114-611: The BSA Fury was a Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) prototype motorcycle made in 1970. Designed by Edward Turner but substantially redesigned by Bert Hopwood and Doug Hele , the Fury never went into commercial production due to the collapse of the BSA Group. Launched in 1971, the 349 cc (21.3 cu in) double overhead cam twin BSA E35 was branded the BSA Fury . It was essentially
228-403: A 30% increase in output simply from changing over to electric motors. Electrification enabled modern mass production, as with Thomas Edison's iron ore processing plant (about 1893) that could process 20,000 tons of ore per day with two shifts, each of five men. At that time it was still common to handle bulk materials with shovels, wheelbarrows and small narrow-gauge rail cars, and for comparison,
342-480: A Professional Cycling Team. Bob Maitland a successful amateur cyclist and the highest placed British finisher in the 1948 Olympic Games road race and now an independent rider in the BSA team was a BSA employee working in the design office as a draughtsman. It was Bob Maitland who was responsible for the design of post war BSA range of lightweight sports bicycles based on his knowledge of cycling. Bob Maitland also made some of
456-637: A backbone "main" assembly line. A diagram of a typical mass-production factory looks more like the skeleton of a fish than a single line. Vertical integration is a business practice that involves gaining complete control over a product's production, from raw materials to final assembly. In the age of mass production, this caused shipping and trade problems in that shipping systems were unable to transport huge volumes of finished automobiles (in Henry Ford's case) without causing damage, and also government policies imposed trade barriers on finished units. Ford built
570-486: A brief return in 1953 on two BSA bicycle models. BSA forever ceased production of their hub gears in 1955. BSA sold its ammunition business in 1897 to Birmingham Metal and Munitions Company Limited part of the Nobel-Dynamite Trust, through Kynoch a forerunner of ICI . In 1906, Frank Dudley Docker was appointed a director of the company. By the autumn of that year BSA was in some difficulty. They had purchased
684-565: A canal digger in previous decades typically handled five tons per 12-hour day. The biggest impact of early mass production was in manufacturing everyday items, such as at the Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company , which electrified its mason jar plant in Muncie, Indiana , U.S., around 1900. The new automated process used glass-blowing machines to replace 210 craftsman glass blowers and helpers. A small electric truck
798-403: A company to produce a larger quantity of one product at a lower cost than using traditional, non-linear methods. However, mass production is inflexible because it is difficult to alter a design or production process after a production line is implemented. Also, all products produced on one production line will be identical or very similar, and introducing variety to satisfy individual tastes
912-528: A couple of hours, were highly successful: over 100,000 Nissen huts were produced during World War I alone, and they would go on to serve in other conflicts and inspire a number of similar designs. Following World War II, in the United States, William Levitt pioneered the building of standardized tract houses in 56 different locations around the country. These communities were dubbed Levittowns , and they were able to be constructed quickly and cheaply through
1026-497: A dividend for the following four years while it tried to recover from its losses. Some relief was achieved when in March 1924 Daimler Airway and its management became the major constituent of Imperial Airways . As well as the Daimler car range, BSA Cycles Ltd re-entered the car market under the BSA name in 1921 with a V-twin engined light car followed by four-cylinder models up to 1926, when
1140-425: A factory there and made a road on the site calling it Armoury Road. Their enterprise was rewarded in 1863 with an order for 20,000 Turkish infantry rifles. The system of management of BSA was changed in 1863 when shareholders elected a Board of Directors: Joseph Wilson, Samuel Buckley, Isaac Hollis, Charles Playfair, Charles Pryse, Birmingham mayor Sir John Ratcliffe (c.1798-1864), Edward Gem, and J.F. Swinburn under
1254-551: A figure equal to half the total production of military bicycles during World War II. BSA also produced folding motorcycles for the Airborne Division. In late 1942 BSA examined the Special Operations Executive designed Welgun with a view to manufacture. BSA were willing to manufacture the gun in the quantities required starting April 1943 but the cheaper and less accurate Sten Mk IV was adopted for production by
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#17330925101151368-457: A multiple head milling machine that could simultaneously machine 15 engine blocks held on a single fixture. All of these machine tools were arranged systematically in the production flow and some had special carriages for rolling heavy items into machining position. Production of the Ford Model T used 32,000 machine tools. The process of prefabrication, wherein parts are created separately from
1482-521: A process of production dispersal throughout Britain, through the shadow factory scheme. Factories were set up at Tipton , Dudley , Smethwick , Blackheath , Lye , Kidderminster , Stourport , Tyseley , and Bromsgrove to manufacture Browning machine guns, Stoke , Corsham , and Newcastle-under-Lyme produced the Hispano cannon , Leicester and Studley Road produced the Besa machine gun , Ruislip produced
1596-582: A spectacular financial success of a merger of five large rolling-stock companies in 1902 and become the leader of the period's merger movement. Believing he could buy the missing management skills that could not be found within BSA, he started merger talks with The Daimler Company Limited of Coventry. Daimler and Rover were then the largest British car producers. Daimler was immensely profitable. After its capital reconstruction in 1904, Daimler's profits were 57 per cent and 150 per cent returns on invested capital in 1905 and 1906. The attraction for Daimler shareholders
1710-508: A spindle cutting machine, which could produce multiple parts at the same time. Terry hired Silas Hoadley and Seth Thomas to work the Assembly line at the facilities. The Porter Contract was the first contract which called for mass production of clock movements in history. In 1815, Terry began mass-producing the first shelf clock. Chauncey Jerome , an apprentice of Eli Terry mass-produced up to 20,000 brass clocks annually in 1840 when he invented
