Henry Ford created the Model T with the goal of producing a car that could be marketed to the middle class. Up until this point the average car produced cost around $2,000, which exceeded the price range of most Americans. Ford saw the middle class as an economic opportunity, a chance to create more costumers while still manufacturing the same product. His decision was not based exclusively on the lucrative market of the middle class though, but also on his humanitarian belief that citizens deserved the opportunity to purchase a car, as it would allow them to “enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces." Not surprisingly, when Ford created the Model T the working class flooded factories with orders, in turn, causing the number of Model T’s produced per year to double, from 18,644 to 78,440 in just two years . Ford was not satisfied with this growth as he still aimed to lower the cost of the car even more to further its availability. In order to do so Ford planned to maximize efficiency.
Henry Ford had always demonstrated a keen interest in increased efficiency, previously though, he had not incorporated new technology. When building the predecessor to the Model T, the Model N, Ford had his workers line the parts up along the floor and dragged the car along the line as each part was applied . Not surprisingly these methods did not hold as the Model T became increasingly popular. During this time Frederick Taylor was becoming more and more popular to the point where Ford heard about his ideas of scientific management. Taylorism was known as the stopwatch and clipboard approach, meaning that Frederick Taylor was constantly testing different styles of building for each worker unt...
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"Henry Ford." PBS. Accessed March 09, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/ford_hi.html.
Lacey, Robert. Ford, The Men and the Machine. Boston: Little, Brown, 1986.
O'Neill, Mike. "Ford Nameplates Join Five Million Club." Moneill.com. May 5, 2004. http://www.moneill.com/FordNameplatesJoinFiveMillionClub(Ford.com).PDF.
Sorensen, Charles E. My Forty Years with Ford. New York: Wayne State University Press, 1956. Accessed March 9, 2014. http://books.google.com/books/about/My_Forty_Years_with_Ford.html?id=fv9WPvAXpGMC.
Assembly Line History - Invention of the Assembly Line." Ideafinder.com. May 16, 2005. Accessed April 06, 2014. http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/assbline.htm
In The Flivver King, written by Upton Sinclair, Henry Ford started his own manufacturing in the back cottage on Bagley Street in the city of Detroit. The young inventor began to tinker and to make improvements to his new invention of the horseless carriage. Once he finally gained confidence to take it out for the public to see, the people were unsure if it was a joke or a step in civilization (8). Ford decided to look at the matter from an entirely different angle- the horseless carriage as a useful article for everybody instead of as a toy for the rich (10). Henry Ford’s Model T helped him to accomplish economies of scale because he took the steps to use a standardized model, use the assembly line, and revolutionize mass production.
In the 1920’s the United States economy was booming, and a famous man by the man of Henry Ford came along and had an industry changing idea. He set up the first production line style for producing automobiles. Each assembly line worker had one or two specific tasks to complete on the cars that came through. The process began with a skeleton on the car, and as it went down the line from worker to worker it slowly gained more and more pieces finishing the automobile completely...
This radical idea of the automobile permeated throughout America with most, if not all credit renowned to Henry Ford. Observed as a technological mastermind, Ford commenced experiments involving machinery from the time he was adolescent to launching his career working at the Edison Illuminating Company. He examined internal combustion engines and gasoline buggy ideas eventually resulting in removing himself from Edison’s company and his introduction in the emerging automobile industry. Following in 1903, he established the Ford Motor Company, which expeditiously became a leader in the automotive industry and would gain extensive wealth within only a few decades. While other manufacturers strove to produce automobiles to be extravagant and luxurious predominantly for the wealthy, he immensely focused on efficient mass production of durable, affordable vehicles for the expanding middle-class market.
The Model T changed the ways of America in an immense way. Ford's Model T revolutionized manufacturing. To help build his Model T more efficiently and with less money he used the assembly line. "By 1914, Ford and his engineers had installed a belt-driven movable production line that took the work to the worker, and then carried that man's work to another worker, and so, until a shining Model T rolled off the line. It was continuous flow production. No one had ever done this before.
He received investments from all over to help form the Henry Ford Company in 1899. Ford’s father was proud to see his son’s name on automobiles, but was frustrated when Ford needed to constantly improve the efficiency. Ford left his namesake company in 1902 for financial reasons. After he left, it changed names to the Cadillac Motor Car Company. Later that year, Ford founded the Ford Motor Company. A month after the company was formed, the Ford Model A was built at the Ford Motor Plant in Detroit. Only a couple of these cars were able to be made every day, so sales were slow. There were only about 2 to 3 workers to assemble these cars. But Ford was motivated to create an efficient and consumer friendly automobile. These innovations resulted in the Ford Model T. The Model T was a great liftoff for Ford and his company, and as a result, he practiced techniques of mass production the would change American Industry, including using large production plants. The mass production technique made it easier for people to assemble cars and the rate of producing these cars were much quicker. It was also a cheaper way to produce automobiles, and in 1914, Ford was able to raise the daily wage to 5 dollars. Production skyrocketed for the Model T and by 1918, half of America had purchased these inexpensive and readily available cars. In 1919, Ford made his son Edsel as the president of the company, but Ford still kept control of the company’s day to day operations. That same year, Ford stopped making the Model T and invented the New and improved Model A , which had better horsepower and brakes, and better overall improvements. By this time, Ford had sold 15 million Model T’s and had opened plants that manufactured the Model
A more personal study of the Ford family and the contraversy surrounding the success of the Ford Motor Company.
