Highly developed production engineering has become the most important factor of production all over the world. Nothing could prove it better than the fact that industrial production has grown nearly fiftyfold since the torn of the century. This upspring is due mainly to the development of technology. Both in the teaching of manufacturing engineering and in the production of the necessary means great arrears had to be made up during the fifties. The realisation of this faqct opened the way for the establishment of the Department of Manufacturing Engineering at the Technical University of Budapest in 1951. We celebrated the 50th anniversary of this establishment in 2001 May.
The machine tool laboratory of the department was built in 1953. A new independent Department of Machine Tools was separated from the department in 1954 under the professorship of Associate Professor Gusztáv Hubert. The two departments were re-united in January 1956. The deparment was dedicated to the fields of the cutting operations, machine tools, production planning, industrial metrology and controlling. From the eighties additional topics, manufacturing systems and industrial robots were emerged.
On industrial commissions the department has designed and constructed several machines, e. g. tensile testers, powder and bakelite presses, broaching machines and wire-tensioning press for the building industry.
In the eighties some national research programs were completed with the leadership of the department, such
the development, of the operation system, the controller and the construction of 5D CNC machining centers (that time the 3D and more sofisticated controllers were in the COCOM list)
For this development the managing team – and Dr. Mátyás Horváth, the professor of the department – got the Hungarian State Reward in 1985.
G/6 National Research and Development Program for the automated and robotized assembly (1987-88)6th research program of the National Committee for Technological Development (OMFB) for the development and Hungarian presentation of the robot technics both in industry and in education
The very firs ultraprecision machining cell of Central Europe was realized in the department, that provided the machine background of some international research projects (e. g. MINOS INCO Copernicus)
After the political change in 1990 the research activity of the department became more international. For example in 1999 among the 12 research projects carrying out in the department there were 4 INCO Copernicus and two CEEPUS supported projects. These provided solutions for the problems of Hungarian or Eastern European companies. Only some example:
Intelligent product manual (PROMAN) was developed an interactive, computer based user manual – applying artificial intelligence methods – for the products of EXCEL Csepel Machine Tool Producer Jsc.
The Department of Measurement and Information Systems also participated in this project. Some Hungarian and Japanese companies are interested in the results of the project.
In the project Precision and Ultraprecision Cutting and Grinding of Metals , Engineering Ceramics and Polymers (MINOS) we provided new results for the Knorr Bremse Jsc. in ultraprecision grinding of the mechanical elements.
In this project we work together with the Department of Mechanical Technology and Materials.
In the frame of the project Handling on Non-rigid Materials with Robots (HOMER) new result was developed for delivering and positioning foam and fabric composite components in vehicle seat manufacturing (IMAG Jsc. Hungary).
In the newly announced EU F5 framework IST program we are the coordinator of a multidisciplinar project:
Supporting Rehabilitation of Disabled Using Industrial Robots for Upper Limb Motion Therapy (REHAROB)
This project is carried out with the contribution of the Department of Applied Mechanics.
GE Lighting Jsc is the greatest industrial partner of the department, we produce die tools for bulbs and lamps.
Our department is the pioneer in the rapid prototyping technologies in Hungary, we got European Union support for presentation these technologies in Hungary – Virtual Manufacturing and Rapid Prototyping (VITAMIN). In 1999 the department, together with our partner, FABICAD Ltd. won the Innovation Prize of the Ministry of Education.
One of the professors of the department, Dr. János Somló and his colleagues B. Lantos and P.T. Cat published the Advanced Robot Control that is regarded as a basic reference book in this field.
The Heads of the Department:
1951- Dr. Ferenc Bíró
1956- Dr. Egon Lechner
1957- Dr. Ferenc Lettner
1970- Dr. István Kalászi
1975- Dr. Mátyás Horváth
1999- Dr. Gusztáv Arz
2005- Dr. Gyula Mátyási
2013- Dr. Tibor Szalay
2023- Dr. Márton Takács