Modern mechanical engineering

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, most engineering programs were limited to military and urban development. Military engineers were responsible for developing the tools and systems of war; urban development engineers were responsible for buildings and ground facilities. In early nineteenth-century Britain, mechanical engineers became an emerging profession, providing industrial machinery and the power needed to drive it. The first organization of professional civil engineers was formed in 1818, followed by mechanical engineers in 1847.

In the early 1900s, Ford, H. created the assembly line in automobile manufacturing. Mass production techniques coupled with the scientific management methods created by Taylor, F.W. in the late 19th century, enabled vehicles and other mass-produced mechanical products to reach previously unimaginable levels of productivity.

In the mid- and late-20th century, the main features of machining are: continuously improving the processing speed and accuracy of machine tools, reducing the reliance on manual skills; developing less cutting-free machining processes; and improving the degree of mechanization and automation of forming, cutting and assembly. Automation from the mechanical control of automation to the development of electrical control of automation and computer program control of full automation, until the unmanned workshop and unmanned factories; the use of numerical control of machine tools, machining centers, grouping technology, etc., the development of flexible machining systems, so that small and medium-sized batch, multi-species production of production efficiency increased to the level of nearly mass production; research and improvement of difficult-to-machine new types of metal and non-metallic materials, forming and cutting processing technology.