Left: 1928 Ford Model A Assembly Line. Source: pintrest.com Right: 2014 Ford Focus Electric Assembly Line. Source: money.cnn.com
Assembly Line, "If it were possible to preserve alive, for the interests of history, one
Model T, 5 Dollars man from each century and country- not, of course, the best or wisest, but the one who represented most thoroughly the hopes,
crudities, backgrounds and achievements of his place- no one can
represent this time and the United States than Henry Ford."
-Niven Busch Jr. 1930 (quote from The Public Image of Henry Ford: An American Folk Hero and His Company)
Far Left: famousface.us Left: boldride.com Right: nydailynews.com Far Right: bookcoverimgs.com
The assembly line completely changed how production was made. Not only was it cheaper and faster to use this method, but it also embraced unskilled workers into the process of car production. It was also responsible for utilizing America's mass production skills to the zenith in WWII.
The Model T might not have been the best car on the market but it was definitely by far the best car for it's price. This vehicle laid the foundation of Ford Motors for nearly 20 years and made interstate transportation possible. It also won the title of the "Car of the Century."
"Ford's tin lizzie might have seemed the logical choice -- it did, after all, find 15 million buyers; put the motorcar within reach of the common man; made America a mobile society; set the stage for modern assembly-line manufacturing; and cemented Detroit's place at the center of the auto universe." -James G.Cobb (reporting the Car of the Century winner on the New York Times, December 24, 1999)
The 5$(120 dollars today) daily wage chagned how buisness looked at their workers. Ford saw the importance of even the most insignificant workers and started the high paying workforce later known as the American Middle Class making up a majority of Americans today.
Henry Ford did not invent the automobile. He didn’t even invent the assembly line. But more than any other single individual, he was responsible for transforming the automobile from an invention of unknown utility into an innovation that profoundly shaped the 20th century and continues to affect our lives today.
Innovators change things. They take new ideas, sometimes their own, sometimes other people’s, and develop and promote those ideas until they become an accepted part of daily life. Innovation requires self-confidence, a taste for taking risks, leadership ability and a vision of what the future should be. Henry Ford had all these characteristics, but it took him many years to develop all of them fully. -thehenryford.org (Life of Henry Ford)