The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) recently announced the appointment of seven executive committee members for the AeroDef Manufacturing Exposition and Conference, to be held April 5-7, 2011 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. With pressure mounting for manufacturers and suppliers to innovate and drive technology development throughout the supply chain, major aerospace and defense OEMs are working with SME to create a vertically integrated event that will focus on helping manufacturing professionals keep current with new technologies and advanced manufacturing processes. AeroDef Manufacturing will include demonstrations of innovative, enabling technologies and advanced, integrated systems for manufacturing in the military and commercial aerospace, defense and space industries. Educational sessions will have a heavy emphasis on what the industry needs to know to move forward in advancing U.S. aerospace and defense manufacturing. Executive committee members include Dean Bartles, General Dynamics, Jim Calas, Northrup Grumman, Dianne Chong, Boeing, Ralp Resnick, National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining, Bill Saathoff, Lockheed Martin, Paul Oldroyd, Bell Helicopter and Arlene Dabbs, Raytheon. "Our government customers are looking for radical changes in the way business is done, so we'll be sending our manufacturing technology group," said Saathoff, director, production engineering & technology, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. "I look forward to AeroDef to tell the industry what we really need."