Etsujiro Shimemura

Professor Emeritus Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Waseda University

Episode

Pioneers who had opened the door of control science in Japan

Any event in a history has its roots before it takes shape. Right after the end of the Second World War a control science began to be learned and studied by several voluntary groups around the country. They have cultivated the unexplored field of control science by their own hands. There were neither teachers nor learned people. They deserve to be called the first generation. But the "first" does not mean that there were no lonely precursors to them. In this talk we try to trace the life and achievements of some of the first generation, and stroll in the prehistoric world of control in Japan.

Yutaka Wakasa

Technical Advisor
JEMIMA: Japan Electric Measuring Instruments Manufacturers Association

Episode

A history about the background of DCS development

Since DCS(Distributed Control System) was released in 1975, it has been continuously upgraded with the latest technologies and has made a great contribution to modernize the instrumentation for the past 35 years while Japan has made a great economic growth. It is safe to say that DCS based process automation has supported the economic growth by improving the productivity of Japanese process industries.

Now, environmental issues have become a big concern. Global economic growth requires process industries that are energy intensive and account for a significant percentage of total energy consumption. Moreover, the growth rate of developing countries is quite rapid. Process automation technologies should play an important role in improving energy efficiency of industries. So, we must take a fresh look at process automation systems, considering energy efficiency as well as productivity, quality, and cost.

Satoshi Honda

Departmen of Appied Physics & Physico-Informatics, Faculty of Science & Technology, Keio University

Episode

Process flow measuring instrument has been one of the main players that promote Japanese process industry. As a third generation researcher in the field, I would like to talk about the development of epoch making instrument in 50 year history.

Eiju Matsumoto

Director, Society of Historical Metrology, Japan Secretary, Japan Council of Historical Committee, IEEE Smithsonian Research Associate

Episode

Oral History conducted by the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers

This is the summary of "Oral History" conducted by the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE) from 2006 to 2008. As a member of the Oral History Research Promoting Project sponsored by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, SICE chose five persons who contributed for the Technological Revolutions in the Society activities. We describe here five person's interviews and want to discuss the directions for the future.

Hideki Hashimoto

University of Tokyo

Episode

International Presence of SICE

Fortunately I had a lot of chances to watch and observe how SICE was recognized as an international control society and how SICE collaborated with international organizations such as IFAC, IMECO, IEEE, ICROS, and etc. Especially in 1980's SICE started English sessions with a strong relations to Asian countries. At the same time SICE initiated several international conferences with IEEE. I was involved in such activities as a student, as a participant, as a speaker and as an organizer. I will talk on my experiences from a viewpoint of the international presence of SICE.