1824-591: A system of process control which uses various instruments to measure variables such as temperature, pressure, volumetric and level, providing feedback. Bulk materials such as coal, ores, grains and wood chips are handled by belt, chain, slat, pneumatic or screw conveyors, bucket elevators and mobile equipment such as front-end loaders . Materials on pallets are handled with forklifts. Also used for handling heavy items like reels of paper, steel or machinery are electric overhead cranes , sometimes called bridge cranes because they span large factory bays. Mass production
1938-401: A tremendous amount of useless handling and hauling. The belt and line shaft were also tremendously wasteful – so wasteful indeed that no factory could be really large, for even the longest line shaft was small according to modern requirements. Also high speed tools were impossible under the old conditions – neither the pulleys nor the belts could stand modern speeds. Without high speed tools and
2052-480: A very large amount of trees. In order to speed up such efforts, fast propagation of trees may be useful. Some automated machines have been produced to allow for fast (vegetative) plant propagation . Also, for some plants that help to sequester carbon (such as seagrass ), techniques have been developed to help speed up the process . Mass production benefited from the development of materials such as inexpensive steel, high strength steel and plastics. Machining of metals
2166-607: A worker work on a whole product from start to finish. The emergence of mass production allowed supply to outstrip demand in many markets, forcing companies to seek new ways to become more competitive . Mass production ties into the idea of overconsumption and the idea that we as humans consume too much. Mass production of fluid matter typically involves piping with centrifugal pumps or screw conveyors (augers) to transfer raw materials or partially complete products between vessels. Fluid flow processes such as oil refining and bulk materials such as wood chips and pulp are automated using
2280-640: Is Jikji , printed in Korea in the year 1377. Johannes Gutenberg , through his invention of the printing press and production of the Gutenberg Bible , introduced movable type to Europe. Through this introduction, mass production in the European publishing industry was made commonplace, leading to a democratization of knowledge , increased literacy and education, and the beginnings of modern science . French artillery engineer Jean-Baptiste de Gribeauval introduced
2394-405: Is capital-intensive and energy-intensive, for it uses a high proportion of machinery and energy in relation to workers. It is also usually automated while total expenditure per unit of product is decreased. However, the machinery that is needed to set up a mass production line (such as robots and machine presses ) is so expensive that in order to attain profits there must be some assurance that
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#17330925101152508-448: Is a reduction of non-productive effort of all types. In craft production , the craftsman must bustle about a shop, getting parts and assembling them. He must locate and use many tools many times for varying tasks. In mass production, each worker repeats one or a few related tasks that use the same tool to perform identical or near-identical operations on a stream of products. The exact tool and parts are always at hand, having been moved down
2622-517: Is that while Taylor focused mostly on efficiency of the worker, Ford also substituted for labor by using machines, thoughtfully arranged, wherever possible. In 1807, Eli Terry was hired to produce 4,000 wooden movement clocks in the Porter Contract. At this time, the annual yield for wooden clocks did not exceed a few dozen on average. Terry developed a milling machine in 1795, in which he perfected Interchangeable parts . In 1807, Terry developed
2736-504: Is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines . Together with job production and batch production , it is one of the three main production methods. The term mass production was popularized by a 1926 article in the Encyclopædia Britannica supplement that was written based on correspondence with Ford Motor Company . The New York Times used
2850-610: The Ford River Rouge Complex with the idea of making the company's own iron and steel in the same large factory site where parts and car assembly took place. River Rouge also generated its own electricity. Upstream vertical integration, such as to raw materials, is away from leading technology toward mature, low-return industries. Most companies chose to focus on their core business rather than vertical integration. This included buying parts from outside suppliers, who could often produce them as cheaply or cheaper. Standard Oil ,
2964-768: The George Medal for his selfless acts of bravery in the rescue and Alf Goodwin was awarded the British Empire Medal . Workers involved in the works Civil Defence were brought in to help search for and clear bodies to get the plant back into production. The net effect of the November raids was to destroy machine shops in the four-storey 1915 building, the original 1863 gunsmiths' building and nearby buildings, 1,600 machine tools, kill 53 employees, injure 89, 30 of them seriously and halt rifle production for three months. The Government Ministry of Supply and BSA immediately began
3078-546: The Henry Ford Company which was rebranded as Cadillac and later was awarded the Dewar Trophy in 1908 for creating interchangeable mass-produced precision engine parts, Henry Ford downplayed the role of Taylorism in the development of mass production at his company. However, Ford management performed time studies and experiments to mechanize their factory processes, focusing on minimizing worker movements. The difference
3192-508: The Industrial Revolution by many centuries; however, it was not until the introduction of machine tools and techniques to produce interchangeable parts were developed in the mid-19th century that modern mass production was possible. Mass production involves making many copies of products, very quickly, using assembly line techniques to send partially complete products to workers who each work on an individual step, rather than having
3306-833: The London Motorcycle Museum in Greenford , London and the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull . A BSA Fury with no internal parts was displayed at BSA dealer Len Vale-Onslow 's shop in 1984 Birmingham Small Arms Company The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited ( BSA ) was a major British industrial combine, a group of businesses manufacturing military and sporting firearms; bicycles; motorcycles; cars; buses and bodies; steel; iron castings; hand , power , and machine tools; coal cleaning and handling plants; sintered metals; and hard chrome process. After
