Control Engineering links to 50th anniversary coverage

-- Control Engineering, 1/4/2005

Oak Brook, IL—To mark the close of its 50th anniversary year in 2004, Control Engineering is offering links to anniversary-related coverage and the year’s milestones. Through the year, coverage included a monthly look back at issues 10, 25, and 50 years ago; a 50th anniversary poster; interviews with industry leaders; and various columns and commentaries. Milestones included the launch of the Control Engineering Resource Center, and the first full year for Control Engineering China and Control Engineering Poland editions. And, just for fun, more than 100 people attended an anniversary party held at ISA Expo in October 2004, which included posters of ads from years past.

Thanks for being with us during the year to expand and commemorate the world of Control Engineering. [Feel free to forward this article to friends, who also appreciate the history and value of automation, controls, and instrumentation.]

September 2004: 50th Anniversary Supplement

Past, Present, and Future of Control Engineering 

50th Anniversary: We never could have dreamed
Control Engineering begins its 51st year of publication with this issue. Ed Kompass, Control Engineering’s former editorial director, who retired in 1987, and who worked on the first issue, says it’s hard to believe how much has changed in the first 50 years. “Since most industrial controllers, whether for machine control, process control, or whole plant or enterprise control, are really dedicated computers, consider then a few of the changes in computer-based control over the past 50 years.” 

Advances Beyond Imagination
Sporting more than 50 years in the automation and control industry, Dr. Irving Lefkowitz has seen it all when it comes to the modern advancement of industrial technologies. His perspective offers valuable insight for those pondering the future of the engineering professions. 

Broaden Expertise; Apply Proven Technologies More Quickly
Jerry Yen, of General Motors Powertrain and OMAC Users Group, addresses PLC, PC-based, and wireless controls; the Web; legacy integration; business of manufacturing; and interoperability via standards. 

Down-to-Earth Engineering in Space
Chet Vaughan, Boeing's acting chief engineer for the International Space Station, says basic control and automation principles help the U.S. space program cope with challenges from galloping technical evolution to integration and standardization issues. 

Recognizing excellence in product innovation
Control Engineering editors have been overseeing awards for product excellence for nearly two decades. Reviewing the historical leader-board for the Editors’ Choice Awards illustrates the ma-jor advances made in automation, control, and instrumentation over the years.

Technology and People Connections: Keys to the Future
Intelligent devices, integrated systems, distributed architectures…Dow engineers cite past advances and call on the controls field to be ready for further change. 

The Path Forward: Link Technology and Business
An interview with Andrew McDonald, Unilever HPC-NA's global automation and control tech-nology manager, reveals insights about bringing the communities of engineering and management closer together at your facility. 

Monthly histories: 50, 25, and 10 years ago

January:
Lucre and love at Illinois Tech; largest commercial solar operation at Honeywell; a collection of items 

February:
Supermarket computer calculates correct change; report pessimistic about fiber-optics market; need for engineering services 

March:
Prospects are bright for smell that's right; DEC's PDP-11/34 Mini has been squeezed into a single-board micro; PLC users get new options

April:
Automatic flight ahead; multiple output supplies; digital micrometer; ICEE/I² M show expands; DeviceNet debuts 

May:
Robot salesman; thank Ma Bell for RS-232; pressure transmitter works with two protocols; control system bridges PC-PLC gap 

June:
Chicago to install new traffic control; distributed process modules; worldwide industrial automation investment 

July:
GE and IBM weld first link of computer network; using color in industrial control graphics; CAN-based I/O system taps PC for machine control 

August:
Tape-controlled machine out-embroiders Grandma; the Proway Project; signal conditioning is becoming I/O processing 

September:
Stop coining words; single-chip analog and digital signal processor; giants, machine control, and perspective 

October:
Dr. Bush calls for automatic encyclopedia; fiber-optic nuclear plant fail-safe system; wanted: skilled people for the plant floor 

November:
If the shoe fits; Remington Rand; cost breakthrough in ac drives; Fieldbus Foundation and ergonomics 

December:
Transistors vs. tubes debate; speech synthesizer has control vocabulary; Rockwell wins Reliance Electric from General Signal 

Editorials and commentaries

Golden 

Think Again: Online: More in ’04 

Building a ‘Soapbox’ 

Pin-up controls 

Think again: Birth and rebirth

Why we’re here 

We never could have dreamed 

Milestones for 2004

Control Engineering launches new online Resource Center

Control Engineering China (first full year) 

Control Engineering Poland (first full year) 

Also link to each of these three at the top of http://www.controleng.com. [Content from Control Engineering Europe appears monthly under “Archives.”]

CE announces first Engineers' Choice award winners 

Reprise and update of Control Engineering’s PID series in four-book eBook format, in the Control Engineering Resource Center Library 

September 2004: 50th Anniversary Issue 

ISA Expo 2004: CE hoops it up at 50th birthday party 

Control Engineering Russia is planned for April 2005. See Control Engineering 2005 media kit, page 4 at http://www.controleng.com/mediainfo.

Control Engineering Daily News Desk
Mark T. Hoske, editor-in-chief
mhoske@reedbusiness.com