Professor Kazuo Yamazaki
Yamazaki Receives Frederick W. Taylor Research Medal
Posted on: June 10, 2009
Professor Kazuo Yamazaki has been recognized with the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Frederick W. Taylor Research Medal for his significant published research, leading to a better understanding of materials, facilities, principles, operations and their application to improve manufacturing processes.
Yamazaki currently heads the IMS-Mechatronics Laboratory at UC Davis, one of the nation's leading manufacturing engineering research facilities. There, his work has focused not only mechatronics, but also on such research areas as manufacturing process design, control and manufacturing automation software.
His work in mechatronics has led to significant developments in hardware and digital logic for control of complex, precision machine tool functions. Additionally, his efforts, which blend information and manufacturing technologies, have resulted in sophisticated "art-to-part" software used to enhance productivity.
The author of more than 100 journal papers and nearly 100 conference papers, Yamazaki is also a prolific inventor who holds 31 registered patents.
For his work, Yamazaki was selected as president of the Machine Tool Technologies Research Foundation and has been the recipient of a number of awards, including the 2001 CASA/SME Industry Lead Award.