3420-607: The Oerlikon 20mm cannon , Stafford produced rocket projectiles , Tamworth produced two-pounder gun carriages , Mansfield produced the Boys Anti-tank gun and Shirley produced rifles. These were dispersal factories which were in addition to Small Heath and the other BSA factories opened in the two years following the 1940 blitz. At its peak Small Heath was running 67 factories engaged in war production. BSA operations were also dispersed to other companies under licence. In 1941 BSA
3534-712: The Otto Dicycle . In the 1880s, the company began to manufacture safety bicycles on their own account and not until 1905 was the company's first experimental motorcycle constructed. Bicycle production ceased in 1887 as the company concentrated on producing the Lee–Metford magazine-loading rifle for the War Office which was re-equipping the British Army with it. The order was for 1,200 rifles per week. BSA recommenced manufacturing bicycles on their own behalf from 1908. BSA Cycles Ltd
BSA Fury - Misplaced Pages Continue
3648-636: The Portsmouth Block Mills in England to make ships' pulley blocks for the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Wars . It was achieved in 1803 by Marc Isambard Brunel in cooperation with Henry Maudslay under the management of Sir Samuel Bentham . The first unmistakable examples of manufacturing operations carefully designed to reduce production costs by specialized labour and the use of machines appeared in
3762-578: The Sparkbrook Royal Small Arms Factory from the War Office, and in return, the War Office undertook to give BSA a quarter of all orders for Lee–Enfield rifles. But, the War Office did not honour their undertaking. The ensuing financial crisis did not prevent BSA from signing an agreement to purchase control of bicycle component manufacturer, the Eadie Manufacturing Company of Redditch , on 11 February 1907. That decision
3876-627: The Venetian Arsenal produced nearly one ship every day in what was effectively the world's first factory , which at its height employed 16,000 people. The invention of movable type has allowed for documents such as books to be mass produced. The first movable type system was invented in China by Bi Sheng , during the reign of the Song dynasty , where it was used to, among other things, issue paper money . The oldest extant book produced using metal type
3990-589: The War Office which gave the BSA gunsmiths free access to technical drawings and to the War Office's Board of Ordnance 's Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield . New machinery developed in the USA installed at Enfield had greatly increased its output without needing more skilled craftsmen. This new machinery brought to Birmingham the principle of the interchangeability of parts and mass production . BSA bought 25 acres (10 ha) of land at Small Heath, Birmingham , built
4104-488: The 1881 Stanley Show . BSA went on to design and manufacture a "safety" bicycle (patent:15,342 of 1884). BSA was also producing tricycles and a licence was obtained in 1885 to manufacture ball bearings. BSA ceased bicycle manufacture in 1887 because of the demand for arms. Bicycle component manufacture commenced in 1894 and BSA continued to supply the bicycle trade up to 1936. The company recommenced bicycle manufacture on their own account again in 1908 and these were exhibited at
4218-480: The 18th century in England. The Navy was in a state of expansion that required 100,000 pulley blocks to be manufactured a year. Bentham had already achieved remarkable efficiency at the docks by introducing power-driven machinery and reorganising the dockyard system. Brunel, a pioneering engineer, and Maudslay, a pioneer of machine tool technology who had developed the first industrially practical screw-cutting lathe in 1800 which standardized screw thread sizes for
4332-474: The 1911 season. In 1913, the BSA group were compelled through pressure from the Midland Bank to make a capital issue of 300,000 preference shares. In the short term this was to solve the liquidity issue but further diluted the group's capitalisation. Dudley Docker retired as a BSA director in 1912 and installed Lincoln Chandler on the BSA board as his replacement. Dudley Docker liked to draw a comparison between
4446-452: The 20th century's definition of mass production appeared in a 1926 Encyclopædia Britannica supplement. The article was written based on correspondence with Ford Motor Company and is sometimes credited as the first use of the term. Electrification of factories began very gradually in the 1890s after the introduction of a practical DC motor by Frank J. Sprague and accelerated after the AC motor
4560-675: The BSA–Daimler merger he engineered and that of his 1902 merger of Metropolitan Carriage Wagon & Finance Company and Patent Shaft . However, there was not the integration of facilities in the BSA–Daimler case, nor was there a reorganisation of either BSA or Daimler and in view of the earlier criticism contained in the 1909 report of the investigation committee, BSA continued to produce cars of their own using Daimler engines. In 1913, Daimler employed 5,000 workers to manufacture 1,000 vehicles, an indication that things were not well. In 1912, BSA would be one of two automobile manufacturers pioneering
4674-639: The Eadie coaster brake hub. BSA also signed an agreement with the Three Speed Gear Syndicate in 1907 to manufacture a 3 speed hub under licence. This was later classified as the Sturmey Archer Type X. BSA introduced a 'Duo' hub in the late 1930s which was capable of one fixed gear and one gear with a freewheel. All BSA hub gear production temporarily ceased in 1939, until they recommenced making their 3 speed hub around 1945. The Eadie coaster hub made
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4788-584: The Emperor's tomb is also believed to have been created through the use of standardized molds on an assembly line . In ancient Carthage , ships of war were mass-produced on a large scale at a moderate cost, allowing them to efficiently maintain their control of the Mediterranean . Many centuries later, the Republic of Venice would follow Carthage in producing ships with prefabricated parts on an assembly line:
4902-453: The Fury also having been included in the 1971 BSA customer brochure. BSA invested heavily in modernising and reorganising their Small Heath factory in Birmingham and the research and design facility at Umberslade Hall , with the aim of improving efficiency and becoming more competitive. The Directors asked for full cooperation from the workforce and agreed a 10% cut in their own salaries. By
