12/21/2011

A Proven Work System The Assembly Line

Period 5/6 IDRP Huber

McMakin 1

In 1902 very few Americans owned an automobile; even those who could afford one had no desire to buy one. Motorists were actually described as a reckless, blood thirsty lot of purse-proud crazy trespassers by the Breeders Gazette in 1903 (qtd. in Brinkley). Nearly everyone was content with the idea of a little carriage pulled by horses, except Henry Ford. Ford wanted an easier, faster, and more comfortable way to travel. Ford built his first automobile in Detroit, Michigan on June 4, 1896 at approximately two oclock in the morning. Ford named this car The Baby Carriage, because of the peculiar design of a light, but wide, chassis on bicycle wheels (Collier and Horowitz 4). The car did not fit through the garage door, so Henry Ford knocked down the walls (Collier and Horowitz 4; Sorensen 126). Over the years, this bulky car evolved into a smaller more efficient car called the Model T. This car was produced in drastic numbers through the addition of a new work system, called the assembly line, into Ford plants. From 1908 to 1927, Ford Motor Company made buying a car affordable and opened up new occupational activities for America with the revolutionary inventions of mass production and the assembly line. Henry Ford got the idea for the assembly line from visiting the Swift & Company meatpacking plant in 1907. He saw that a hog could be dismembered and carted away in thirty seconds or less and he thought such a methodical system would be effective with the production of cars. The first assembly line methods used in the slaughter houses followed very few steps, but many operations. Animals were hung head down, their throats were cut and the blood drained into a trough below. Once the blood was drained, the disassembly process began. Each worker stood in place, performed one or two operations on the animal and then pushed the animal onto the next station or person (O Brien). Even before the idea was introduced into slaughter houses, Paleolithic hunters concentrated on making one specific type of arrowhead.

McMakin 2

With practice, they created a superior product because they spent so much time working on one type of arrowhead that they could almost subconsciously create his or her specific piece of the arrow (OBrien). Within the revolution itself, the assembly line created another revolution in the way that cars were designed. Interchangeable parts were created to make an easier way to assemble cars (O Brien). After the introduction into the plant, the assembly line increased production by more than 10,000 cars per year (Colliers 26-7). Before the assembly line, one or two engineers, accompanied by a group of assistants, would have to move along with the car as it was it was created as well as bring the smaller parts to the being-built car instead of the other way around. This process took an extremely long time and it also used unnecessary manpower and energy, especially when the engineers would have to run back to the beginning and start the next car. The cost to build the car was reduced as soon as it took less energy and manpower to mass-produce them (Porretto). With the demand for the cars high and the energy needed to created them was low because of the introduction of the assembly line, the cars were made available at lower prices to become more affordable for the emerging lower and middle class. Mass production and mass customization affected the working squad of the company by allowing for more job openings, increased salaries, and profit sharing. Mass production and mass-customization is the process of manufacturing and tailoring cars for public consumers enjoyment and appeal. As more jobs opened up and down the assembly line, more and more people were hired. Ford gave many of these opportunities to people in minority groups who flocked to Detroit (Porretto 1). The Five Dollar Day and profit sharing had many able men storming outside the factories looking for work (United Press International). The Five Dollar Day set a minimum wage inside the factory of five dollars. Each man wanted to be a part of

McMakin 3

the 22,000 workers squad to benefit under the $10,000,000 profit-sharing plan made public by Henry Ford in 1914 (United Press International). Fords profit sharing plan promised his employees shares or bonuses in their salary whenever the company prospered. If the companys production rate declined and the over profit of sales decreased, Ford would cut back on the sharing for that paycheck (UPI). In this way, Ford would never have to change salaries; he could just decrease the bonuses until the sales picked back up. At the beginning of 1915, a proportionate weekly share, practically half the annual profits of the worlds biggest auto company, would be added to the salaries of the employees (United Press International). Wages were never cut and stayed at a five dollar minimum in the plants, even though the Great Depression and two world wars threatened and decreased a large amount of the work force. During the wars, however, Ford did not manufacture cars but instead mass-produced military necessities such as parachutes and other simple items. Ford was among the first companies to hire African American workers, leading the way to corporate diversity long before the idea even existed (Porretto). By keeping his working squad happy and efficient, they were able to increase production so Henry Ford was able to decrease the price of many model cars and make them affordable for everyone. The assembly line, mass production, and mass customization helped produce the Ford Model T, the first affordable car. The Model T was the car that tested the efficiency of the assembly line as well as human efficiency. This car was also named the first affordable car by many lower class citizens who could not afford any other mode of transportation. This assembly line, introduced into the company in 1913, caused an increase from 20,000 to 30,000 cars and allowed for a decrease in prices of almost $450, bringing the debut price of $810 down

