History

Beginnings

SMI – The Small Manufacturers’ Institute, incorporated in 1994, is a California 501.c.3 corporation. It was originally established by the California State University Institute, the Small Manufacturers’ Association of California, and the two federal Department of Energy laboratories in California, Sandi and Lawrence Livermore.

The SMI is a non-profit, manufacturing-driven mechanism that promotes California state-wide, regional, and grassroots participation in identifying small manufacturers’ specific needs, coordinating existing resources and services and disseminating those resources and services through established providers.

SMI Vision: The SMI will increase profitability and productivity for California’s small manufacturing community

Membership

SMI – The SMI has no membership. It is, however, the lead organization of the Coalition for Manufacturing Careers (CMC). The CMC was a brainchild of the SMI because it found that many trade groups were fearful of lending their name and membership to another organization as they felt that there might be a loss of membership to the new organization, along with the commensurate membership dues. The CMC allows the SMAC, the NTMA, the Precision Metal formers Assoc. (PMA), the American Electronics Association, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), etc. to share in educational programs, claim part ownership, and support educational institutions in an effort to raise the perception of manufacturing in the eyes of counselors, school administrators, and ultimately the students and their parents.

Board of Directors

SMI – The SMI Board is composed of seven individuals. They include international venture capital management, metalworking, academia, business management, machine tool building, aerospace, and manufacturing consulting. They serve in unpaid positions