Details

Archives of the Institution of Manufacturing Engineers

UK0108 IMfgE

1920-1991

English.

The Institution of Production Engineers (IProdE) was founded in 1921 following the initiative of one H.E. Honer. Honer felt that the time was right to create a body to cater for the needs of engineers engaged in manufacture, and following his correspondence with the journal Engineering Production a meeting was held at the Cannon Street Hotel on 26 February 1921. The IProdE was founded at this meeting - the term ‘production engineering’ had come into use to describe the management of the factory production techniques, first developed by Henry Ford, which had expanded greatly during the First World War.. The IProdE became incorporated in 1931 and was granted its armorial bearings in 1937. The IProdE aspired to chartered status in the 1950s, but it encountered some opposition from other chartered professional institutions. They questioned the IProdE’s claim that production engineering could now be considered a ‘primary technology’. The Royal Charter was finally granted in 1964. The Second World War further accelerated production developments, and by 1945 membership stood at 5000. The 1950s and 1960s were perhaps the most fruitful period for the institution. Membership stood at over 14,000 by 1966, and the institution held a place in the forefront of production technology through major conferences such as ‘The Automatic Factory’, held in Margate in 1955. A slowing down in the growth in membership, financial constraints and a blurring of the distinctions between the various branches of engineering were all causing problems for the IProdE by the early 1980s. The most sensible solution seemed to be a merger. The institution with interests closest to the IProdE was The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). Following lengthy talks a merger proposal was put to the membership of both institutions in 1985, but while the IProdE members voted for the merger, a majority of the IMechE membership rejected the proposals, and the merger never went ahead. The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) also had interests very close to those of the IProdE, and talks between the two institutions began in the late 1980s. The IEE was much larger than the IProdE, and the proposal was that the IProdE should be represented as a specialist division within the IEE. While these talks were reaching fruition, in 1991 the IProdE changed its name to the Institution of Manufacturing Engineers (IMfgE). The merger with the IEE took place the same year, with the IMfgE becoming the IEE’s new Manufacturing Division.

Institution of Manufacturing Engineers, Institution of Production Engineers

Production, Manufacturing industry

Subject to 30 year closure period

sub-fonds