McMakin 4

to Fords idea of the assembly line allowed for anyone earning a reasonable salary to buy and keep a car. The Model T was the first car to appeal to farmers, most of whom could never afford a car before the Model T made its debut in 1908 (Collier and Horowitz 5). The car was strong enough for farm work, but nice enough to drive into town and still flaunt it. Not only did the Model T appeal to farmers, but it also appeared to the upperclassmen, who were a majority in the successful selling of the Model T (Porretto). There were two different versions of the Model T, the Roadster and the Touring models. The touring model was a classy car that appealed to business men and men of high status or wealth, but did not require a hard working car. The roadster was a working class car, not the most luxurious, but it easily handled difficult farm work and was used for various activities. The Model T was the first car for the masses. The Thunderbird was fun, the mustang was youth, the Lincoln was wealth (Porretto). Designing the Model T was the first step. The Model T Roadster was originally designed to be a working class car, but when it made its debut in 1908, most people used it as a universal car that could perform any task the driver required (OBrien). The Roadster sold for $850 in 1908, cheaper than almost any car of the era, but to Ford thought it still cost too much (Brinkley). All the Model T parts were interchangeable and could be produced on pre-set machine tools by unskilled workers, but Ford wanted an even easier way to produce the cars. Ford broke the assembly of the Model T into 84 separate steps. He taught each worker how to do just one of them and then brought in a scientific management expert named Frederick Taylor to figure out how long each step should take and how fast the assembly could most efficiently move (OBrien).

McMakin 5

After Ford incorporated the assembly line into his factories, other competing automobile manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce and Buick began to adopt the same idea in their own factories. The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was one of the first non-Ford cars to be mass produced using the assembly line (Bird). Once fully embedded in the automobile industry, the assembly line spread to other manufactures with other products to offer. When production increased and prices went down, more people could afford to buy things and more money was moved around to increase the amount of products for sale (Bird). This increased production also allowed more job openings and prevented one company from dominating the automobile industry. Businessmen around the world knew a perfect idea when they saw one. They flocked to Ford's first factory, then to his huge new facility at River Rouge. They marveled as he cranked the Model T's out at more than a thousand a day. Then they went back to their companies and set up their own moving assembly lines (OBrien ). The addition of the assembly line was a key factor in the success of the company. A majority of the public believed that the automobile industry was suffering economically and that cars would disappear altogether (Glasson). There were three essential ideas that developed to make the addition of the assembly line into Ford factories possible in 1913 (OBrien). The first ingredient was a reliable power source. Before 1913, the first power sources were humans and animals, which were both expensive, unreliable, and did not provide enough energy to operate heavy machinery in order to produce complex items like cars. (OBrien) The second ingredient was the division of labor. This was to ensure that no one worker would be over loaded and that they had enough time to assemble their piece properly to be certain the final product was not flawed or defective in any way. Ford believed that continuous quantity demand could only be assured through quality (Colliers 27).

