Mr Hare dedicated his working life to PJ Hare Ltd, a family business set up by his father, Pat, soon after the Second World War. Pat was typical of the archetypal hands-on inventor-makers that wartime Britain was famous for. His two sons, William and Michael, became joint managing directors of the company in 1966, shortly after Michael had completed his mechanical sciences (engineering) degree at Cambridge.
Michael was technical director, heading the design department, with William in charge of management. From its first hand-operated 10-ton presses built in a cowshed in 1947, PJ Hare went on to become a leading international manufacturer of high-speed hydraulic presses, assembly tooling, and integrated systems.
Based in Wrington, near Bristol, the company employed around 70 people at its peak in the 1990s, when it operated a separate tooling division in Cheltenham. Its products were exported to Germany, Italy, Australia, South Africa, Canada, and Denmark.
At the same time, the company was rooted in its local community, with many employees locally based, and up to four generations of one family working there in various capacities. As one member of that family commented: “Not only have I worked at Hare all my working life, I am a massive fan of Hare presses; I believe we made the best presses in the world.”
After 72 years and well over 17,000 presses produced, PJ Hare finally went into administration in 2019 due to declining sales caused by Brexit destabilisation.
Michael’s creative, innovative approach enabled the company to successfully adapt to the changing market, shifting from its initial focus on standardised presses to go on to specialise in bespoke pressing and tooling solutions for corporations such as British Aerospace, Nissan, Rolls-Royce, Toyota, SKF, Penso, and Stadco.
He was always keen to expand his knowledge and established mutually inspiring design and research collaborations with engineers such as Ken Fisher (Concorde, Bath University) and German manufacturers Sick and AEG. Michael prioritised safety and not only created innovative in-process monitoring and guarding systems for Hare products, but was also actively involved with the BSI in defining safety standards for the machine tool industry.
