The English system of manufacturing was an early system of industrial production that required skilled machinists who were required to produce parts from a design or model. But however skilled the machinist, parts were never absolutely identical, and each part had to be manufactured separately to fit its counterpart. This was almost always done by one person who produced the completed item from start to finish.
The growth of the use of Interchangeable parts and mass production led to the system disappearing from mainstream industry. Mass production using interchangeable parts was first achieved in 1803 by Marc Isambard Brunel in cooperation with Henry Maudslay, and Simon Goodrich, under the management of (with contributions by) Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Bentham the Inspector General of Naval Works at Portsmouth Block Mills at Portsmouth Dockyard for the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic War. By 1808 annual production had reached 130,000 sailing blocks.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] This method of working did not catch on in general manufacturing in Britain for many decades, and when it did it was imported from America, and became known as the American system of manufacturing, even though it originated in England.