Ray Shill's first look at Birmingham's industrial heritage focused on metal and electrical industries, including car, bicycle and motocycle manufacture, guns and munitions, railway rolling stock, pens, lamps, buttons, and the jewellery trade. In this book he has researched the rest of the city's most important industries - primarily the manufacture of components, paints and varnish, plastics, toys, aircraft components, and the thriving food industry. As before, Ray interweaves company history and product development with clear descriptions of technical processes, as well as including site visits - which bring to life the industrial life of Birmingham today. Illustrated with a wide range of pictures (old and new photographs, adverts, maps, plans and diagrams), Workshop of the World is a popular and valuable contribution to the published history of Britain's second city.