Paul Drews receives the 2009 ABB Lifetime Contribution to Factory Automation Award

Prof. Paul Drews, Director of the European Center for Mechatronics, Aachen, Germany, has received  the 2009 ABB Lifetime Contribution to Factory Automation Award.  The Award, founded by the IES Technical Committee on Factory Automation and financially sponsored by ABB Corporate Research, is presented to individuals in grateful recognition of their lifetime contribution to the factory and industrial automation field; for meritorious technical contribution and technical leadership. The Award presentation ceremony took place at the 14th IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on September 24, 2009. 

From right: Prof. Paul Drews and Dr. Kai Hansen, ABB Corporate Research

PAUL DREWS studied engineering at the Technical University Aachen (Germany) and received his „Dr.-Ing.“ degree in mechanical engineering (Aachen). In 1972, he became a Professor and director of the department for „Process control and automation“. Since 1973 he has been active as a Visiting Professor in different countries (Europe, Asia, America). His special research fields are production automation, mechatronics, robotics, sensors, and process control.

In 1974 he was the first one, who presented a microcomputer-controlled production-machine. The development of the first transistorized welding power source in his institute gave birth to new perspectives and approaches in welding automation at improved performance of the arc welding process. He is owner of many patents.

In 1981 he founded “APS”, a private research center. Key areas are automation and related technologies and their transfer from basic research to industrial application.

As one of the „Mechatronics pioneers“ in Germany , he established the „European Centre for Mechatronics to promote the benefits of mechatronic engineering in the development of products, processes, and advanced technologies for industrial application.

Prof. Drews is a member of many national and international technical and scientific boards and expert groups. He has chaired and organized many national and international conferences in the fields of automation, mechatronics and robotics. He is member of  IEEE, DVS, etc. as well as of several expert groups and advisory councils of the European Commission in Brussels.

For more than 25 years Prof. Drews is especially active in cooperative research and development together with European enterprises from various industrial areas within the major RTD Programmes. His partners are from big electronic industries, automobile-, railways-, aerospace- as well as shipbuilding-industry, construction machine manufacturers etc. all over the world. Thus, he gained extensive experiences in coordination and project management. Currently, he is coordinating EC projects with  different partners from industry and public research centres out of  several European countries.

His current research interests are directed to virtual engineering, teleservice, man/machine communication, service robots and the use of multimedia for industrial application and educational training.

Prof. Drews has published more than 300 scientific and technical reports and articles in various international journals. He is editor and co-editor of several books and reports on automation, mechatronics and robotics.