My books on manufacturing

My books on manufacturing
My books on manufacturing history

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Talk to Leicester branch of the Historical Association

 Delighted to have been invited to do a virtual talk about How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World. 

I have dispensed with PowerPoint and will talk with reference to my secondary sources - the book was written in lockdown, although I did have some earlier research of primary sources. 

I plan to post the text of my talk and a list of the books after the talk 



Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Vehicles to Vaccines published 4 December 2023

am delighted to announce that Vehicles to Vaccines has been published by APS Books.

British Manufacturing was the envy of the world; it led the way. In time other nations caught up and indeed overtook the British in value of output. In 1951, manufacturing employed one third of the workforce; in the twenty-first century this has fallen to just ten percent. Britain now ranks eighth in the world league table of manufacturing nations. What had happened?

I explored the years up to 1951 in my book How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World (HBSTMW) which looked at the story of British manufacturing through the prism of the Great Exhibition of 1851. In this volume I seek to explore what happened since.

The Festival of Britain of 1951 gave a message of hope to a country worn down by war and yet more rationing. The future was to be as bright as the colours of new materials for the promised homes, hospitals and schools. Power was to be nuclear and hydroelectric. The world’s vehicles were British, be they ships, aircraft or wheeled. The world though was also picking itself up from the devastation of war with new factories and shipyards competing in export markets. What might be called the gluttony of hydrocarbons began with massive oil tankers taking to the seas and plastics finding their way into every part of life. 

In this world of change, British manufacturing didn’t stand still. In this book I delve into manufacturing, sector by sector drilling down into some key companies.

You can buy Vehicles to Vaccines from Amazon

The cover image was given by Hone-All Ltd and it is if their Jones & Shipman machine which with upgrades is still in use 



Monday, November 27, 2023

Inward Investment

 Nissan’s announcement of a £2 billion investment in their Sunderland plant is the latest note of affirmation of the quality of their British workforce and supply chain. 

The image is of a model of one of the early ones, Hoover with their iconic building on London’s Western Avenue. The model is at Bekonscot. model village at Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire. 

There are a great many other examples including machine tool maker Mazak EU in Worcester. 

I write much more in my forthcoming book Vehicles to Vaccines



Manufacturing places - the art of re-invention

My exploration of British manufacturing has been sector by sector and chronological. I am now beginning to join up the dots and explore thos...