Applying Microelectronics to Manufacturing — The Need for Skills

The first industrial revolution was born with the steam engine. It was the steam engine which changed, in a short period of time, almost every factory both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Historians tell us that the rapid uptake of the steam engine in Europe was made possible by British engineers. The installation and commissioning of each engine was accompanied by engineers who provided the necessary skills and knowledge needed by the purchasing company. In effect they acted as the bridge between the new technology of the day and the perhaps less technically able users of that technology.