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Soho Foundry is a
factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. ...
created in 1775 by
Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engin ...
and
James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was ...
and their sons
Matthew Robinson Boulton Matthew Robinson Boulton (8 August 1770 – 16 May 1842) was an English manufacturer, a pioneer of management, the son of Matthew Boulton and the father of Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, who first patented the aileron An aileron (French for ...
and
James Watt Jr. James Watt junior, FRS (5 February 1769 – 2 June 1848) was a Scottish engineer, businessman and activist. Early life He was born on 5 February 1769, the son of James Watt by his first wife Margaret Miller, and half-brother of Gregory Watt ...
at
Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider b ...
, West Midlands,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
(), for the manufacture of
steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...
s. Now owned by Avery Weigh-Tronix, it is used for the manufacture of weighing machines. The early history of the Soho Foundry is of pivotal importance both to the history of the
industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
and to the study of the development of
management theory Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...
. The Soho Foundry stood out from other factories of the day in the sophistication of its planning, its production processes and its management techniques; practising concepts that wouldn't become commonplace until a century later. Comparing its workings to the techniques of
mass production Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and ba ...
and
scientific management Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engine ...
made famous by
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...
and
Frederick Winslow Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consultants. In 1909, Taylor summed up ...
in the United States in the early 20th century, the economist Eric Roll wrote "Neither Taylor, Ford nor any other modern experts devised anything in the way of plan that cannot be discovered at Soho before 1805".


History

The factory was built on the edge of the
Birmingham Canal The BCN Main Line, or Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line is the evolving route of the Birmingham Canal between Birmingham and Wolverhampton in England. The name ''Main Line'' was used to distinguish the main Birmingham to Wolverhampton rout ...
on land bought in 1795. The following year the foundry was open.


Organisation

The Soho Foundry was planned with a degree of sophistication unprecedented for a factory of its time. Its products were produced out of standardised
interchangeable parts Interchangeable parts are parts (components) that are identical for practical purposes. They are made to specifications that ensure that they are so nearly identical that they will fit into any assembly of the same type. One such part can freely r ...
, reducing the need to supervise work as it was executed, simplifying stock control and enabling more efficient repair of faults for customers. Production processes were broken down into small tasks, enabling an extremely high degree of specialisation among workers – one document from 1801, for example, describes how a team of four specific workers was "to be constantly employed in fitting nozzles". These tasks took place in a series of workshops spatially located along the flow of production, minimising the expense and time-wastage of the movement of materials through the works. The accounting procedures of the foundry bore a striking similarity to modern processes, with each of the three main operating departments - the Foundry Department which made
cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...
parts, the Smithy Department which made
wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...
parts, and the Fitting Department which machined the parts and assembled them together - being operated as separate profit centres. The Soho Foundry was also innovative in the field of
personnel management Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...
, setting up executive development programmes,
sickness benefit Disability benefits are funds provided from public or private sources to a person who is ill or who has a disability. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom disability benefits are covered by Department for Work and Pensions. There are numerous be ...
schemes and
welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
programmes.


Later development

By 1840
James Watt Jr. James Watt junior, FRS (5 February 1769 – 2 June 1848) was a Scottish engineer, businessman and activist. Early life He was born on 5 February 1769, the son of James Watt by his first wife Margaret Miller, and half-brother of Gregory Watt ...
owned the factory after the death of the founding Boulton and Watt. He died in 1848 and his place was taken by H. W. Blake and the name changed from ''Soho Foundry'' to ''James Watt & Co.''. In 1857 the
screw A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to ...
engines for the steamship ''
SS Great Eastern SS ''Great Eastern'' was an iron sail-powered, paddle wheel and screw-propelled steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built by John Scott Russell & Co. at Millwall Iron Works on the River Thames, London. She was the largest ship e ...
'' were built at the foundry. In 1860 a new mint was started at the Foundry, the Manufactory having closed in April 1850 by Matthew's grandson,
Matthew Piers Watt Boulton Matthew Piers Watt Boulton (22 September 1820 – 30 June 1894), also published under the pseudonym M. P. W. Bolton, was a British classicist, elected member of the UK's Metaphysical Society, an amateur scientist and an inventor, bes ...
. In 1861 tests were performed at the Soho Foundry for the
London Pneumatic Despatch Company The London Pneumatic Despatch Company (also known as the London Pneumatic Dispatch Company) was formed on 30 June 1859, to design, build and operate an underground railway system for the carrying of mail, parcels and light freight between locati ...
. In 1895 W & T Avery Ltd. acquired the Foundry as a going concern. In 1912, the manager of the company William Edward Hipkins, died at the sinking of Titanic while he was travelling as a first class passenger. He was 55 and his body was not recovered.