5016-418: The Fury under the slogan "A new kind of Power". Multi-page brochure inserts were put in all of the major US motorcycle publications and BSA and Triumph were counting on the Fury and Bandit to bring them back into profitability. Promotional photographs for the new bike (featuring BSA/Triumph Chief Stylist Stephen Mettam and British actress-model Karen Young posing in the grounds of Umberslade Hall ) were produced,
5130-812: The Ministry of Supply. BSA bought the Sunbeam motorcycles and bicycle business from Associated Motor Cycles Ltd in 1943 and then Ariel Motors Ltd in 1944. During the course of the conflict BSA produced 1,250,000 Lee–Enfield .303 service rifles, 404,383 Sten sub-machine guns, 468,098 Browning machine guns plus spares equivalent to another 100,000, 42,532 Hispano cannon, 32,971 Oerlikon cannon, 59,322 7.9 mm Besa machine guns, 3,218 15 mm Besa machine guns, 68,882 Boys Anti-tank guns, 126,334 motorcycles, 128,000 military bicycles (over 60,000 of which were folding paratrooper bicycles), 10,000,000 shell fuse cases, 3,485,335 magazines and 750,000 anti-aircraft rockets were supplied to
5244-551: The Mountains" Arthur Ilsley, 30 August Weston-Super-Mare 100 Miles Grand Prix, 1st Bob Maitland, Team Prize. The team also competed in the 1,624-mile, 12 stage, 1953 Tour of Britain Road Race. The 1953 line up had changed as Arthur Ilsley replaced Pete Proctor in the team. "Tiny" Thomas won the overall individual classification, the Team were runners-up in the team competition and Arthur Ilsley
5358-529: The Mountains" classification. The riders also enjoyed success on the individual stages of the race. The team competed in four further events, 14 September Tour of the Chilterns, 1st "Tiny" Thomas and Team Prize, 21 September Weston-Super-Mare Grand Prix, Team Prize, 28 September Staffordshire Grand Prix, 1st Bob Maitland and Team Prize, 5 October Tour Revenge Race, Dublin, 1st "Tiny" Thomas and Team prize. In 1953 BSA withdrew motorcycle production from BSA Cycles Ltd,
5472-750: The Second World War, BSA did not manage its business well, and a government-organised rescue operation in 1973 led to a takeover of such operations as it still owned. Those few that survived this process disappeared into the ownership of other businesses. BSA began in June 1861 in the Gun Quarter , Birmingham , England. It was formed by a group of fourteen gunsmith members of the Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association specifically to manufacture guns by machinery. They were encouraged to do this by
5586-595: The Stanley Show in 1909. Bicycle manufacture was what led BSA into motorcycles. BSA produced bicycles for both the police and military and notably a folding bicycle for the British Army during World War I and the more well known folding Paratroopers bicycle during World War II. BSA supplied the Irish Army with bicycles after 1922. Mass production Mass production , also known as flow production , series production , series manufacture , or continuous production ,
5700-537: The UK. The BSA factory at Small Heath was bombed by the Luftwaffe on 26 August 1940 resulting in one high explosive bomb and a shower of incendiaries hitting the main barrel mill which was the only one operating on service rifles in the country, causing the unaffordable loss of 750 machine tools but fortunately no loss of life. Two further Blitz air raids took place on 19 and 22 November 1940. The air raid of 19 November did
5814-477: The UK. The Royal Ordnance Factories did not begin production until 1941. BSA Guns Ltd was also producing .303 Browning machine guns for the Air Ministry (the main aircraft armament at the time) at the rate of 600 guns per week in March 1939 and Browning production was to peak at 16,390 per month by March 1942. The armed forces had chosen the 500 cc side-valve BSA M20 motorcycle as their preferred machine. On
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#17330925101155928-537: The actual cash BSA had put into Daimler. This financial burden deprived Daimler of badly needed cash to fund development, forcing the Daimler company to borrow money from the Midland Bank . BSA had still not recovered financially from the earlier purchase of Royal Small Arms factory at Sparkbrook and BSA were not in a position to finance Daimler, nor had either company ample liquid resources. BSA went ahead with motorcycle production in 1910, their first model available for
6042-614: The armed forces. At the same time other parts of the Group were having similar problems. Before World War II Daimler had been linked with other Coventry motor manufacturers in a government-backed scheme for aero engine manufacture and had been allocated two shadow factories. Apart from this, BSA-owned Daimler was producing Scout Cars and Daimler Mk I Armoured Cars which had been designed by BSA at Small Heath not Coventry as well as gun turrets, gun parts, tank transmissions, rocket projectiles and other munitions. This activity had not gone unnoticed by
6156-471: The armories designing and building many of their own. Some of the methods employed were a system of gauges for checking dimensions of the various parts and jigs and fixtures for guiding the machine tools and properly holding and aligning the work pieces. This system came to be known as armory practice or the American system of manufacturing , which spread throughout New England aided by skilled mechanics from
6270-894: The armories who were instrumental in transferring the technology to the sewing machines manufacturers and other industries such as machine tools, harvesting machines and bicycles. Singer Manufacturing Co. , at one time the largest sewing machine manufacturer, did not achieve interchangeable parts until the late 1880s, around the same time Cyrus McCormick adopted modern manufacturing practices in making harvesting machines . During World War II , The United States mass-produced many vehicles and weapons , such as ships (i.e. Liberty Ships , Higgins boats ), aircraft (i.e. North American P-51 Mustang , Consolidated B-24 Liberator , Boeing B-29 Superfortress ), jeeps (i.e. Willys MB ), trucks, tanks (i.e. M4 Sherman ) and M2 Browning and M1919 Browning machine guns . Many vehicles, transported by ships have been shipped in parts and later assembled on-site. For
6384-504: The assembly line consecutively. The worker spends little or no time retrieving and/or preparing materials and tools, and so the time taken to manufacture a product using mass production is shorter than when using traditional methods. The probability of human error and variation is also reduced, as tasks are predominantly carried out by machinery; error in operating such machinery has more far-reaching consequences. A reduction in labour costs, as well as an increased rate of production, enables
