UC Davis’ College of Engineering will receive a gift of $3 million from DTL Mori Seiki Inc. of West Sacramento, a division of the Mori Seiki group of companies, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of machine tools. The gift will support research into machine tools that can both learn from human engineers and advise less experienced operators.

The donation is the largest cash gift for research from a private company to the College of Engineering. Funds will support the work of Kazuo Yamazaki, professor of mechanical engineering at UC Davis. Yamazaki’s laboratory studies how computers can be used to control and run manufacturing and design tools.

“Professor Yamazaki has made unique contributions to the manufacturing industry, both here and abroad, through his research on intelligent machine tools and through his training of young engineers. This support both acknowledges the unique work done in (his) laboratory and the high value that the industry places on faculty research,” said Enrique Lavernia, dean of the College of Engineering.

“As the leading CNC machine tool manufacturer worldwide, we want to see more talented young people get advanced education and training by conducting research on machine tool technology. By donating this gift, we are helping them with the development they deserve,” said Mori Masahiko, president of the Mori Seiki group.

“Professor Yamazaki, a highly recognized researcher, has done much outstanding research in the manufacturing industry. His cutting-edge research is very important to our industry — machine tools,” added Jiancheng Liu, general manager of DTL Mori Seiki, Inc.

Yamazaki’s current project, called OMNI-CNC, aims to build machine tools that can use the skills and intelligence of human engineers.

“It accumulates the usage of the machine into the system, and then it can advise and correct a user operating it,” he said.

Yamazaki envisions that these systems would learn to work in a way tailored to the type of manufacturing they are doing. For example, manufacturing automotive parts may require different approaches from making aerospace parts — taking into account a different mix of factors such as quality, precision and speed.

“Professor Yamazaki’s laboratory houses one of the most diverse arrays of computer-controlled manufacturing and inspection equipment on any university campus in the United States and is a tremendous asset to the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering,” said department chair Rida Farouki.