By 1968, metrication was already well under way in Australian industry. The pharmaceutical industry had metricated in 1965, and much of the chemical and electronics industries worked in metric units, as there were no "Imperial" units for the latter. One of the country's major automobile manufacturers had already declared its intention to metricate before the Government announced its decision to change to the metric system. "The change itself provided a unique opportunity to rationalise and modernise industrial practices and bring Australia's technical standard specifications into accord with those adopted internationally".