6498-429: The blocks to ensure alignment throughout the process. One of the many advantages of this new method was the increase in labour productivity due to the less labour-intensive requirements of managing the machinery. Richard Beamish, assistant to Brunel's son and engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel , wrote: So that ten men, by the aid of this machinery, can accomplish with uniformity, celerity and ease, what formerly required
6612-435: The chairmanship of John Dent Goodman (1816–1900). The first War Office contract was not agreed until 1868. In 1879, without work, the factory was shut for a year. The next year, 1880, BSA branched out into bicycle manufacture. The gun factory proved remarkably adaptable to the manufacture of cycle parts. What cycles needed was large quantities of standard parts accurately machined at low prices. In 1880, BSA manufactured
6726-407: The cheap 30-hour OG clock. The United States Department of War sponsored the development of interchangeable parts for guns produced at the arsenals at Springfield, Massachusetts and Harpers Ferry , Virginia (now West Virginia) in the early decades of the 19th century, finally achieving reliable interchangeability by about 1850. This period coincided with the development of machine tools , with
6840-723: The company it had established in 1919, by creating BSA Motorcycles Ltd. In 1953 the BSA Professional Cycling Team was managed by Syd Cozens . Successes were 5/6 April Bournemouth Two Day Road Race, 1st Bob Maitland, 12 April Dover to London 63 Miles Road Race, 1st Stan Jones, 31 May Langsett 90 Miles Road Race, 1st Bob Maitland and "King of the Mountains", 7 June Tour of the Wrekin, 1st Bob Maitland, 12 July Severn Valley 100 Miles Road Race, 1st "Tiny" Thomas, 19 July Jackson Trophy, Newcastle, Team Prize, 9 August Les Adams Memorial 80 Miles Road Race, 1st Alf Newman, Team Prize, "King of
6954-458: The company sold 150 automobiles and again began producing complete bicycles on its own account. By 1909, it was clear the new motorcar department was unsuccessful; an investigation committee reported to the BSA Board on the many failures of its management and their poor organisation of production. Dudley Docker had joined the board in 1906 and was appointed deputy chairman of BSA in 1909. He had made
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#17330925101157068-470: The components used on the bicycles of the professional team which were not standard production machines. In the 1952 Tour of Britain Road Race run between Friday 22 August and Saturday 6 September, involving 14 individual stages and covering a total race distance of 1,470 miles, the BSA team of Bob Maitland, "Tiny" Thomas, Pete Proctor, Alf Newman and Stan Jones won the overall team race and Pete Proctor "King of
7182-526: The early 1960s using up BSA parts but as time went on more stock Raleigh parts and fittings were used, some continuing to bear the 'piled arms' stamp. TI Group , owners of the British Cycle Corporation , bought Raleigh in 1960 thus gaining access to the BSA brand. Bicycles bearing the BSA name are currently manufactured and distributed within India by TI Cycles of India but have no direct connection to
7296-527: The end of the Great War in the belief that BSA might again be called upon to perform its patriotic duty. In 1939, BSA acquired the blueprints for a submachine gun designed by Hungarian arms designer Pál Király and the rights to manufacture it. Examples were produced in 9mm Mauser Export calibre. It was estimated that it would only cost £5 each to manufacture: by comparison, the Thompson submachine guns bought after
7410-525: The enemy, which made Radford Works a target in the Coventry air raids . Radford Works received direct hits in four separate air raids during 1940. None of these attacks were to seriously disrupt production, however two more serious air raids were carried out in April 1941 which destroyed half the factory. In all it is estimated that 170 bombs containing 52,000 lbs of explosive were dropped on Radford Works as well as
7524-781: The face of the threat of imminent invasion of Britain by Nazi forces was recorded by the Chief of the Imperial General Staff Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke in his diary entries of the 1/2 July 1940. The creation of the Home Guard (initially as the Local Defence Volunteers) following Anthony Eden 's broadcast appeal to the Nation on Tuesday 14 May 1940 also created further demand for arms production to equip this new force. BSA, as
7638-456: The fashion industry, particularly in the realm of fibers and materials. The advent of synthetic fibers, such as polyester and nylon, revolutionized textile manufacturing by providing cost-effective alternatives to natural fibers. This shift enabled the rapid production of inexpensive clothing, contributing to the rise of fast fashion. This reliance on mass production has raised concerns about environmental sustainability and labor conditions, spurring
7752-502: The finer steels which they brought about, there could be nothing of what we call modern industry. Mass production was popularized in the late 1910s and 1920s by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company , which introduced electric motors to the then-well-known technique of chain or sequential production. Ford also bought or designed and built special purpose machine tools and fixtures such as multiple spindle drill presses that could drill every hole on one side of an engine block in one operation and
7866-550: The finished product, is at the core of all mass-produced construction. Early examples include movable structures reportedly utilized by Akbar the Great , and the chattel houses built by emancipated slaves on Barbados . The Nissen hut , first used by the British during World War I , married prefabrication and mass production in a way that suited the needs of the military. The simple structures, which cost little and could be erected in just
7980-471: The first instance of the application of mass production techniques (though not necessarily the assembly-line method) to marine engineering. In filling an Admiralty order for 90 sets to his high-pressure and high-revolution horizontal trunk engine design, Penn produced them all in 90 days. He also used Whitworth Standard threads throughout. Prerequisites for the wide use of mass production were interchangeable parts , machine tools and power , especially in
8094-594: The first time which in turn allowed the application of interchangeable parts , collaborated on plans to manufacture block-making machinery. By 1805, the dockyard had been fully updated with the revolutionary, purpose-built machinery at a time when products were still built individually with different components. A total of 45 machines were required to perform 22 processes on the blocks, which could be made into one of three possible sizes. The machines were almost entirely made of metal thus improving their accuracy and durability. The machines would make markings and indentations on
