Ford Motor
Company
An automotive pioneer,
Henry Ford never gave up the attempts to fulfill his dreams. After two unsuccessful
attempts at establishing a company to manufacture automobiles, the Ford Motor Company was
ultimately incorporated in 1903. Henry was the Vice – President and chief engineer of
the company. The infant company produced only a few cars a day at the Ford factory on Mack
Avenue in Detroit. Groups of two or three employees worked on each car from components
made to order by other companies.
Ford realized his dream of producing an
automobile that was reasonably priced, reliable and efficient, with the introduction of
Model T. The vehicle, produced in 1908, initiated a new era in personal transportation.
The car was very easy to maintain, operate, and handle on rough roads. It immediately
acquired a huge success, and surprisingly by 1918, about 50 percent of the total cars in
America were Model T. To meet the increasing demand of this successful Model, Ford opened
a large factory at Highland Park, Michigan, two years later. Here, he combined precision
manufacturing, standardized and interchangeable parts, a division of labor, and in 1913, a
continuous moving assembly line.
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The arrangement was advanced – workers remained in place, adding one component to each automobile as it moved, past them on the line. The introduction of the moving assembly made easy the process of delivery of parts. It was by conveyor belt to the workers. This new experiment revolutionized automobile production by remarkably reducing assembly time per vehicle. This eventually led to lowering of cost. Ford’s production of Model Ts made his company the largest automobile manufacturer in the world. |
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