Editing Soho Foundry (section)

==History==
The factory was built on the edge of the [[BCN Main Line|Birmingham Canal]] 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.<ref name="USArmy" /> Its products were produced out of standardised [[interchangeable parts]], reducing the need to supervise work as it was executed, simplifying stock control and enabling more efficient repair of faults for customers.<ref name="Wren">{{citation|last=Wren|first=Daniel A.|author-link=Daniel A. Wren|year=1994|title=The Evolution of Management Thought|edition=4th|series=Wiley Series in Management|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|pages=[https://archive.org/details/evolutionofmanag0000wren_i9v7/page/47 47–48]|isbn=047159752X|url=https://archive.org/details/evolutionofmanag0000wren_i9v7/page/47}}</ref> Production processes were broken down into small tasks, enabling an extremely high degree of [[division of labour|specialisation among workers]]<ref name="Martin">{{citation|last=Martin|first=John|year=2005|title=Organizational Behaviour And Management|publisher=Cengage Learning EMEA|page=52|isbn=1861529481|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BUDMDCAuRIoC&pg=PA52|access-date=2012-09-15}}</ref> – one document from 1801, for example, describes how a team of four specific workers was "to be constantly employed in fitting nozzles".<ref>{{citation|last=Roll|first=Eric|year=1968|title=An Early Experiment in Industrial Organization: History of the Firm of Boulton and Watt 1775-1805|publication-place=London|publisher=Routledge|page=181|isbn=0714613576|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DDU_t8gRKR0C&pg=PA181|access-date=2012-09-15}}</ref> These tasks took place in a series of workshops spatially located along the [[assembly line|flow of production]], minimising the expense and time-wastage of the movement of materials through the works.<ref>{{Citation|last=Porter|first=Roy|year=2001|title=English Society in the Eighteenth Century|series=The Penguin Social History of Britain|publication-place=Harmondsworth|publisher=Penguin|page=475|isbn=0140138196|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sJ0QXIEwSVEC&pg=PT475|access-date=2012-09-15}}</ref>

The accounting procedures of the foundry bore a striking similarity to modern processes,<ref>{{Harvnb|Williams|1995|p=2}}</ref> with each of the three main operating departments - the [[foundry|Foundry Department]] which made [[cast iron]] parts, the [[Forge|Smithy Department]] which made [[wrought iron]] parts, and the [[Machinist|Fitting Department]] which machined the parts and assembled them together - being operated as separate [[profit centre]]s.<ref>{{Harvnb|Williams|1995|p=8}}</ref>

The Soho Foundry was also innovative in the field of [[personnel management]], setting up [[executive development]] programmes, [[Sick leave|sickness benefit]] schemes and [[welfare spending|welfare]] programmes.<ref name="Nanda">{{Citation|last=Nanda|first=Jayanta K.|year=2006|title=Management Thought|publication-place=New Delhi|publisher=Sarup & Sons|pages=40–41|isbn=8176256234|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VtjTyhi7g4QC&pg=PA40|access-date=2012-09-08}}</ref>

===Later development===
[[File:Thinktank Birmingham - James Watt & Co.jpg|thumb|Trade advertisement from the 'James Watt & Co.' era]]

By 1840 [[James Watt Jr.]] 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 [[Propeller#Ship and submarine screw propellers|screw]] engines for the steamship [[SS Great Eastern|SS ''Great Eastern'']] 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]].

In 1861 tests were performed at the Soho Foundry for the [[London Pneumatic Despatch Company]].

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.