Automation Hall of Fame Prometheus Award Past Winners
Yoji Akao is primarily recognized as the developer of 'hoshin
kanri'. This concept is known in English as Total Quality Management
((TQM) or in his native Japan as Total Quality Control (TQC). TQC
is an enterprise-wide strategy for business and manufacturing management
that has been successfully applied worldwide. TQC is a Deming-based
system that measures the performance of the system as a whole, based
upon the sum of the performance levels of its individual units.
Babbage conceived of the principles of general computing
in early nineteenth century Britain. His first machine called the
'Difference Engine' was built to calculate mathematical tables using
addition only. The machine was never finished. His second machine
was called the 'Analytical Engine' and was designed to operate using
instructions encoded in decks of punched cards. It featured a store
(memory), a mill (operating system) and the cards (instructions).
Although his machine was never brought to fruition others proved
its functionality later and it led many to later mechanical and
Edwards Deming began as a $10 a month lamp lighter in a small
Wyoming town and rose to become the acknowledged authority on Statistical
Quality Control (SQC). He was probably the most sought after manufacturing
consultant in the U.S. and Japan. In Japan the Union of Japanese
Scientist and Engineers in 1951 inaugurated the Deming Prize for
excellence in quality management and production. Deming made quality
the heart of competitive manufacturing. His Fourteen Points of Management
have become nearly as famous and probably more enduring than President
Wilson's fourteen points. Deming dedicated himself to demonstrating
the value of the quality improvement process. He lived the process
and preached its virtues with an almost religious zeal. 1900-1994
Devol Jr. patented the first programmable industrial robot
to become a commercially applicable robot. It was the Unimate and
it represented a huge effort on Devol's part along with the management
skill of Joseph Engelberger and Unimation, Inc. The first robot
was shipped from the Danbury factory in 1961. Devol's robot combined
industrial manipulator technology and nascent computer control technology.
This first robot was a material handling robot and it was soon followed
by welding and other applications. Devol, an engineer, has made
other contributions to industrial automation in machine vision and
in bar coding.
Presper Eckert co-developed with John W. Mauchly the ENIAC.
Although no longer considered the first computer the ENIAC is still
the computer from which all subsequent computers sprang. It was
the first digital computer to lead to commercial production. Eckert's
computer work stemmed from his interest in solving ballistic problems
and from his presence at the University of Pennsylvania. Mauchly
supervised the logical design of ENIAC while Eckert concentrated
upon the electronic engineering of the machine. The ENIAC contained
18,000 vacuum tubes and its footprint measured about thirty feet
by fifty feet. The ENIAC was completed in February 1946 and the
world has not been the same since.
F. Engelberger is considered the father of the robotics industry.
He was the founder of Unimation. He is the entrepreneur behind the
first industrial robot and is a physicist and engineer. He introduced
the industrial robot patented by his associate George Devol Jr.
Without Joseph Engelberger's vision and energy we would not have
a worldwide use of robots in industry. He convinced companies like
GM and others in Japan and the rest is history. Engelberger is a
founder of the Robotic Industries Association (RIA). He continues
to create robots today for service purposes.
W. Forrester is the inventor of magnetic core memory for
computers, the developer of symbolic instructions in machine language,
and the founder of the first servo-mechanism laboratory at MIT.
He developed primary servo-mechanism technology and theory. He is
a specialist in industrial dynamics and the author of 'Industrial
Dynamics,' a primary source on the treatment of material and on
information flow and its characteristics.
Marie Jacquard invented the first automatically programmed
machine in 1801. His breakthrough, and industrial loom, was programmed
by means of spring-loaded pins that applied pressure against a series
of slotted wooden cards. Passage of the pins through the punched
holes activated hooks that lifted warp threads. Jacquard's` system
was based upon the work of falcon, a French engineer, and the famous
automaton maker, Vaucanson. Charles Babbage used the control system
later in pursuit of the automatic calculator. Jacquard's loom produces
a weave with resolution fine enough for holding realistic images
in woven cloth. 1752-1834
Juran was the elder statesman of quality management. He launched
the Juran Institute in 1979 for quality training and education services.
He has authored many books including Juran on Planning for Quality.
Juran is thought of in conjunction with Deming as one of the architects
of the post war quality in manufacturing revolution. His principles
and methods governing quality management have been applied worldwide.
M. Goldratt, author of The Race, The Goal and the Theory
of Constraints is the developer of the widely respected theory of
constraints that reflects his comprehensive philosophy of manufacturing.
