American Precision Museum Launches New Digital Exhibit to Support the Future of Manufacturing

The American Precision Museum (APM) recently launched a new interactive digital exhibit called “The Manufacturing Ledger” that is accessible online and will soon be integrated into a physical exhibit at the museum. The Manufacturing Ledger is a collection of stories and profiles about individuals whose career was spent in manufacturing — whether the person’s career was spent on the shop floor, engineering department, sales department or in the corporate boardroom.

According to APM, the Manufacturing Ledger embraces the “people” aspect of manufacturing history, which will enable APM to tell the full narrative of manufacturing by providing a well-designed framework and functional platform to relay sponsored profiles and pictures of an infinite number of individuals. The museum welcomes anyone from a variety of manufacturing career categories to be included in the Ledger: machine tool builders, machine tool distributors/importers, manufacturers, educators and industry advocates (such as associations, media).

Interacting with the exhibit is easy and cross-referenced, enabling visitors to sort profiles by industry sector, job function, name and company so visitors can find former co-workers and learn more about their career path. There are also search functions to locate those who founded a company and those who invented a technology used in manufacturing. Visitors can also search by various lifetime achievement awards from participating associations, such as the AMT (Association for Manufacturing Technology), NTMA (National Tooling & Machining Association), PMPA (Precision Machined Products Association) and WiM (Women in Manufacturing), as well as members of the Machine Tool Hall of Fame.

Participating in The Manufacturing Ledger supports the APM financially and physically. Contributing your story, or that of a family member, friend, colleague, mentor or educator enriches the content of the exhibit itself, while financial donations sponsoring each profile helps fund the museum, which is said to hold the largest collection of historically significant machine tools in the nation, housed in an 1846 armory building that is a designated National Historic Landmark. The museum’s goals are to preserve, present and interpret its artifact collections and property; to inspire new generations of innovators; and to build communities that foster a strong manufacturing future.

“The American Precision Museum is home to remarkable manufacturing breakthroughs,” states Lee Morris, chairman of Morris Group Inc. “To produce precise, interchangeable rifle componentry, engineering innovators replaced manual filing and fitting with water-powered, metal cutting machine tools of their own design. It is doubtful that these engineers had any idea of the impact of their creativity. They were at the forefront of a manufacturing revolution, but their individual stories are mostly lost. The progress of every decade since, is the product of people thinking, creating and improving in response to perceived opportunity. The story is repeated time and again. It’s the people behind manufacturing innovations who are so compelling. Along with the machinery that they have created, we also need to collect, share and preserve personal stories of the manufacturing innovators who have so strongly influenced the United States throughout the years.”

To begin the process of contributing your own manufacturing story, or to honor someone you know, go to The Manufacturing Ledger at ledger.americanprecision.org. For further information, contact Steve Dalessio, 802-674-5781, ledger@americanprecision.org at the American Precision Museum.