HenryFordandmassproduction
I I cn r yFordisfamousform akingautomo biles.
Burwhatm ak eshimimport ant islU lU'hemade
rhcm.
Fo rd began (QmakeautomobilesIII the I MlJOs.
O ned ay in190 }hew astalkingtoa frie n dabou t
chc bestW.1ytod o this."TherC.11w ayistom ak e
o m' like another. as m u ch alike as pins or
march es."he said.T hefriend saidth athe d id 11 0[
believeth at this waspossible , " T heprincipleIS
j ust th e same." Fordreplied , " A ll youneedIS
more s pace.
l-ordtril·dourhisideawithallaut om o bilecalled
the Mud d T. Like Whitney 's gUllS,cvcrvModel
Twas p utto getheror"assem bled"fromexactly
the sameparts. T h e cars wereevenpainteddie
sa me color," Acu sto me rcan 11J" e:1llautomobile
pain tedan ycolo rthatheW.1IltS," Ford is supposed
ro havesaid, "solongas itisblack."
This use ofidentical p art s in m anufact u ring IS
called"srandardizarion."Ford addedto itth e idea
ofa moving asscrnblv line. T he idea ofthe
assembly line is ro save tim e. It docs this b y
po siti on in gworkersIIIafacrorvinam'placean d
ta kingworkro rh crn.The g ialllind ustr ialo rga ui za rio n sthatsuchmen
createdwereknownas"corporat iolls,"Astheyg rew
biggerandmorepower fulsti ll. rhcvoftenbecame
" trus ts."B y theearlytwcnm-thcent u rytrusts
controlledlargepartso f AmeriC.11lindust ry.One
tru stcontrolle dth e steelindust ry. anothe rth e oil
industry,anotherthemeat-packin gindustry,and
the rewerelIIan ym o rc·.T he biggesttru sts were
ric herth anmostnations. Bytheirwealthand
powcrc-cndes peciallyth eirpowertodecidewages
and p rices -, theyco ntro lledthelin'sofmillionsof
peo p le.
Man yAmericanswereala rm edb y rhcpowcro f the
trusts.TheUnitedStateswasa landthatwas
supposedtooff erequalopportunitiestoeve ryo ne.
Yetnowit seemedth arrh e countrywas co min g
under the-co ntr olofa handful 01 ri chandpowerful
menwhowere-abletodomoreorlessany thingthe-y
wished.Some b ribedpoliticians to passlawswhich
1 7 1NVlNllll<",~"I)INIlL"STl<lI'Fordfirstusedanassemblylim' tonukemagneto s
to rhisMo d clTs.Bytheold m et ho donem ano n
his owndid thisjobfrom startto fin ish. Ford
di vidcdthe-workintotwenty-oneseparateactions.
A di fferent man carried out each one as the
m agn etomo vedpasth imonamovingbeltcalled
.1"conveyor."Thechangered ucedtill'timeta ken
to put togetheramagne tofromtwentytu murcsto
fi ve.
In 1l)J3Fordsta rte dto uscassembly-linemethods
tomaketh e completeM o delT. Astill'carsmoved
alo n go n.1(·on veyo r. dozensofwork m en each
carried out asingk-operat io n -nghrcuinp;cc r r.un
nuts o r fixing certa in parts. Bythe ti m e a CJr
reachedtheend o f th e lim' it w as complete.Itw as
ti lledtipw ithgasolineanddrivenoffreadyfo r th e
TOad ,Makin g a car inrhisIlL'Wwayto o k 1 ho ur
and 33 minu tes.Maki n gonepreviouslyhadtaken
I~hoursand2Xm inutes.
Bycombiningstandardizationand the assembly
lineFordshowedmanufacturersofallkindshow
toproducegood scheaplyandinbrgl'quanrincs.
Becau se of this he is seen as th l' father of
twc nr ict h-c cnrurv m ass production.favoredrhcm.Othershi redp ri vat e armiestocru sh
anyattemptbytheirworkerstoobr.unb et ter
condit ions.Theirattitudetotheri~htso f ot her
peo ple wassummedup ina famous remarkofthe
railroad"king"WilliamH. Vanderbilt.Vanderb ilt
wasaskedw heth er heth ou g htthatrailroadssh o uld
berunill thepubli cinte res t."Thepublic be
daI1 1 IlL'd !"Ill"re plied.
Tlu-contemptuouswayin whichleadersofindusrrv
likeVnnderbih rej ect edcriticismm ad epeopleaugrv.
Itst reng th enedth e feelin gth atsomethingo ug h tto
bedoneto limit such men's growingpownoverth e
natio n 'slife.Manvpeople carn etoveethis m att eras
th e m ostimporran r problemfacingthe-UnitedSr;Ul'S
IIIth e earlyYl'a rsofrh...twcnricrhcentury,Unlcs-,
something wasd on eaboutit.theyfeared .th eUnited
Stareswouldbecomea nationwhoseIif(·w as
controlled bvahandfulofnchbusinessmen.7S