His theory analyzes and makes comprehensible the constraints of
an enterprise and particularly the constraints restricting the flow
of goods and products through the manufacturing process. His theory
establishes procedures for identifying and dealing with constraints
and turning the understanding of them into profitable activity.
Harrington was the first person to fully define Computer
Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). His first book, 'Computer Integrated
Manufacturing' was published in 1974, long before industry acknowledged
the CIM concept. Harrington was an automation expert and a major
contributor to the technology of numerical control. His theories
started manufacturing on the road to computer-managed operations.
He was a veteran consultant with Arthur D. Little and an engineer
of extraordinary consequences. He held a dozen patents in the field
of automation and was the recipient of the American Machinist Award
for recognizing computer integration as the key to the future of
E. (Ted) Hoff is the prime inventor of the microprocessor.
In 1969 while with Intel he and his team put an entire Central Processing
Unit (CPU) on one computer chip containing 2,300 transistors. His
invention built upon most specifically the work of Robert Noyce
of Intel whose integrated circuit proved that more than one transistor
could be etched upon a silicon wafer. This series of accomplishments
acted as a primary spur to the non-stop development of computing,
as we know it today.
Murray Hopper was a mathematician and became the first computer
programmer on the very early on Harvard Mark I computer that was
the first computer to be sequentially programmed. She was also the
first computer debugger and coined the expression 'computer bug.'
She may be best remembered for inventing the first and soon popular
business language called COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language).
Hopper went on to become an Admiral in the United States Navy and
continued to make significant contributions to the programming side
of computers. 1906-1992
Mauchly was the co-developer with
Presper Eckert of the first digital computer that led to
commercial production. It ran with internally stored programs. The
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) is surely the
first major benchmark in the history of computers. This is not to
make light of the work of Turing, Atanasoff, Zuse, von Neumann and
others. The work of Professor Mauchly and engineer Eckert was the
culmination of a worldwide effort. Their research at the University
of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering became
the point of departure leading to mainframes, minis, PCs, workstations
and coincidentally to CIM and modern manufacturing methods.
Merchant, an engineer, is one of the chief architects of
the concept of Computer-Integrated-Manufacturing (CIM) along with
Joseph Harrington. Merchant has devoted his life to the development
of advanced manufacturing techniques and much of this while a key
figure at Cincinnati Milacron, a leading supplier of numerically
controlled tools. Subsequently Merchant has taken CIM out into the
world as a consultant and lecturer. He has been honored frequently
for this work particularly in Germany and Hungary.
E. Morley is broadly based in his inventions and in his contributions
to computer design, manufacturing software, artificial intelligence,
factory automation and control theory and hardware. Morley is also
known as one of the inventors of the programmable logic controller.
He is also a founder of Modicon and more recently has investigated
chaos theory and the sciences of complexity as to their fit with
existing automation and control applications.
Louis von Neumann was responsible for the first concept of
internal programming for a computer. This was giant step in creating
computing machines that had flexibility beyond hard wiring. His
concept was applied first to the ENIAC. John von Neumann was a key
figure in the concepts upon which digital computers were based.
His work and his theories influenced Eckert and Mauchly, Howard
Aikin and Alan Turing. His mathematical genius affected a whole
generation of mathematicians, physicists and thinkers at place like
the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton and at Bell Labs.
Ohno was formerly the vice president of the Toyota Motor
Corporation and the man most responsible for the development of
the Toyota Production System. His ideas led to the modern concept
of Just-In-Time (JIT) and Total Quality Control (TQC). His JIT/TQC
system was adopted in Japan as early as 1973. It has since spread
throughout the industrial world. Ohno targeted the elimination of
waste in the manufacturing process and emphasized a commitment to
change for the better and the value-added process. His famous 'Design
of Experiments' approach combines engineering and process design
by reducing variability in the process. 1912-1990
T. Parsons is (was) a pivotal figure in the development of
Numerical Control (NC). His work centered upon numerical control
of machine tools by punched tape, the original methodology. This
was the breakthrough for all subsequent machine tool control and
led to Distributed Numerical Control (DNC) and Computer Numerical
Control ((CNC) systems.
Pascal the French philosopher was a scientific prodigy who
became a significant force in mathematics and physics. He constructed
what he called a 'calculating box' to do computational tasks and
it became the world's first mechanical adding machine. His motivation
was to assist his father's work as a tax agent. Pascal's machine
consisted of a series of connected rotary dials, each notched 0
through 9. It had eight dials and it was possible with the machine
to do, way back in 1642, addition and subtraction up to 99,999,999.
It led quickly to other calculating machines that improved upon
Ritchie and Kenneth
Thompson are the co-developers of the UNIX operating system.
