One of the most common myths says one that Henry Ford invented the automobile. It’s not the case. Although he might not be the one to have created an automobile, he was able to provide the first method of producing many cars. This production method was known as the moveable assembly line.
The most famous element on this assembly line was the conveyor belt. Belts were used throughout other industries, like slaughterhouses. Transferring the product from the factory to the worker was a more efficient utilization of time and resources. This is why the Ford Motor Company team decided to experiment with moving the assembly line to manufacture automobiles.
After a lot of trial and error, In 1913, Henry Ford and his employees had the opportunity to use this innovative technology in Our Highland Park assembly plant. The feature that made this line unique was its movement component. Henry Ford famously remarked that the assembly line movement enabled the task to be delegated to workers instead of workers moving from within the automobile. The vehicle started moving along the line and then built step-by-step. A rope initially pulled th,en transformed into a simple chain mechanism that moved. The process was possibly changed becauset Model T was now produced in just ninety minutes.
But as assembling a car was more accessible, employees started to quit Ford Motor Company to work for competitors. This was because workers were finding the assembly line tedious since they were working on a single or two task(s) instead of having a whole vehicle. Furthermore, the workers preferred the relaxed timeframe the assembly line demanded. Ensuring you had completed your tasks before the car traveled across the line to the next station was a challenge. Cars would be missing components, or workers might fall over one when putting their cars back together.
To persuade employees to remain with Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford introduced the $5 workday. The $5 day of work included profit sharing that could double a worker’s daily wages, bringing the amount to $5. The widespread belief was that this would swiftly cause the company to go under. It was the reverse. Mechanical workers from across the nation flocked to Detroit in search of higher salaries. Henry Ford stated: “We believe in making 25,000 men prosperous and contented rather than follow the plan of making a few slave drivers in our establishment multi-millionaires.”
Model A assembly line circa 1931.
Henry Ford did not increase the wages of his employees. He also cut down on the amount of time they had to work. Henry Ford decreased the shifts by one hour and offered employees more money. The shorter length of the change permitted Ford to set up the third shift and hire more employees. The assembly enabled Ford Motor Company to become a 24-hour operation.
“Fordism” also grew out of the assembly line moving. Fordism is a term used to describe large-scale production coupled with higher wages, and it was able to spread to other industries after the $5 day, which was initiated with the Ford Motor Company. Many other businesses followed the move of Ford and radically revolutionized manufacturing and drive across the nation when workerarted sought more excellent jobs with more outstanding wages and shorter significance.
One of the significant outcomes of the assembly line’s moving was the reduction in the price of Model T. Model T. In 1908 the Model T was sold for $825. By 1925, it was sold for just $260, which made the vehicle more affordable for people everywhere. In particular, it enabled the employees at Ford Motor Company to be more comfortable in their quality of life and to afford the car they designed and built.
