Henry Ford Biography

781 Words2 Pages

Gabriela Cândido
Jeremy Samsoe
Reading and Writing 4
22 May 2014

Henry Ford, a man in front of his time

Henry Ford, one of the most famous people of modern management, he started his life as a simple mechanical that reached the position of chief engineer at Westinghouse company, but his greatest achievement was to build the Ford Motor Company which one of the biggest success was the Ford Model T. (Bushnell, 1922)
Born on July 30, 1863 in the city of Dearborn, Ford lived most of his childhood and youth in his parents' farm. He was a very observant boy who had a huge interest in mechanics. Ford didn’t sympathize with the hard work performed by hand. This increased his sympathy for machines that could reduce human effort in the work. Mrs. Bushnell, who came to interview members of the Ford family says that, Henry had a great interest in the functioning of watches and he loved to assemble and disassemble clocks, which caused him to develop skill in repairing watches and so became known in his village because of this ability. Mrs. Bushnell also tells about how the brothers Ford reacted with all the interest of the brother. They had to hide their mechanical toys from Henry, for he didn't dismount and break it. A story that reflects well the curiosity and audacity of Henri Ford was when he almost lost his finger trying to examine a hay chopper. All happens because “he was fascinated on seeing the steaming tea-kettle jiggling on the stove. So one day he filled and earthenware teapot with water, clogged its spout with paper, tied its lid tight to secure it, and held it close to the fire just to see what the steam could do. The kettle explode and one of its fragments bruised Henry Ford’s head.” (Simply knowledge) Because of the lack of ...

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...n in the company that had created: "Ford Motor Company" and also maintained its legal battle, which lasted about 8 years. Ford won the action in 1911 and became a hero and the largest car manufacturer in America. (History Channel, Bushnell, Encyclopedia, Museum)
During the period of legal battles, Ford innovated its way to management within their manufactures. Created the assembly line, where workers followed a line and each one was responsible for making a part of the car mount. This made their production was much faster. The company came to mount 15 cars per day. And with that he can reduce the workload of their employees for 8 hours daily for 5 days per week. Another feat was to double the wages of their employees, so until their workers could buy the same car they produced.

References:
Bushnell, S. T. (1922). The Truth about Henry Ford. Reilly & Lee Company.

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