8208-475: The form of electricity . Some of the organizational management concepts needed to create 20th-century mass production, such as scientific management , had been pioneered by other engineers (most of whom are not famous, but Frederick Winslow Taylor is one of the well-known ones), whose work would later be synthesized into fields such as industrial engineering , manufacturing engineering , operations research , and management consultancy . Although after leaving
8322-518: The fortune of the BSA Group but less controversial was the retirement on ill health grounds of James Leek CBE, managing director from 1939 until his retirement. Sir Bernard Docker was replaced as Chairman of the BSA Board by Jack Sangster. The BSA bicycle division, BSA Cycles Ltd., including the BSA cycle dealer network was sold to Raleigh in 1957. Raleigh initially continued bicycle production in Birmingham at Coventry Road, Sheldon, Birmingham 26, into
8436-536: The invention of machine tools the manufacture of precision parts, especially metal ones, was highly labour-intensive. Crossbows made with bronze parts were produced in China during the Warring States period . The Qin Emperor unified China at least in part by equipping large armies with these weapons, which were fitted with a sophisticated trigger mechanism made of interchangeable parts. The Terracotta Army guarding
8550-423: The leather belt and line shaft , for it eventually became possible to provide each tool with its own electric motor. This may seem only a detail of minor importance. In fact, modern industry could not be carried out with the belt and line shaft for a number of reasons. The motor enabled machinery to be arranged in the order of the work, and that alone has probably doubled the efficiency of industry, for it has cut out
8664-455: The leveraging of economies of scale , as well as the specialization of construction tasks in a process akin to an assembly line. This era also saw the invention of the mobile home , a small prefabricated house that can be transported cheaply on a truck bed. In the modern industrialization of construction, mass production is often used for prefabrication of house components. Fabrics and Materials Mass production has significantly impacted
8778-793: The major oil company in the 19th century, was vertically integrated partly because there was no demand for unrefined crude oil, but kerosene and some other products were in great demand. The other reason was that Standard Oil monopolized the oil industry. The major oil companies were, and many still are, vertically integrated, from production to refining and with their own retail stations, although some sold off their retail operations. Some oil companies also have chemical divisions. Lumber and paper companies at one time owned most of their timber lands and sold some finished products such as corrugated boxes. The tendency has been to divest of timber lands to raise cash and to avoid property taxes. The economies of mass production come from several sources. The primary cause
8892-449: The most damage, causing loss of production and trapping hundreds of workers. Since BSA was the sole producer of the main aircraft armament, the resulting delays in productions reportedly caused most worries to PM Churchill among all the industrial damage during the Blitz . Two BSA night-shift electricians, Alf Stevens and Alf Goodwin, helped rescue their fellow workers. Alf Stevens was awarded
9006-504: The name was temporarily dropped. In 1929 a new range of 3- and 4-wheel cars appeared and production of these continued until 1936. By the end of 1924 difficult economic conditions left the bulk of BSA profits coming from cars and cycles. There were no sales of arms for military purposes in spite of large new facilities built at Government's request. The shares in Pennsylvania's Jessop Steel Co were disposed of without loss. During 1928 there
9120-457: The need for greater ethical and sustainable practices within the fashion industry. Mass production systems for items made of numerous parts are usually organized into assembly lines . The assemblies pass by on a conveyor, or if they are heavy, hung from an overhead crane or monorail. In a factory for a complex product, rather than one assembly line, there may be many auxiliary assembly lines feeding sub-assemblies (i.e. car engines or seats) to
9234-505: The ongoing energy transition , many wind turbine components and solar panels are being mass-produced. Wind turbines and solar panels are being used in respectively wind farms and solar farms . In addition, in the ongoing climate change mitigation , large-scale carbon sequestration (through reforestation , blue carbon restoration , etc) has been proposed. Some projects (such as the Trillion Tree Campaign ) involve planting
9348-585: The only rifle producer in Britain, had to step up to the mark and the workforce voluntarily went onto a seven-day week. Motorcycle production was also stepped up from 500 to 1,000 machines per week which meant a finished machine coming off the production line every 5 minutes. The motorcycle department had been left intact in 1939 due to demand which was doubled following Dunkirk. At the same time BSA staff were providing lectures and demonstrations on motorcycle riding and maintenance to 250,000 officers and men in all parts of
9462-488: The original Birmingham BSA company. In 1960, Daimler was sold to Jaguar . 1961 was the centenary year of the BSA Group and, in recognition of this milestone, the company magazine produced an anniversary issue of BSA Group News in June called BSA Centenary 1861–1961 , in which many of the achievements of the Group were celebrated. This year also saw the end of military rifle production; however, BSA still continued to make sporting guns. According to Charles Spencer, BSA
9576-645: The outbreak of war the Government requisitioned the 690 machines BSA had in stock as well as placing an order for another 8,000 machines. South Africa, Ireland, India, Sweden and the Netherlands also wanted machines. The Government passed the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939 on 24 August allowing the drafting of defence regulations affecting food, travel, requisitioning of land and supplies, manpower and agricultural production. A second Emergency Powers (Defence) Act
9690-479: The product against the plans or the other parts as it is being formed, there were jigs ready at hand to ensure that the part was made to fit this set-up. It had already been checked that the finished part would be to specifications to fit all the other finished parts—and it would be made more quickly, with no time spent on finishing the parts to fit one another. Later, once computerized control came about (for example, CNC ), jigs were obviated, but it remained true that
