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40-938: It should not be confused with the Civil Repair Organisation, which carried out similar functions for the UK Air Ministry in India between 1943 and 1945. Following the outbreak of World War II, on 11 September 1939 the No.1 Civilian Repair Unit (CRU) was established at the Cowley works of Morris Motors , to be staffed by civilians under the management of the Air Ministry. On 6 October 1939, Sir Kingsley Wood (the Secretary of State for Air ) officially appointed William Morris (Lord Nuffield) as Director General (Maintenance), to organise and manage

80-469: A CRO firm based at an airfield, repaired, and flown out the following day by the same pilot; these were known as "Fly In" repairs. Principal ref: Sturtivant 2007 In the period May 1940 to July 1945, CRO had returned a total of 79,000 aircraft to the flight line. At that point, of all the heavy aircraft then flying in the RAF, 36.5% (3,285) had been processed through CRO. Activities continued for several years after

120-480: A group of marques by encouraging Cecil Kimber to market modified Morris cars under the MG brand. At the likely suggestion of Miles Thomas , who was in charge of sales and purchasing for Morris Motors, Morris decided to launch a magazine for owners and dealers. During the post–World War I recession , Morris had acquired a number of distressed suppliers, in an example of vertical integration , and with this history, Morris

160-634: A single British International Motor Show involved over half a million machine runs. It produced technical publications for BMC, and later the wider remit of British Leyland's entire product range. It later continued to produce materials for successor companies Austin Rover Group and Rover Group , as well as for external clients. The press was arranged as a subsidiary of Leyland Special Products, later SP Industries, headquartered in Grantham , Lincolnshire , and later at Melton , Leicestershire , within

200-518: Is still often used as the name of the car factory to this day. A brief timeline of the plant's history is as follows: By the early 1970s, over 20,000 people worked in Cowley at the vast British Leyland and Pressed Steel Fisher plants. After re-organisation, PSF became part of the reorganised Austin Rover , while parts Unipart was floated off in a management buyout, but still has its global headquarters next to

240-616: The Mini Countryman , which was manufactured in Austria. Since 2014 Mini "hatch" 3-door and "convertible" models have also been assembled, under contract, by VDL Nedcar in the Netherlands , joined, at the end of 2016, by the Countryman model, its production now transferred from Austria in anticipation of the launch of a " plug-in hybrid " version. Nuffield Press Nuffield Press

280-453: The Rover Group to BMW and, after 69 years, the press left the now BMW-owned Cowley site, and relocated to Nuffield Way, Abingdon . In 2000, the firm was subject to a management buyout for £850k, funded by HSBC Ventures . The Nuffield Press Limited was placed into administration on 27 June 2011, with the loss of 53 jobs (and 14 kept on pending any potential buyer). It was reported that

320-523: The 1930s, along with equipment including a Miehle Vertical and a Monotype installation. The Morris Owner magazine was a cornerstone of production, reaching a monthly print run of 20,000 copies, and this was supplemented by handbooks, repair manuals, stationery, labels, and factory paperwork. In September 1942, the press was renamed the Nuffield Press, following the elevation of William Morris to Viscount Nuffield in 1938. During World War II ,

360-752: The British Leyland group. During the 1960s, the Special Products division acquired the Lyne and Sons printers in Grantham, which was later merged into the Nuffield Press. In 1976, the combined press, including the Lynes subsidiary, embarked on a £250k capital investment programme. By 1977, the press employed 300 people at the Cowley site, had sales in excess of £3m, and was producing a wide range of products including full-colour printing of items like calendars. In 1978,

400-624: The Civilian Repair Organisation (CRO), to control the CRU and participating civilian firms. Nuffield, as the head of Morris Motors, had been in charge of the shadow factory for aircraft production at Castle Bromwich . CRO administration was established at Magdalen College, Oxford . On 14 May 1940, supervision of the CRO was transferred from the Air Ministry to the newly formed Ministry of Aircraft Production , under Lord Beaverbrook . The No.1 CRU

440-647: The Honda-based Triumph Acclaim , whilst production of the Princess range was axed in 1981 to allow the arrival of production of the Rover SD1 following the closure of the car production lines at Solihull, which was retained solely for the production of Land Rover vehicles. Future large Rovers would therefore be built at Cowley until the BMW sell-off in 2000. The Morris marque was abandoned in 1984, when production of

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480-684: The Longbridge-built Morris Ital finished; it had been transferred there from Cowley in September 1982, two years after its launch. The transfer of the Ital from Cowley was to make way for the Austin Maestro and Montego , which were launched in March 1983 and April 1984 respectively, continued in production until December 1994, though production was gradually cut back after 1989 following the launch of

520-450: The Morris factory was largely turned to war work, and the press likewise followed suit, becoming a war security zone, and producing documentation to help coordinate this new, important task. By the 1950s, over 170 staff were on the payroll of the Nuffield Press, and further investment was made in capital equipment including a UK-first M.A.N. photolithography machine. The press continued as

