Subcommittee on Automated Manufacturing and Control Systems Chairs: Hans-Michael Hanish, University of Halle, Germany Josep M. Fuertes, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain   Scope: Discrete and Continuous Manufacturing, Supervisory Control, Industrial Automation, Process Automation, Programmable Logic Control, Architectures and Operations, Planning, Scheduling, Reliability,CAD/CAE/CAM, Human Factors, Virtual Reality & Telesensation.

Josep M. Fuertes Dr. Josep M. Fuertes has been a Professor at the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) since 1987. Since 2001 he has been the Director of the Department of Automatic Control and Computer Engineering at UPC. Prior to that, he held the Researcher position (1975-1986) at the Institut de Cibernètica (Spanish Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas). In 1987, he was a Visiting Scientific Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory working on the design of the Active Control System for the W.M.Keck 10 meter segmented telescope (Hawaii). From 1990 to 1992 he was in charge of the doctoral program at the department of Automatic Control and Computer Engineering at UPC. From 1992 to 1999, hewas Director of the University Research Line in Advanced Control Systems. Between 1996 and 2001, he was Spanish representative to the Council of the European Union Control Association (EUCA). Dr. Fuertes was general chair for IEEE-WFCS’97, IEEE-ETFA’99  He has published over 80 papers on Distributed Control Systems and Applications in refereed edited books, journals, and conference proceedings. Dr. Fuertes is a member of the IES ADCOM. Contact email address: j.fuertes@iestcfa.org   Hans-Michael Hanisch Dr. Hans-Michael Hanisch is currently a Professor for Automation Technology at the Dept. of Engineering  Science, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. Prior to that, 1994-1999, a Professor at  the Institute for Automation Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany. He has supervised approximately 25 Projects, as Principal Investigator, funded by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Deutscher Akademischer  Austauschdienst, State of Saxony-Anhalt Industry, University of Magdeburg, University of Halle, National Science Foundation, and BMBF. Dr. Hanisch has published over 120 written publications in reviewed Journals and Conference Proceedings. Supervised 7 PhD students, completed, and approximately 60 Diploma Degrees. Membership in organizationsinclude Verein Deutscher Ingenieure, Gesellschaft für Informatik, IEEE, Senior Member, Deutscher Hochschulverband. His research interests involve:  Discrete Event and Hybrid Systems,  Control of Manufacturing Systems, Batch Process Control and Optimization,  Distributed Controllers following IEC 61499, Integration of Process and Production Logisitics, Reconfigurable  Systems Dr Hanisch has received PhD degree "summa cum laude" from,  Polytechnical Institute of Leuna-Merseburg, Germany; Habilitation at Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Dortmund. Contact email address: hm.hanisch@iestcfa.org