This system has been a major force in engineering and in CAD particularly.
UNIX was developed out of an earlier system created at GE. UNIX
is a very robust operating system with a tight code structure, few
commands and has a simply structured architecture. Written in 'C'
it required a new programming language. It can be moved from one
system to another without being recompiled.
Walter Edward Shewhart is a central figure in automation
theory and practice during the first half of the 20th century. He
is credited with inventing Statistical Process Control (SPC), which
is a core insight into automation systems. It has been applied worldwide.
He is described as the chief mentor of W. Edwards Deming. He can
well be considered as the father of quality control through statistical
Werner von Siemens was the founder of Siemens and an inventor
in his own right. His inventions consist of the pointer telegraph
and the dynamo machine that led to in time to a vast network of
industrial and consumer communication and electrification systems
and their means of manufacture.
Simon was a leading founder in the field of Artificial Intelligence
(AI). In conjunction with Alan Newell of Carnegie Mellon University,
he has investigated the mechanisms of human problem solving and
its application to machine intelligence. Simon and Newell developed
the Logic Theorist and later the General Problem Solver or GPS,
that for the first time separated a general problem solving method
from a specific work task. His work, as was Newell's, serves as
a benchmark of AI, natural language, machine vision and other logic
J. Struger was a leading pioneer in the invention and development
of numerical control and an inventor of the programmable logic control
(PLC). The PLC is a device designed to work in real time and capable
of taking information in and processing it and producing commands
to control a mechanical process. It is a core tool in the application
of modern control and the central tool of control architecture.
Struger held 30 patents relating to programmable controllers and
20 more involving industrial automation. As vice-president of technology
at Allen-Bradley Odo J. Struger continued to drive technology forward
with important projects such as the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems
(IMS) consortium on Holonic Manufacturing Systems (HMS). 1931-1998
Sutherland is a leader in the development of computer graphics
whose work has led to Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided
Engineering (CAE), computer simulation and other graphically based
techniques. Sutherland, an engineer, took primitive electronic resources
and worked them into wire-frame constructions that defined geometries
and objects in three dimensional computer space. He has received
the first Zworykin Award and Steven Anson Coons Award from the Association
of Computing Machinery.
Taguchi may well be the central philosopher of modern quality
engineering. He defines quality loss as a deviation form a target
value. Taguchi measures the loss as a 'cost to society.' His methodology
offers far more than techniques for experimental design and analysis.
He has developed a complete system for the creation of specifications
and engineered design, as well as manufacturing to those specifications.
First used by the Japanese, Taguchi's methods have enveloped the
entire world of advanced manufacturing. At the heart of his method
is his definition of quality as the characteristic that avoids loss
Winslow Taylor developed Scientific Management methodology
for manufacturing. Taylor applied rigorous standards to the tools
and procedures of work. He accentuated economy of time, motion,
and expenditure of energy. Work and waste were minimized. The response
of workers who were asked to use his system was often less than
positive but his methodology paved the way for modern manufacturing
methods and strategies employing machine tools and the mass production
assembly line within a mechanized context. His work, as defined
in his book 'The Principles of Scientific Management' presaged the
work and theories of Ford, Taguchi, Ohno and Deming. 1856-1915
J. Trecker developed the first true machining center that
he called the Milwaukee-Matic. The machine featured a geared feed
box, geared spindle drive, fluid lubrication and rapid reverse.
Trecker's innovation became a significant event in the machine tool
industry and led to further automation of machining processes and
other equipment. Trecker was also a pioneer in the development and
extension of Numerical Control (NC) technology as well as work cells
and other automated systems.
da Vinci articulated in highly refined drawing and presumably
in working models and conceptual models most of the basic working
principles of mechanical devices and tools (gearing systems, cams,
mechanical advantage, motion of liquids under pressure, just to
mention a few). His inventions have been an inspiration for generations
of engineers, inventors and creative developers.
Watt was a Scottish engineer who perfected the steam engine
as a reliable source of energy and as appropriate to manufacturing
applications. His inventions relating to the steam engine included
the double-acting engine, the separate condenser, and the first
steam engine with a centrifugal governor. The latter was probably
the first significant control mechanism used in industrial tooling.
Watts work became a primary contributor to the industrial revolution
in the late 18th and early 19th century. 1736-1819
Zuse built and programmed three preliminary
forms of computers in Germany prior to and during World War II.
He started with a special program-controlled calculating machine.
It used a binary number system with floating-point arithmetic. His
other contributions were the general-purpose program-controlled
Z3 machine and the all purpose relay computer Z4 machine. 1910-1999?