560-601: The Morris plant. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Cowley Assembly Plant (the former Morris Motors factory) faced a high level of industrial action, a problem which successive management teams struggled to resolve. Much rationalisation took place at the plant in the early 1980s, as BL restructured its manufacturing operations in the light of the Ryder Report. Production of the Austin Maxi ended in 1981 to make way for

600-537: The Nuffield Organization was merged into the British Motor Corporation (BMC), then effectively becoming part of British Leyland in 1968. At its peak in the 1950s the Nuffield Press used more than 1,000 tonnes (2,200,000 lb) of paper a year producing sales literature, owners manuals, technical manuals, magazines, diaries and posters. The size of the portfolio meant that the production run for

640-525: The Nuffield Press was sold by BL to press magnate Robert Maxwell . Initially sold to his Pergamon Holdings company, which already owned the Pergamon Press based on the other side of Oxford in at Headington Hill Hall . It later formed part of his Headington Holdings company under the Robert Maxwell Group. Under Maxwell, the company specialised in colour promotional and technical publications. At

680-436: The company had been in talks with Maurice Payne Colourprint, another struggling printer, but with no deal concluded, both went into administration in the same month. At the time the company went into receivership it employed approximately 67 people and had a turnover of £6.7 million according to PrintWeek magazine. The following publications were produced by the press: The novel First impressions by Charmian Coates

720-682: The company, in return for joint-development of the new Rover 600 and 800 , both produced at Cowley. The 800 Series had been launched in mid 1986 and facelifted at the start of 1992; a year before the launch of the 600 Series. Despite 1989 seeing a then record of more than 2.3 million new cars being sold in the United Kingdom, falling demand for the 800 Series resulted in 1,800 job cuts at Cowley being announced in October of that year. On 31 January 1994, BAe announced sale of its 80% majority share of Rover Group to BMW . On 21 February, Honda announced it

760-665: The control of No.43 Group, RAF Maintenance Command . The civilian firms under individual contracts from the CRO were mostly existing companies engaged in the production, maintenance, repair and operation of aircraft in the UK. Those were supplemented by additional companies in the engineering and woodworking industrial sectors. Repairs to whole aircraft or parts of aircraft were often carried out in dispersed industrial factories, then transported to airfields for re-assembly and test flying, before re-delivery to RAF units. For cases of minor repairs that could be achieved quickly, aircraft could be flown to

800-480: The current vehicle-manufacturing plant, though the railway to High Wycombe has long been lifted. As Cowley expanded into a huge industrial centre, it attracted workers during the Great Depression looking for work. This resulted in the need for new housing, including from the 1920s Florence Park , built mainly by private landlords . Like many contemporary industrialists of the time, Morris wanted to provide for

840-476: The eastern Oxford Ring Road and B480 road. The present site of Plant Oxford was the car body manufacturing business of the Pressed Steel Company , later known as Pressed Steel Fisher, which was founded in 1926. The north and south car assembly plants were originally Morris Motors plants, later part of British Leyland and latterly the Rover Group . The whole site was reorganised in the 1990s and now only

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880-495: The end of World War II. Plant Oxford Plant Oxford located in Cowley , southeast Oxford , England , is a BMW car assembly facility where Mini cars are built. The plant forms the Mini production triangle along with Plant Hams Hall where engines are manufactured and Plant Swindon where body pressings and sub-assemblies are built. The original Morris Motors site at Cowley had three manufacturing plants, separated by

920-638: The former Oxford Military College in Cowley , Oxford . The former college buildings where the press was located are listed buildings , and are to the West of the old Morris 'North Works'. Whilst the North and South Works are now both redeveloped, the old 'Body Plant' to the East is still used for car production, now operating as Plant Oxford producing the Mini for BMW . In 1925, the majority of Morris car production had moved from

960-475: The former Morris Motors site were placed into a redevelopment project called the Oxford Business Park, which now houses offices of numerous companies including: European headquarters of Harley-Davidson Motorcycles ; the global headquarters of international aid charity Oxfam ; Wiley-Blackwell ; Royal Mail ; HM Revenue and Customs ; and a large David Lloyd fitness centre . Plant Oxford now produces

1000-513: The new Mini , built by BMW since May 2001. It is the largest industrial employer in Oxfordshire. In February 2009, 850 jobs cuts at the site were announced, resulting in union bosses being pelted with food by angry agency staff who felt that the union had failed to do enough to try and save their jobs. Shortly thereafter, the company was forced to hire more staff to meet production requirements due to an upswing in demand overseas. Group tours of

1040-484: The operation from its inception. The press had initial work in printing the wide range of forms and dockets required by the factory itself. Its first run of promotional materials was a 17,000 run of two-colour postcards featuring the 12-model range of the company. The success of Thomas in running the press operation led to promotion by 1929, and promotions continued until he became Vice-Chairman of Morris Motors from 1942 to 1947. The press expanded rapidly with 50 staff by

1080-442: The original Pressed Steel portion of the site remains. In 1912, William Morris bought the former Oxford Military College in Cowley. Moving his company into the new site, from 1914 onwards Morris pioneered Henry Ford -style mass production in the UK, by building what became affectionately known as "the old tin shed." In 1925, Morris opened his own printing division, Morris Oxford Press, later Nuffield Press , taking up some of

