Materials handling in British industry, 1945-c1975: the anatomy of a manufacturing fundamental

During the post-1945 Golden Age, all British manufacturers spent a lot of time and energy moving raw and processed materials about their plants. This article seeks to understand how handling practices evolved during these years and the range of influences that determined their character. Its argues that British industry often clung to outdated methods long after they were demonstrably redundant, and establishes that this conservatism was not a product of economic circumstances, but rather stemmed ultimately from ideas that manufacturers themselves held about the status and importance of production.