9804-421: The product will be successful. One of the descriptions of mass production is that "the skill is built into the tool", which means that the worker using the tool may not need the skill. For example, in the 19th or early 20th century, this could be expressed as "the craftsmanship is in the workbench itself" (not the training of the worker). Rather than having a skilled worker measure every dimension of each part of
9918-746: The same motorcycle as the Triumph Bandit and represented the BSA factory's last attempt to compete against Japanese imports. The frame used for the Fury was designed by Rob North, designer of the frames used on the racing BSA triples. A 'Street Scrambler' E35SS and road version the E35R were developed during 1971. Featuring upswept twin silencers, the SS had an optional electric starter and indicators and 26 mm Amal Concentric carburettors. The Fury delivered 34 bhp (25 kW) and could reach 110 mph (180 km/h). BSA invested their scarce resources on publicity for
10032-418: The skill (or knowledge) was built into the tool (or process, or documentation) rather than residing in the worker's head. This is the specialized capital required for mass production; each workbench and set of tools (or each CNC cell, or each fractionating column ) is different (fine-tuned to its task). Standardized parts and sizes and factory production techniques were developed in pre-industrial times; before
10146-444: The standardization of cannon design in the late 18th century. He streamlined production and management of cannonballs and cannons by limiting them to only three calibers, and he improved their effectiveness by requiring more spherical ammunition. Redesigning these weapons to use interchangeable wheels, screws, and axles simplified mass production and repair. In the Industrial Revolution , simple mass production techniques were used at
10260-431: The start of hostilities cost around £50, while SMLE rifles and the later Sten submachine guns cost £7. 15s and £2. 10s respectively in 1943. However the trials did not lead to acceptance; referring to the complex trigger mechanism, Frank Hobart said "no soldier could have coped with this watchmaker's dream", By the outbreak of the Second World War, BSA Guns Ltd at Small Heath, was the only factory producing rifles in
10374-521: The summer of 1972 BSA had an £8,000,000 trading loss and work was delayed by staff disputes. By November 1972 BSA Group debts exceeded £20 million. Design work continued on 4 and 5 cylinder versions of the Fury but by November 1972 BSA had to give in to creditors and the BSA Group was forced into a partnership with Norton as its debts exceeded £20 million. The Fury, which was to have saved the company, never went into commercial production and only eight prototypes survived. BSA Fury prototypes are on display at
10488-514: The term in the title of an article that appeared before the publication of the Britannica article. The idea of mass production is applied to many kinds of products: from fluids and particulates handled in bulk ( food , fuel , chemicals and mined minerals ), to clothing, textiles, parts and assemblies of parts ( household appliances and automobiles ). Some mass production techniques, such as standardized sizes and production lines, predate
10602-443: The thousands of incendiaries. Like BSA, Daimler had to find dispersal units. A back-handed compliment was paid by Field Marshal Rommel to the workers at Radford Works when he used a captured Daimler Scout to escape following his defeat at El Alamein . BSA produced the first Sunbeam bicycle catalogue in 1949 and produced its own '4 Star' derailleur gear with an associated splined cassette hub and 4 sprocket cassette. This design
10716-513: The uncertain labour of one hundred and ten. By 1808, annual production from the 45 machines had reached 130,000 blocks and some of the equipment was still in operation as late as the mid-twentieth century. Mass production techniques were also used to rather limited extent to make clocks and watches, and to make small arms, though parts were usually non-interchangeable. Though produced on a very small scale, Crimean War gunboat engines designed and assembled by John Penn of Greenwich are recorded as
10830-712: The use of all-steel bodies, joining Hupmobile in the US. In 1913, BSA undertook to manufacture quick-firing machine guns for the Lewis Automatic Arms Company whose rights covered the world except for the American Continent. During the First World War, the company returned to arms manufacture and greatly expanded its operations. BSA produced rifles , Lewis guns , shells , bicycles, motorcycles and, through Daimler, aero engines, aircraft and other vehicles for
10944-459: The war Daimler had built enormous numbers of aero engines and aircraft and by the end was building 80 Airco de Havilland bombers a month. In February 1920 BSA amalgamated with what was the world's largest aircraft manufacturer, Aircraft Manufacturing Company (Airco) , Airco's main plant at Hendon had employed between 7,000 and 8,000 people. The Airco group of companies had turned out a new aircraft every 45 minutes. Within days BSA discovered Airco
11058-620: The war effort as well as machine tools. Following the Armistice the BSA group was described by its chairman as: In November 1919, BSA launched their first 50-degree vee-twin , Model E , 770cc side valve (6-7 hp) motorcycle for the 1920 season. The machine had interchangeable valves, total loss oil system with mechanical pump and an emergency hand one. Retail price was £130. Other features were Amac carburettor, chain drive, choice of magneto or Magdyno, 7-plate clutch, 3 speed gear box with kickstarter and new type of cantilever fork During
11172-645: Was 3rd in the "King of the Mountains" competition. Bob Maitland also had notable success by winning the Independent National Championship. 1954 saw the introduction of the BSA Quick Release 3 Speed hub gear. It was a split axle three speed gear intended for use with bicycles equipped with oil bath chainguards. The original BSA 3 speed hub gear had been made under licence from the Three-Speed Gear Syndicate since 1907. The design
11286-403: Was a drastic reorganisation of the business of some BSA subsidiaries. By 1930 the BSA Group's primary activities were BSA cycles and Daimler vehicles. Car production under the BSA name ceased in the 1930s. BSA remained the largest manufacturer of motorcycles but the market was less than half the size of the late 1920s and production was unprofitable yet the value of BSA's motor cars and cycles
11400-422: Was approached to produce a new pedal cycle with a maximum weight allowance of only 22 lb especially for airborne use. This required a new concept in frame design which BSA found, producing a machine which weighed 21 lb, one pound less than the design specification and which also exceeded the design requirement for an effective life of 50 miles many times over. Over 60,000 folding bicycles were produced,