1120-595: The original factory in the old college buildings to the new custom built "big tin shed" factories built on the old parade ground. As a result, in August 1925, the Morris Oxford Press was started in the buildings recently vacated by the manufacturing operation. 100,000 shares were issued in the press, predominantly to the Morris Motor Company, with William Morris retaining share number 1. Miles Thomas headed

1160-523: The original military college buildings. To facilitate more efficient production, the Great Western Railway opened Morris Cowley railway station to serve the thousands of workers commuting to the factory. In 1933, they built a railway goods yard beside the Wycombe Railway to bring supplies into the factory, and take completed vehicles away. This railway yard still exists today and serves

1200-530: The plant are offered and should be booked in advance. In October 2015, a two-episode series Building Cars Live was filmed there to show how a car is built. It was presented by James May , Kate Humble and Ant Anstead . In 2016, Plant Oxford produced 210,973 Minis, which represented an increase of nearly 5% over the previous year's total of 201,207. Production volumes of all Mini models produced at Plant Oxford. Staff numbers shown here include "temporary" staff. These figures exclude production numbers of

1240-426: The press was moved from SP Industries to B L International. The Lyne Printers division in Grantham was divested to Suter plc, owned by David Abell , former Managing Director of SP Industries and later of BL Commercial Vehicles. After a further sale, Lyne closed in 1990. By the 1980s, the press became unprofitable, and was losing money for British Leyland, and in September 1986, despite being back at break-even,

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1280-589: The rights to build the new Mini and retained the Cowley plant to produce it at. In 2000, BMW broke up the Rover Group, selling MG Rover and its products to the Phoenix consortium for the nominal sum of £10, which included the Longbridge plant . BMW agreed to redevelop the entire Cowley plant site with the Goodman Group, demolishing much of the factory, to create a new factory called Plant Oxford. The residual parts of

1320-509: The successful Longbridge-built Rover 200 and 400 series models. In 1992, Rover sold the entire site to property group Arlington Securities, itself later sold to the Australian property company Macquarie Goodman, now the Goodman Group and most of the old site was demolished. Owner of Rover Group, British Aerospace , agreed a partnership with Honda , with Honda taking a 20% stake in

1360-630: The time of the sale to Maxwell, there were 170 employees at the press. The firm's employees were affected by the loss of pension funds by theft, which emerged in 1992 after Maxwell's death, with two-thirds of their pension fund missing. Following the collapse of the Maxwell Group in early 1992, there was major restructuring with a sale to Reed Elsevier , who formed a new company (initially as Coleslaw 210 Ltd, before renaming as Nuffield Press Limited). A number of employees were made redundant without payment. In 1994, then owner British Aerospace sold

1400-578: The whole life of its workers, and so developed the Morris Motors Athletic & Social Club on Crescent Road, which still exists today. Approached in 1935 by the Air Ministry about the factory's ability to change to aircraft industry production, additional capacity was built into the factory through the shadow factory plan from 1937. During World War II , the factory produced the de Havilland Tiger Moth training aeroplane. Also developed on site

1440-477: Was a publisher and printer formed by William Morris (later Lord Nuffield) as part of his Nuffield Organization in 1925. It was formed to primarily produce promotional literature for the motor vehicle manufacturing divisions of the organization, and later expanded to printing of all types including owner's manuals, technical manuals, magazines, diaries, and posters. William Morris had established his Morris Motors automobile company, and had already expanded into

1480-407: Was selling its 20% share of Rover Group, resulting in problems in Rover's supply chain which was highly reliant on Honda. BMW invested heavily in Rover, and particularly the Cowley plant, which became the production centre for the new Rover 75 in late 1998. However, when BMW broke up the Rover Group on its sale 18 months later, production of the Rover 75 was switched to Longbridge, while BMW retained

1520-422: Was supplemented by the No.1 Metal and Produce Recovery Depot (MPRD), established adjacent to the existing Cowley works. At Cowley, a support unit was established in the form of No.50 Maintenance Unit (MU), to transport damaged aircraft and parts to the CRU and to firms participating in the CRO, and also to collect non-repairable parts and scrap for materials reclamation at MPRD. Individual Maintenance Units came under

1560-598: Was the No 1 Metal and Produce Recovery Depot run by the Civilian Repair Organisation , to handle crashed or damaged aircraft, and even the processing of wreckage from enemy Luftwaffe aircraft. Artist Paul Nash was inspired to paint Totes Meer based on sketches he made of the recovery depot. For a detailed history on the post-war management of the factory, refer to the articles on British Motor Corporation , British Leyland , and Rover Group Despite successive company mergers and name changes, "Morris's"

1600-469: Was unable to find a supplier on suitable terms, due to the fear of becoming a tied supplier . Morris proceeded to produce the first edition of Morris Owner magazine in 1924 with an external supplier, but he could not get them to commit to becoming a regular supplier. The Morris Owner used a typeface very similar to the already popular Motor magazine, which Thomas had worked on previously to be being employed by Morris. Morris owned large factory sites at

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