Edward G. Brisch

Edward Gustave Brisch
Born	(1901-01-08) 8 January 1901 Łódź, Poland
Died	9 April 1960(1960-04-09) (aged 59) Toledo, Ohio, United States
Occupation(s)	Consulting engineer, specialist in industrial coding
Known for	Brisch Classification system

Edward Gustave Brisch (8 January 1901 – 9 April 1960) was a Polish-born consulting engineer and specialist in industrial coding, recognized for creating the Brisch Classification system widely implemented in construction and engineering sectors. He acquired British nationality during the 1940s.

Biography

Originating from Łódź, Poland, as the son of Leopold and Zofia Brisch, he completed an Intermediate B.Sc. in Engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology and earned a Mechanical Engineering diploma from the University of Toulouse. Between 1926 and 1929, he served as Assistant Chief Designer at the Ursus Factory tractor plant, followed by a role as Works Manager at Citroën’s Warsaw facility until 1932. Subsequently, he took charge as Engineer responsible for Development of National Production at Polish State Engineering Works (PZInż), concentrating on armoured vehicle projects. In 1934, he launched his own engineering consultancy in Warsaw before moving to Paris, where he collaborated with the British Army on armoured vehicle operations.

During the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Brisch fled to Riga, Latvia, which fell under Soviet control in 1940. Unable to return to Paris, he was encouraged by the British War Office and Vickers Ltd to relocate to England. With support from Sir Stafford Cripps, then British Ambassador in Moscow, he journeyed from Riga to Rangoon via combined land and air routes in 1941. From Rangoon, his travels continued through Bombay to Liverpool—a total distance of approximately 25,000 miles. His travel itinerary is documented online.

Upon arrival in England, Brisch was suffering from a lung condition contracted in Burma and underwent a pneumonectomy, though he remained susceptible to infections. By late 1942, he joined the Ministry of Supply’s Department of Tank Design, also contributing to the War Office’s school of technology. His first wife perished in the Warsaw Ghetto; in 1947, he married British nurse Susan Rogers. That same year, he established E. G. Brisch and Partners in London. R. S. Geoghegan became part of the firm in 1953. The company expanded internationally with an American division opening initially in Cleveland (1956), followed by a branch in Toledo, Ohio. Early clients in the United States included Owens-Illinois Glass Company, Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company, General Electric Cleveland, and Underwood Typewriter Company.

In 1957, Brisch moved his family from Oxshott, Surrey to Toledo. He passed away from pneumonia there on 9 April 1960. Later that year, his widow and children returned to Surrey.

The Brisch Classification

A fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and member of various British and American technical organizations, Brisch authored multiple technical publications. His principal contribution was a versatile machine-card inventory classification system embraced by leading companies across Europe and the United States. Drawing partial inspiration from the Universal Decimal Classification, this system assigns each ‘part’ a primary code within nine principal categories (00-80) based on fundamental attributes such as shape and size. A secondary code—selected from 81 two-digit numbers denoting process characteristics like machining steps—is appended to the primary code. This flexible framework adapted alongside computing developments and continues to be applicable for sophisticated inventory control.

In 1955, Brisch detailed this classification approach in ASLIB Proceedings, the journal of the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux. Sir Frank Francis, director of the British Museum, acknowledged Brisch’s efforts to broaden his industrial classification techniques to documents and literature, including a specialized system for accurate music classification.

Publications

• 1948: "Implementation of the U.D.C. Notation System for Punched Card Technology," Royal Society Scientific Information Conference Report, pages 690–692.
• 1951: "Effortless Approaches to Standardization," The Manager vol. 19 (9), September, pages 496-497.
• 1953: "Practices in Standardization," Engineering Inspection, September issue, pages 59-66.
• 1954: "A New Challenge for St. George," Institution of Production Engineers Journal vol. 33 (3), March, pages 143-145.
• 1954: "Maximum from the Minimum," Institution of Production Engineers Journal vol. 33 (6), June, pages 344-351.
• 1955: "Conceptual Subject Analysis in Eighty-One Categories," ASLIB Proceedings vol. 1 (3), pages 157-162.
• 1956: "Methods for Classifying Production," included in H. B. Maynard (ed.), Industrial Engineering Handbook (New York, McGraw Hill), chapters 6 and pages 195-207.
• 1957 (co-authored with R. S. Geoghegan): "Automation through Simplification and Standardization," Institution of Production Engineers Journal vol. 36 (9), September, pages 571-582.

References

• Edward Brisch, "Conceptual Subject Analysis in Eighty-One Categories" in ASLIB Proceedings vol. 1 no. 3 (1955) pp. 157–162
• Edward Brisch, "From Riga to Rangoon (June-August 1941): A Travel Memoir" (2018). Online version with images
• Edward Brisch, R. S. Geoghegan, "Automation Simplification and Standardization" in Institution of Production Engineers Journal vol. 36 (9), September, pp. 571-582 (includes short biographies and photos on page 571)
• [Business Dictionary] entry on "Brisch classification"
• [Business Professor] explanation of "Brisch classification - Definition"
• F. C. Francis, "Mr. E. G. Brisch" featured in The Times (26 April 1960) p. 15
• [New York Times], "Edward G. Brisch, Consultant, Passes Away: Authority on Industrial Coding and Classification Led Companies in U.S. and Europe" in New York Times (10 April 1960) p. 86 (subscription required)
• Raymond Parmenter, "A Screw By Any Other Name," The Observer (19 October 1952) p. 6
• 1971. ERIC ED066203: Classification and Coding Systems: An Introduction and Overview. Management Guide No. 1 (includes bibliography).