Beetz, Kirk H. "Assembly Line." Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 334-336. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
When Henry Ford was born on June 30th, 1863, neither him nor anyone for that matter, knew what an important role he would take in the future of mankind. Ford saw his first car when he was 12. He and his father where riding into Detroit at the time. At that moment, he knew what he wanted to do with his life: he wanted to make a difference in the automobile industry. Through out his life, he achieved this in an extraordinary way. That is why he will always be remembered in everyone’s heart. Whenever you drive down the road in your car, you can thank all of it to Henry Ford. Through his life he accomplished extraordinary achievements such as going from a poor farm boy to a wealthy inventor who helped Thomas Edison. When he was a young man, he figured out how to use simple inventions, such as the light bulb. He then taught himself the design of a steamboat engine. His goal was to build a horse-less carriage. He had come up with several designs and in 1896, he produced his first car, the Model A. When Ford’s first car came out, he had been interviewed by a reporter and when asked about the history of the car, he had said “History is more or less bunk.” Ford worked in Thomas Edison’s factory for years and the left to become an apprentice for a car-producer in Detroit. While working there, he established how he was going to make the car.
Henry Ford was one of the most important and influential inventors and businessmen in the short history of America. He revolutionized the business world and he changed forever the efficiency of factories around the world. One of the reasons that Henry Ford can be considered such an important man is that his ideas and concepts are still used today. Boron on July 30, in the year of 1863, Henry Ford was the oldest child of the family. His parents, William and Mary Ford, were “prosperous farmers” in his hometown of Dearborn. While they we’re well off for farmers, Ford certainly wasn’t spoiled and fed from silver spoons. Ford was just like any other typical young boy during the rural nineteenth century. From early on there we’re signs that Henry was going to be something more than a farmer. He looked with interest upon the machinery that his father and himself used for their farming, and looked with disdain at the rigorous chores of a farmer. In the year 1879, Henry being a meager 16 years old, he moved to the city of Detroit where he would work as an apprentice machinist. Henry would remain in Detroit working and learning about all varieties of machines. Although he occasionally came back to visit Dearborn, he mostly stayed in Detroit, picking up more and more valuable knowledge. This apprenticeship allowed him to work in the factories of Detroit and learn what a hard working blue-collar job was like. When he did return to Dearborn he was always tearing apart and rebuilding his fathers machines, along with the dreaded farm chores. Henry Ford was a hard worker and that was proven by him getting fired from one of his jobs in Detroit because the older employees we’re mad at him because he was finishing his repairs in a half hour rather than the usual five hours. Clara Bryant would represent the next step in now twenty-five year old Henry Ford’s life. The two lovers we’re married in 1888 and would endure good times as well as bad. In order to support his new wife Henry was forced to work the land as he ran a sawmill that was given to him by his father. His father actually attempted to bribe Henry to stay in the farming business as he gave him the land only under the condition that he would continue on as a farmer.
In my essay we will take a look at Frederick Taylors principles of scientific management and his contribution to manufacturing and the influence he has had. We will use Ford as the organization as Fordism I closely linked to Taylorism and has been majorly influenced by it. The U.S. motor vehicle industry emerged at the end of the 19th century as a craft production system with a labor force that included skilled workers who had knowledge about mechanical design and the materials they were working with. After World War I, Henry Ford invented the mass production system (now known as Fordism). In his system, the product, the production process, and the tasks that each particular worker performed were standardized.
He was now able to maximize the use of his work force and increase production of vehicles substantially. Ford introduced his company’s most famous development, the Model T, in 1908. In its 19 years of production, there were 15 million of the cars produced. Despite this fact, they were not the largest auto manufacturer because of Ford’s decision to he was too slow in adopting the practice of introducing a new model of vehicle each year. Despite this, times were not hard at Ford.
The improved style of the automobile was able to launch other motor companies and the assembly line is not only used in car production, but used in almost every single produced product. His two ideas changed society forever. Car companies are definitely not the only ones who use the “assembly line method” this idea is used by food companies, toy companies, and almost an other company you can imagine. This idea was picked up by our military and is still being used today. “The massive demand for military hardware in World War II prompted assembly-line techniques in shipbuilding and aircraft production.
In the 1880’s, Fredrick Windsor Taylor had a theory in the workplace that focused on improving economic efficiency within a business and labour productivity. Taylorism or scientific management is a theory “that sought to determine scientifically the best methods for performing any task, and for selecting, training and motivating workers” (Stoner and Freeman, 1992). Taylor’s theory was most notably used for Henry Ford’s assembly line, where in 1913 this set the benchmark for mass production methods around the world (Ford.co.uk, 2016). Taylors theory has evolved over time, whereby most of his values in this school of thought is integral for certain businesses and even industries succeed, such as car manufacturing, clothing lines and even financial
By 1899 Ford created a more proper looking motorcar with the help of wealthy businessman William Murphy. It had high wheels, a padded double bench, brass lamps, mud guards, and a "racy" look. In the same year Ford founded the Detroit Automobile Company. Within 3 years Ford had built an improved, more reliable Quadricycle, using a four-cylinder, 36 horsepower-racing engine. In 1901 his car beat what was then the world's fastest automobile in a race before a crowd of eight thousand people in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. The publicity he received for this victory allowed Ford to finance a practical laboratory for refining his auto ideas. In 1903 Ford launched his own car company, The Ford Motor Car Company, and by January 1904 he had sold 658 vehicles. By 1908 he built the famous Model T, a car that was affordable to the middle class. The automobile was no longer the toy of the rich.
Henry Ford was a mechanical engineer who worked for Ford Motor (1863-1947) that was born near Dearborn, Michigan (Gelderman. C, 2017). I chose to do a research profile paper on Henry Ford because he seems to be popular even though he passed away. I very interested how the invention of the Model T greatly impacted people’s lives. People were tired of walking by foot back in the Medieval Times. Anyone can