| Soho Foundry | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Birmingham, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 52°29′50″N 1°56′51″W / 52.4972°N 1.9475°W |
| Owner(s) | Matthew Boulton James Watt |
Soho Foundry is a factory created in 1795 by Matthew Boulton and James Watt and their sons Matthew Robinson Boulton and James Watt Jr.[1] at Smethwick, West Midlands, England (grid reference SP037885), for the manufacture of steam engines. 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 and to the study of the development of management theory. 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 would not become commonplace until a century later.[2] Comparing its workings to the techniques of mass production and scientific management made famous by Henry Ford and Frederick Winslow Taylor 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".[3]
- ^ Williams 1995, p. 3
- ^ Analysis of the effect of historical cultural changes relative to the development of affordability excursions to existing parametric cost models., Huntsville, AL: Cost Analysis Office, U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command, 1988, pp. 46–47, archived from the original on 8 April 2013, retrieved 8 September 2012
- ^ Agarwal, R.D. (1983), Organization and Management, New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, p. 22, ISBN 0074515063, retrieved 8 September 2012