Guest editorial

J&sef HaWany Memorial

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Guest Editorial We felt deeply honoured when the Editor-inChief--on behalf of the Editorial Board-- invited us to prepare a Memorial Issue to Professor J6zsef Hatvany. The aim has been to produce a long-lasting reference issue for the research community of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) in M. Eugene Merchant assumed his present position as Director, Advanced Manufacturing Research, Metcut Research Associates Inc. in June 1983 upon retirement from Cincinnati Milacron Inc. where he engaged in the performance and direction of manufacturing research for 46 years. He holds a degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (1936) from the University of Vermont and a degree of Doctor of Science (1941) from the University of Cincinnati. He also holds honorary Doctor of Science degrees from the University of Vermont (1973) and the University of Salford, England (1980). His research activities have included basic and applied research on manufacturing processes, equipment and systems, and the future of manufacturing technology. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has been the recipient of a great variety of awards and honors, worldwide. ....... :~:-~,~

~!6 Nemes was born in Szeged, Hungary in 1937. Having finished his study at the Technical University of Heavy Industry in Miskolc, majoring in Manufacturing Technology, he comFteted his postgraduate study at the Budapest Technical University in Control Engineering, From 1972-74 he was a research fellow at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. In 1981 he became a "Candidate of Sciences" of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences -- - with his main field of study in Computer Application in Manufacturing. Presently he is Research Adviser on Integrated Manufacture to the Chief in the Division of Manufacturing Technology, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Melbourne, Australia. His current research field is: computer aided tools for creative design. Before that he was the head of the Division of Mechanical Engineering Automation, Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In that role he developed a fast interpolator, a new control architecture for computer control of flexible manufacturing systems, a unique CNC control system, studied the human role in factory automation and developed new man-machine communication tools. Dr. Nemes has published 77 papers and holds 6 patents. He is the Chairman of the Technical Committee on Manufacturing Technology in IFAC, Vice-Chairman of the Working Group on Computer Aided Manufacturing in IFIP, member of the Technical Committee on Computer Application in Technology in IFIP, member of the Japan Industrial Robot Association, member of the Computer and Automation Scientific Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Elsevier Computers in Industry 14 (1990) 3-4 0166-3615/90/$3.50 © 1990 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

tribute to the man who has done the most in pioneering this field of engineering. We proposed that the issue would contain an introduction and several technical chapters on CIM-related interdisciplinary areas, and all papers be written by invited authors who had the right to invite co-authors. The selection criterion for the invitation was professional excellence. Besides this Editorial the introduction contains a Message from TC5 which appraises Hatvany's contribution to IFIP, and includes Tibor VLmos' remembrance of Hatvany's personal values and virtues. For the technical chapters all authors have been asked to write within the boundary of their branch of science/engineering. Each chapter has been composed of one prologue and one or more technical papers.

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Peter Bernus graduated from the faculty of Electronic Engineering, Budapest Technical University (BUT), Hungary, in 1974. From 1974 he held two years of post graduate scholarship at BUT, where he has since been periodically involved in postgraduate teaching. From 1976 Dr. Bernus has filled various research positions at the Mechanical Engineering Automation Division, Computer and Automation Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sci............ ences (HAS) and headed the Computer-Aided Systems Analysis and Design Research Group from 1980 till end 1986. He received the Candidate of Sciences degree in 1986 from the HAS, for his thesis: "Functional Analysis and Synthesis of Manufacturing Systems". In autumn 1979 he was NAS Research Scholar at MIT AI Lab (Cambridge, MA) and Brown University Computer Science Dept. (Providence, RI), and from October 1986 till December 1988 Visiting Researcher with the IIICAD project of the Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science, Amsterdam. At present Dr. Bernus is Research Fellow at the Key Centre for Software Technology, Computer Science Department, The University of Queensland, Australia. Dr. Bernus has been active in specification methodologies and tools for CIM integration (as author of the SATF methodology and its computer support), in intelligent CAD research and the application of AI techniques to the above fields. Present research interest: design methodologies for distributed and integrated information systems, intelligent systems interconnection and matching modelling techniques. In the Academic period of 1985-1989 Dr. Bernus has been member of the Systems Technology Committee of the HAS, and since 1984 member of IFIP WG 5.8 on Industrial Systems Specification and Documentation. Dr. Bemus has also served as referee and IPC member of various journals and conferences and is author of many research papers and conference reports.

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J6zsef Hatvany Memorial: Guest Editorial

The prologues are based on Hatvany's articles. Hatvany foresaw the advancements, paths or solutions of the field. He had a strong influence upon the course of development, either directly by proposing novel ideas or through his impact on the careers of other researchers. Authors of the prologues have been asked to express their personal views on how Hatvany has influenced the development of the technical fields of their respective chapters. Thus they contain a summary of the main scientific achievements of the past 20 years, a short review of the present research topics, application difficulties and an outlook to the future. The technicalpapers are high-quality, up-to-date contributions to the chapter areas, but the topics otherwise entirely suit the preferences of the authors. The authors consider these articles as their own important contributions to the technical areas of the chapters, and by publishing herein they have committed themselves to dedicate their own scientific/engineering results to the memory of the late Professor Hatvany. As can be seen from the Contents our authors are highly renowned professionals. They have accepted our invitation to contribute despite their

Computers in Industry

other commitments and many duties since they have shared the view that their contributions are final salutes to a great personality, who has been greatly appreciated and respected both at home and abroad. Editorial work is difficult. But working in Europe, USA and Australia we have been separated from one another by enormous geographical distances, and many time zones, which have almost made personal meetings and telephone conversations impossible. Using computers as the basic tool for information exchange between us we have adopted a very efficient workstyle. We have now experienced how the developed societies are rapidly approaching the state where the acronym CIM has another interpretation: Computer Integrated Mankind. Professor Hatvany would have been pleased to work with us in this direction. We trust that this issue will be truly worthy of Professor J6zsef Hatvany, and one of which the Journal can be justly proud. M.E. Merchant L. Nemes P. Bernus