About ASPE

The objective of this Society shall be to advance the arts, sciences, and technology of precision engineering, and to promote its dissemination through education and training, and to promote its use by science and industry. Precision Engineering is a discipline encompassing the design, development, and measurement of and for high-accuracy components. By extension, the field also includes the design of systems in which high dimensional accuracy is a central concern, as well as the design of machine tools and measuring machines to accomplish the necessary manufacture and measurement.

History There had long been a “community” of precision engineers within the U.S., but a formal structure and common focus was lacking. This was not the case in Japan, as evidenced by the large and active Japanese Society of Precision Engineers. In November 1985, a joint U.S. – Japanese meeting on precision engineering included a special session to discuss the possibility of forming an American Society. The enthusiasm of the participants and the overwhelming response to a subsequent questionnaire provided momentum. By November 1986, the American Society for Precision Engineering was incorporated and held its first Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas. The theme of the well attended meeting, “Thresholds in Precision Engineering,” was reflected in 28 papers covering a broad spectrum of applications. At this meeting, a Board of Directors was elected with members drawn from industry, private laboratories, government and academia. Today, ASPE continues to hold its Annual Meeting with over 150 papers represented in technical talks and poster sessions. The Annual Meeting includes tutorials taught by the world’s leading experts in the field, an open forum to allow brief, informal presentations, a business forum to discuss the management of technology and technical exhibits displaying a wide range of advanced technology products. ASPE also holds topical meetings throughout the year that covers a specific precision engineering topic.

ASPE members represent a variety of technical areas – from engineering (mechanical, electrical, optical and industrial) to materials science, physics, chemistry, mathematics and computer science – and are employed in industry, academia and national labs. ASPE holds its Annual Meeting in the fall of each year. At least one topical meeting is held each year, which focuses on a specific topic. 

The precision engineering toolbox includes design methodology, uncertainty analysis (error budgeting), metrology, calibration/error compensation, precision controls and actuators/sensors. ASPE’s enabling technologies include but are not limited to the following industries: microelectronics, automotive, optics and photonics, MEMS, nanotechnology, defense and machine tools. ASPE focuses on many areas of interest that are important in the research, design, development, manufacture and measurement of high accuracy components and systems. These areas are as follows: Controls, Dimensional Metrology, Environmental Effects, History of Precision Engineering, Instrument/Machine Design, Interferometry, Materials, Materials Processing, Nanotechnology, Optical Fabrication, Precision Optics, Precision, Replication, Scanning Microscopes, Semiconductor Processing, Standards, Surface Metrology, Ultra-Precision Machining.