2-366-065 - Worldwide Photography/Heritage-Images

Cooker production line at the GEC factory, Swinton, South Yorkshire, 1960. The final stages of cooker assembly at the GEC plant in Swinton (near Rotherham). The GEC, which was formed in 1900 first acquired a factory in Swinton during the Second World War, when it produced munitions. After the war, cooker production was based in Birmingham but the company struggled to find good workers, possibly due to the motor industry (which required similar skills) offering more money. The directors decided to open the factory in Swinton and the first cooker came off the production line in June of 1946.