Focus and History of RCMT
About us
Focus of the Center
The main objective of the center is to create a professional research base for the Czech machine-tool and manufacturing-technology industry, to educate a new generation of young researchers, and, last but not least, to serve as a well-equipped research, educational, and training facility. No less important is research into new solutions and promising technologies of the near future.
In the field of research and development of manufacturing machines and technologies, the main task is to train experts who will collaborate with machine manufacturers on a range of technical issues and transfer the latest expertise to industrial practice. Through knowledge verified both theoretically and experimentally, these specialists can help raise the technical level of manufacturing machines developed in the Czech Republic and thus increase their competitiveness in demanding global markets.
The Czech Republic has strong roots in the development and production of manufacturing engineering technology, especially machine tools and forming machines.
The history of the unit, as a department within the Institute of Machining Technology, dates back to 1926; however, significant development took place from 1960 under the leadership of Prof. Josef Píč, when it operated as an independent department.
Between 1960 and 1990, industry and universities were centrally managed, and most industrial sectors had their own research institutes which, in cooperation with enterprises, ensured their technical development; as a result, there was little room for direct cooperation between universities and industry.
The situation changed markedly after 1989, when the transition to a market economy began. Companies became independent and research institutions largely ceased to be state-supported and gradually disappeared. Space thus opened up for cooperation between universities and industry, which today is quite substantial and highly desirable.
The leading institution for domestic research in the field used to be the unique Research Institute for Machine Tools and Machining (VÚOSO). After VÚOSO ceased to exist in the early 1990s, Jaromír Houša, a professor at the CTU Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Prague, initiated the formation of a group of experts and companies that evolved into the association Society for Machine Tools (SpOS), thereby helping to maintain continuity of relationships within the community of developers and researchers in the field. When the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MŠMT) announced a program to establish research centers (“Research Centers – 1M”), Prof. Houša, on behalf of the CTU Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Prague and in cooperation with the then Association of Engineering Technology Manufacturers and Suppliers (SST), prepared a project to found the Research Center of Manufacturing Technology (RCMT), which won the competition. The center was established on 1 July 2000 at the Institute of Manufacturing Engineering Technology of the CTU Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Prague, with three satellite workplaces at Brno University of Technology, the Technical University of Liberec, and the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen.
