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In October, 1913 a revolutionary step was taken in the advancement of factory assembly when Henry Ford unveiled his moving car assembly line. The assembly line certainly changed the face of motor vehicle manufacture. There was an ever growing demand for the car and the new technology was intended to rapidly speed up the production process.
Setting up in the Detroit suburb of Highland Park, Henry Ford made a 250 foot long moving assembly line. Each worker was assigned a specific task and would perform it over and over again as car after car rolled slowly by on the line. The new moving assembly line meant that a new car chasis could be produced in just two man hours, as opposed to the former schedule of 14 man hours. In fact the new system required just three man hours to produce a complete new car.
Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 – the son of a wealthy farming family in Dearborn, Michigan. Young Henry, however, was not a natural farmer. Instead he soon showed an affinity towards all things mechanical. At the age of 16 Henry left home and got his first job as an apprentice machinist. Over the next few years he would sharpen his skills by repairing steam engines and overhauling farm tools for his father. In 1888 Henry was married. He supported his family by operating a sawmill. In 1891 he joined the Edison Engineering Company. Within two years he had been appointed to the position of Chief Engineer. It was during this time that he began his experiments with the internal combustion engine. In 1896 Ford produced a prototype of the Quadracycle.
In 1903 the Ford Motor Company was incorporated. Henry Ford was vice president and chief engineer. To begin with the Company was able to produce just two to three vehicles per day, with groups of two to three men working on a vehicle. Parts were made to order by other companies. The Ford Motor Company was to steadily improve in its vehicle production over the next few years. In 1908 the first really affordable, practical people’s car was produced – the Model T Ford. From the very start the Model T was a huge success. Within 10 years half of all cars sold in the United States would be Model T Fords.
The demand was so great that Ford needed to do something to speed up his production. So, it was that in 1913 he revolutionised the way we work with the introduction of the continuous assembly line. With the workers staying in one place, adding parts to the evolving vehicle as it moved past on the conveyor belt a great deal of time was saved. Parts were also delivered to the worker by way of conveyor belt. The moving assembly line was a great success and the Ford Motor Company became the largest car manufacturer in the world. Business men the world over would flock to Detroit to glean the secrets of the moving assembly line that was making Henry Ford a very rich man.
By the early 1920’s construction was well underway on a massive production plant along the banks of the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan. At Rouge River everything was needed for an in house operation, from a steel mill, a glass factory and a foundry to the now refined motor vehicle assembly plant. The world of mass production had well and truly arrived.
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