11514-450: Was built and entered production during 1938. Motor cycle sales shrank but BSA maintained its relative position. 1937's new British registrations fell from 57,000 to 46,500. Defence and military equipment including Daimler's Scout car were in heavy demand in Britain and in export markets. In the 1930s, the board of directors authorised expenditure on bringing their arms-making equipment back to use – it had been stored at company expense since
11628-667: Was developed by Galileo Ferraris , Nikola Tesla and Westinghouse , Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky and others. Electrification of factories was fastest between 1900 and 1930, aided by the establishment of electric utilities with central stations and the lowering of electricity prices from 1914 to 1917. Electric motors were several times more efficient than small steam engines because central station generation were more efficient than small steam engines and because line shafts and belts had high friction losses. Electric motors also allowed more flexibility in manufacturing and required less maintenance than line shafts and belts. Many factories saw
11742-419: Was different from the 1930s Bayliss Wiley cassette hub which had a threaded sprocket carrier. BSA bought New Hudson motorcycle and bicycle business in 1950 and followed this up in 1951 with the purchase of Triumph Motorcycles which brought Jack Sangster onto the BSA board. The effect of this acquisition was to make BSA into the largest producer of motorcycles in the world at that time. 1952 saw BSA establish
11856-452: Was exhibited at the 1910 Olympia Show, London for the 1911 season. The entire BSA production sold out in 1911, 1912 and 1913. In an effort to make use of the Sparkbrook factory BSA established a motorcar department there. An independent part of it was occupied by Lanchester Motor Company . The first prototype automobile was produced in 1907. The following year, marketed under BSA Cycles Ltd,
11970-605: Was greatly enhanced with high-speed steel and later very hard materials such as tungsten carbide for cutting edges. Fabrication using steel components was aided by the development of electric welding and stamped steel parts, both which appeared in industry in about 1890. Plastics such as polyethylene , polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) can be easily formed into shapes by extrusion , blow molding or injection molding , resulting in very low cost manufacture of consumer products, plastic piping, containers and parts. An influential article that helped to frame and popularize
12084-428: Was in a far more serious financial state than George Holt Thomas had revealed. Holt Thomas was immediately dropped from his new seat on the BSA board and all BSA's new acquisitions were placed in the hands of a liquidator. Some of the businesses were allowed to continue for some years, Aircraft Transport and Travel 's assets being eventually rolled into Daimler Air Hire to make Daimler Airway Limited . BSA failed to pay
12198-573: Was later to be classified as the Sturmey-Archer 'Type X', but all BSA hub gear production ceased in 1955 Sir Bernard Docker remained chairman of BSA until 1956 when the BSA Board removed him. In an acrimonious dispute conducted in the media the matter was brought to the BSA shareholders at the Annual General Meeting where the decision of the Board was upheld. Another significant departure for
12312-418: Was manufacturing the "Delta" bicycle c. 1869 . In 1880 the company was approached to manufacture the "Otto Dicycle". An initial contract was signed to produce 210 and a further contract followed for a further 200. In all it is believed that a total of 953 Otto machines were made. BSA then went into bicycle production on their own account, the first machines to their own specification being exhibited at
12426-595: Was now more than half group turnover. In 1931 the Lanchester Motor Company at Sparkbrook was acquired and production of their cars transferred to Daimler's Coventry works. The first new product was a version of the Daimler Light Twenty or 16/20 and called Lanchester 15/18 . Economic conditions began to improve in the mid-1930s and BSA's activities and profits all grew sharply. International tensions added more activity. An aero engine shadow factory
12540-521: Was passed on 22 May 1940 allowing the conscription of labour. The fall of France had not been anticipated in Government planning and the encirclement of a large part of the British Expeditionary Force into the Dunkirk pocket resulted in a hasty evacuation of that part of the B.E.F following the abandonment of their equipment. The parlous state of affairs "no arms, no transport, no equipment" in
12654-610: Was ratified by the shareholders of both companies at separate Extraordinary General Meetings held in the Grand Hotel, Birmingham on 27 February 1907. Albert Eadie became a BSA director, a post he held until his death in 1931. The very variable military market was now supported by sales of target military rifles, sporting rifles, various patterns of miniature rifles and air rifles. Aperture sights were in demand for Bisley and other military rifle meetings. Motor bicycles were added to bicycle products in 1910. The BSA 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 hp
12768-428: Was set up in 1919 for the manufacture of both bicycles and motorcycles. BSA sold the bicycle business to Raleigh in 1957 after separating the bicycle and motorcycle business in 1953. In 1893, BSA commenced making bicycle hubs and continued to supply the cycle trade with bicycle parts up to 1936. BSA bought The Eadie Manufacturing Company of Redditch in 1907 and so began to manufacture the Eadie two speed hub gear and
12882-407: Was the apparent stability of BSA. So in 1910, BSA purchased Daimler with BSA shares but Docker who negotiated the arrangements either ignored or failed in his assessment of their consequences for the new combine. The combine was never adequately balanced or co-ordinated. One of the financial provisions obliged Daimler to pay BSA an annual dividend of £100,000 representing approximately 40 per cent of
12996-430: Was used to handle 150 dozen bottles at a time where previously a hand truck would carry six dozen. Electric mixers replaced men with shovels handling sand and other ingredients that were fed into the glass furnace. An electric overhead crane replaced 36 day laborers for moving heavy loads across the factory. According to Henry Ford : The provision of a whole new system of electric generation emancipated industry from
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