Irwin L. Fife (1894–1971) was an American inventor credited with the invention of modern web-guiding systems from his garage in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

He received numerous patents for his advances in web guiding and manufacturing.

Founded in 1939 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Fife Manufacturing developed tools for web handling and web inspection.

[2] In 1975, Fife Manufacturing Corp. filed for an initial public offering on the stock market.

[3] Fife is the founding member of the Oklahoma State University Web Handling Research Center (WHRC) and has been its primary sponsor since it was formed in 1986.