--- This history was compiled by Ron Kuhn in 2016 ---

A group was created in the 1970’s to manage the Control Division Labcalc programs and GC/LC data collection system. It was named the Control Computer and Instrument Group (CCIG). Gary Dukes was the leader.

The first applications ran on a Digital PDP 11/40 running RSX. This machine was located in the middle of the Building 41-0 South Hall. Initial members of the group were Patrick (Pat) Aehner and Bill Frailing (loaned from MIS).

Control Building 233, on the south end of the Portage manufacturing site, was constructed in 1978 with a computer room in the middle of the second floor. This room housed a Digital PDP 11/40 for GC/LC and a new system for stability.

Jim English then managed the group. Norm Young and Ed Fryburger were added to create the Control Stability System. This project was led by Bob Folck and included the purchase of a DEC PDP 11/70 running RSTS.

In 1979, Ron Kuhn was added as a summer student to work on LabCalcs. Eric Gifford and Glenn Ward also joined the group.

Control building 259, opened in 1982, contained a large computer room to hold the expanding DEC VAX VMS systems.

In 1984 John Herman and Nick Gerth were added. Two VAX 780s (BOHR and WATSON) were added. Glenn Ward became the leader of the group. All-in-One (an early word processing program) was added to the VAX 780.

In 1985 a pilot program of IBM PCs was started in Control, managed by Pat Morrissey. Shelley Miller was the first Control helpdesk, then a helpdesk group was created - Kim Arbanas, Pattie Echeverria and Pat Hall.

Pathworks was added to network the growing fleet of IBM PC’s. VAX 730’s were added (Newton and Dalton).

Personnel added in this era included Rob Krieg, Russ Barr, Glen Wengert, Tom Klomparens, Mike Shafer, Mark Hobbs, Leo Maurer, Dan Christian and Brian Hoppe.

In 1986 Dan Spencer was added as the DBA for Ingres (DB and 4GL). Further personnel added include Jerry Hagadone, Randy Grigg, Phil Sundman, Steve Christiansen, Joanne Jones, Jeff Schuhknecht, Dave Cantor, Bob Miller, Marty Hoover, Ted Ryder, Louis Hubert, Talla Davidson, Paul Allen , Bill Thies and Steve Johnson.

VAX 8600 replaces VAX 780s BOHR and WATSON. Then VAX 8600 was upgraded to VAX 8650.

Cheryl Hawley and Bill Leonard were added. Long Term contractors were Nathan Sundman, John Sumerfield and Rick Magnon. Tina Markstrum, Barb VanEseltine and Tom Alberty came over on loan from MIS.

In 1994, John Zabriskie, the new CEO of The Upjohn Company, toured Building 259 and was shown the computer operations. He was angry about the duplicate computer rooms on the Portage/Kalamazoo site and unsupportive of any further Digital VAX technology installations.

Postscript - in 2019 the former Upjohn Control computer room in Building 259 is still in active use. It is the main computer room for the Pfizer Portage site. All VAX mainframes have long been decommissioned. None of the Control Computer Group personnel mentioned above still work at the site.