On behalf of the Thai Society of Mechanical Engineers committee and members, I, Asst.Prof.Dr.Chinda Charoenphonphanich, the President of TSME, have the honor to convey my warm congratulations and best wishes to you and your party as well as the entire members of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, on the auspicious occasion of the 120th anniversary of its establishment.

Over the past, JSME has always been at the forefront to supporting TSME and we have enjoyed amicable ties of friendship and mutual support in many areas, which has contributed to further enriching and deepening the traditional bond of friendship and growing cooperation between our two countries. JSME made a great effort to fulfil its task of representing Mechanical Engineering, developing association networks, constitute a unique research community, to make the nation’s leading engineering society, working system and making a difference to individuals, enterprises and communities.

For the past 30 years, as TSME has strived to form the organization to offer a great opportunity to Mechanical Engineering in Thailand. The first Conference of Mechanical Engineering Network of Thailand, ME-NETT was held in 1987 and is continuing until present to build up network yields the development of a verity of quality researches that can be utilized to serve the social and country’s need while the International Conference of Mechanical Engineering, TSME-ICoME, was first held in 2010 to offer for an international forum to Mechanical Engineering communities. More over the Journal of Research and Applications in Mechanical Engineering, JRAME, published twice a year, has provided new interesting articles related to mechanical engineering issues. All our missions have always been supported by JSME and Mechanical Engineering network throughout the time.

On this year special occasion, the celebration of the 120th Anniversary of relations is a significant milestone, I hope that JSME, as a social and professional organization representative of Mechanical Engineering community, will continue a great success in your effort to provide quality of technology and contribute to the development of industries. I took this opportunity to not only celebrate past achievements, but also to look to the future continues to deliver leaders who can create and develop a new advance technology.

I wish to reaffirm my determination to work closely with JSME to further advance and deepen our bilateral relations for our future generations, uphold its tradition of solidarity and look forward to further strengthening of these relations and cooperation in the future.

Introduction

KMITL has not only been very successful as an institute specializing in the field of science and technology in Thailand, but also produced a great exceptional number of professional “Practical Engineers” in science and technology territories. KMITL is moving forward with the new era with the philosophy “Education and Research in Science and Technology are the Foundation of the Development of the Nation” and KMITL is also ready to glow globally as internationalized activities and supports.

KMITL consists of seven faculties and four colleges with a total enrollment of more than 29,729 undergraduate and graduate students: Faculty of Engineering, Architecture, Industrial Education, Science, Agricultural Technology, Information Technology and Agroindustry together with College of Nano technology, Data storage technology and applications, Administration and Management and International College. One can see that KMITL provides integrated Science and technology academic program for all solutions in the new era. With numerous cooperative activities from industry, KMITL also extends the high level research and development to industries. In addition, KMITL has international research collaboration more than 50 countries around the world. With these cohesive organization and superior quality of research and education, KMITL has been recognized as one of the leading science and technology universities in THAILAND.

History of KMITL

The establishment of the Nondhaburi Telecommunication Training Center on August 24, 1960 with academic cooperation from the Government of Japan marked the origination of KMITL. The training center became the Nondhaburi Institute of Telecommunications under the Columbo Plan, later in 1964.

As specified by the 1971 King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Act, KMITL was originated by an amalgamation of three technical colleges: Nondhaburi Institute of Telecommunications, North Bangkok Technical College and Thonburi Technical College. In the same year, the Nondhaburi Institute of Telecommunications, or known as King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology at Nondhaburi Campus, was relocated to the district of Ladkrabang in Bangkok. The new campus was called ”Chao Khun Taharn Ladkrabang Campus”. The Nondhaburi Institute of Telecommunications became the Faculty of Engineering in 1972. In the same year, the College of Design and Construction located at the Bangplad district was transformed into the Faculty of Architecture affiliated with KMITL.

In 1986, KMITL became a legitimate public university under a legislation called ”King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang Act”, which regulates its governance, administration and operation. Like other public universities in Thailand, KMITL is a government agency under the supervision of the former Ministry of University Affairs, which was merged with the Ministry of Education on July 7, 2003. At present, KMITL, like other public or autonomous universities, is under the supervision of the Commission on Higher Education affiliated with the Ministry of Education.

The name of the institute was derived from the name of King Rama IV. The royal grand crown seal has been graciously used as the emblem of the institute.

The name “Chao Khun Taharn” has been used in honor of Chao Phya Surawong Waiyawat(Won Boonnak)of whom the heiress, Liam Prot Pitaya Payat, donated her own land to establish the institute. In 1977, the Faculty of Industrial Education and Science was established for offering fundamental courses for all faculties and for providing education and promoting research in science. In 1979, the Chao Khun Taharn Agricultural College, which was affiliated with the Department of Vocational Education, Ministry of Education, was transferred to KMITL, and became the Faculty of Agricultural Technology. The Computer Research and Service Center and the School of Graduate Studies were founded in 1981 and 1986, respectively. In 1988, the Faculty of Industrial Education and Science was separated into two faculties: the Faculty of Industrial Education and the Faculty of Science. In 1991, the Central Library was founded. In 1995, KMITL opened its first remote campus in Chumphon Province with 1,800 hectares of land in order to support the development of industry in the southern part of Thailand.