The department was founded in 1979. It is one of the oldest and largest departments in Zhengzhou Institute of Light Industry (ZZILI). It offers two master’s degrees: mechanical manufacturing and automation and refrigeration and low temperature engineering, three undergraduate specialties: mechanical design manufacturing and automation, observe and control technology and equipment and heat energy and power engineering and two senior vocational specialties: automation technology and maintenance, and mechatronics. With 30 years’ development, it has gradually formed its subject advantages and features. In recent years, the department grasped the favorable opportunities to accelerate its development and adopted effective measures to facilitate the cross and integration of traditional mechanism with such modern sciences as computer, electronic, controlling and modern administration. Since its foundation, the department has always carried out its comprehensive discipline construction and development and highlighted the original research of some basic theories. In addition, it enhanced undergraduate’s basic and engineering education and improved the teaching quality. All those efforts aim at building this department into a high-tech research and education base in the manufacturing and automation fields.

　　Acting in the spirit of the “21st century-oriented” teaching reformation put forth by the State Ministry of Education, it adjusts to the new requirements of market economy for talents training, and takes the theory of education as the basis and quality education the core. On the basis of traditional machinery, the teaching of this department tries to cultivate students’ comprehensive application ability and originality on modern machinery, electronic, computer and administration. The education takes the full development of students’ characteristics into consideration and teaches them in accordance with their aptitudes. Graduates have strong adaptabilities and bright prospects in future. In recent years, more than 95% of its graduates can find jobs and received high reputations.