McMakin 6

The third ingredient was the development of interchangeable parts (OBrien). The creation of interchangeable parts was made easier when division of labor was introduced. Workers made items in the exact same way as the previous one in a place where they could be supervised and their results could be compared. Interchangeable parts were sometimes very difficult until the standardization of tools and materials as well as measurements and plans became finalized at set dimensions, lengths, and overall characteristics were set. Before standardization, there were was no definite type of engine, wheel, etc. and there were many different workers. So every product was either extremely different or nearly identical to the one next to it because the creation of it was totally up to the whim of the worker. Every screw was made by different craftsmen and would end up varying in sizes and shapes. Because of this, large-scale production (like the production of cars) was nearly impossible because of slight differences in each of the tools used and the craftsmens preference (Porretto). If someone lost a bolt on their car, the owner of the car could not trust that if they bought another screw it would fit. Interchangeable parts were created using a simple conveyor belt system that ran throughout the factory (Sorensen 126). The conveyor belt system, introduced into the factory in 1913 (five years after Ford first got the idea of the assembly line), was system that moved small parts along from worker to worker as they performed each of their operation. After the induction of the conveyor belts into the line, assembly time was cut from a day and a half to 94 minutes (Porretto). In many ways, Ford's most crucial contribution to progress in industry was his understanding of the relationship between time and money. He realized that the faster he built something, the cheaper it would be. One of Fords most famous remarks, it can be any color so long as it is black, is typically widely misinterpreted. He knew that doing one color was easier, but he also

McMakin 7

knew that black paint dried the fastest and was therefore the most efficient color to save time and money (OBrien). Ford also got idea of the moving assembly line from a little known inventor named Oliver Evans, who built the first automatic flour mill in Rock Clay Creek, Delaware in 1782. This flower mill included a simple conveyor belt system and ran on steam, one of the first reliable power sources (Porretto). The increasing use of steam in the 1700s was of the first importance for the development of heavy industry. Steam power followed the same development as water power. Steam was first used to pump water out of mines, then to work the mine machinery itself. The use of steam power soon spread to mills and forges, initially mostly in areas that did not have good water power, but soon expelling all but the most remote water wheels. The inspiration from Oliver Evans allowed for Henry Ford to develop the assembly line and create a revolution in the development of heavy industry, including cars and other large scale products. Another inventor named Sir Samuel Bentham also influenced Fords idea to perfect the assembly line. Bentham manufactured wooden pulley blocks for the British Admiralty and produced them at a rate of 100,000 per year. Bentham broke the process down into some 40 steps, and created tools with simple tools that allowed an unskilled worker to perform his or her one step without any special training. His first efforts failed, but when he was supplied with new and superior tools designed by a French Royalist refugee named M.I. Brunel, he succeeded in making 130,000 blocks per year in three sizes, while cutting the work company from 110 skilled artisans to 10 unskilled workers who were convicts (OBrien). Henry Ford was an important figure to the most of the public after his company rose to fame. Before 1907, Ford was one of twelve small automobile manufacturers in Detroit. Barney

McMakin 8

Oldfield, Fords racecar/test car driver, was better known than Henry was. His contribution to society of the Model T rolled out of the factory at a rate of twenty-four seconds after the introduction of the assembly line, which caused the Ford Motor Company to be one of the fastest car manufactures of 1913 (Glasson). At the time, this achievement was an prototypical display of industrial efficiency. By reforming automation in his factories, Ford advanced to a new, more proficient, era of mass production and human efficiency that he used to successfully build his fortune around and bring the automobile within reach of the working class (Cox and Alm 15). To others, however, Henry Ford was just the person who perfected the assembly line and mass production, but not who created it (Sorensen 126). Sorensen says, Both just grew, like Topsy. But whereas the car evolved from an idea, mass production evolved from a necessity; and it was long after it appeared that the idea and its principles were reduced to words. Ford had an idea to create the perfect car, but the assembly line was created not just for the production of cars, but also for the production of other products that would help advance the economy and the industrial era in general. With the revolutionary invention of the assembly line, Henry Ford sparked a whole industrial revolution. Without the invention of the assembly line, companies today would lack in the efficiency of their production time, cost, and overall lack in the numbers of products the company produced. Ford Motor Company produced the Model T in various models over the span of twelve years and began sellingand earning large profits only after the assembly line was introduced. Ford once said, Ill build a car for the great multitude, and through the introduction of mass production he succeeded.