UTMIS disseminates information via e-mail newsletters. This provides a means for members to publicise courses, seminars, projects etc. that they are planning, and also to be notified of others' conferences, seminars and courses, both national and international. In addition to up-to-date news, the organisation's web site carries general information on its members, links to relevant literature, and details of courses, conferences and current projects. UTMIS also arranges its own courses and seminars, reports from which can be downloaded from the web site by members. The site also includes a forum for discussion of fatigue problems.
UTMIS arranges three larger network meetings each year, providing an opportunity for members to hear details of experience from similar problem areas in other sectors, and to exchange information in an informal environment.
Special interest groups, concentrating on specific working areas, bring together members working on common or similar problems. Examples of such areas include statistical methods of analysis, fatigue testing, fatigue in joints and damage accumulation calculations The work of the groups includes aspects such as identification of common resources, arrangement of seminars, finding discussion partners and starting shared projects. Several projects have been initiated and carried out under UTMIS.
Each year, UTMIS arranges a larger course with an international speaker, as well as a more practical course. In addition, several seminars are held, with both Swedish and international speakers.
UTMIS provides a contact point for research councils and funding organisations. One objective of this is that, by presenting information on its members' jointly formulated requirements, the result should be greater investment in fatigue-related working areas, primarily on the national level.
UTMIS works to encourage greater international cooperation in the field of materials fatigue. In this, it is assisted by the fact that its Board is Sweden's national member of ESIS (European Structural Integrity Society).
History
UTMIS was set up at an inaugural meeting on 27th September 2000, attended by ten companies, three research institutes and eight university departments. Today (2009), the network has grown to 38 members.