Today

It is now the home of Avery Weigh-Tronix and Avery Berkel, who make
weighing scale A scale or balance is a device used to measure weight or mass. These are also known as mass scales, weight scales, mass balances, and weight balances. The traditional scale consists of two plates or bowls suspended at equal distances from a ...
s. The site includes
William Murdoch William Murdoch (sometimes spelled Murdock) (21 August 1754 – 15 November 1839) was a Scottish engineer and inventor. Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton & Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten yea ...
's cottage and overlooks
Black Patch Park Black Patch Park is a park in Smethwick, West Midlands, England. It is bounded by Foundry Lane, Woodburn Road, Perrott Street and Kitchener Street, at . The park, covering over , was part of a sparsely populated landscape of commons and woodla ...
. There was a small
museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...
there, open only by appointment, but is now closed. The
grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
''Pooley'' gates, of cast iron, are marked with "a Liver bird above ropework draped with cloth, flanked by nautical symbols including oars, flags and bugles, ships' wheels and intersecting dolphins". A plaque reads: "These gates were cast by Henry Pooley and Son about 1840 for the Sailors' Home, Liverpool. The Avery and Pooley Foundries were amalgamated in 1931". There was an active campaign to return these gates to Liverpool, resulting in the approval by Sandwell Council in March 2011 of an application to return them. After restoration the gates were returned to Liverpool on 8 August 2011 and were re-erected under the name "The Sailors Home Gateway" in the pedestrian section of Paradise Street in Liverpool One, close to the original site of the Sailors' Home.LiverpoolConfidential.com - return of gates
The building is a Grade II*
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
. The gates and adjacent canal bridge are Grade II listed. The oldest working steam engine, built here, is the
Smethwick Engine The Smethwick Engine is a Watt steam engine made by Boulton and Watt, which was installed near Birmingham, England, and was brought into service in May 1779. Now at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum, it is the oldest working steam engine a ...
built to recover water used in the nearby canal locks at Smethwick Summit, and now in
Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum Thinktank, Birmingham (formerly known as simply Thinktank) is a science museum in Birmingham, England. Opened in 2001, it is part of Birmingham Museums Trust and is located within the Millennium Point complex on Curzon Street, Digbeth. H ...
.


See also

*
Soho Manufactory The Soho Manufactory () was an early factory which pioneered mass production on the assembly line principle, in Soho, Birmingham, England, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. It operated from 1766–1848 and was demolished in 1853. B ...
* Liverpool Sailors' Home * George Haden


References


Literature

* * * *


External links


Avery Weigh-Tronix page on the factoryArchives of Soho
at Birmingham Central Library.
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Listed Buildings description - former Bolton and Watt Pattern Store and Erecting ShopSandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Listed Buildings description - Office RowSandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Listed Buildings description - Gateway and GateSandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Listed Buildings description - Pooley Gates
* * * * * * {{coord, 52.4972, -1.9475, display=title, region:GB_type:landmark Industrial Revolution 1795 establishments in England Industrial buildings completed in 1795 Industrial archaeological sites in England History of Birmingham, West Midlands Buildings and structures in the West Midlands (county) Grade II* listed buildings in the West Midlands (county) Grade II listed buildings in the West Midlands (county) Smethwick