent organization, the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE®) International www.4spe.org, is a 20,000 member network of plastics professionals, including:
  • Account Managers
  • Marketing Personnel
  • Engineers
  • Scientists
  • Designers
  • Technical Specialists, and
  • Representatives from Related Industries
For more information about SPE International, please visit the following website www.4spe.org.