- Cars aren’t the property of the rich:
Henry Ford believed that cars aren’t the toys for the wealthy class; instead, they can fulfill the lower classes’ needs. He designed the first-ever ford Car, the Model T, which was durable, dependable, and affordable. This greatly revolutionized American society as the car, which once was the playing toy for the rich, was now taken by everyone as a household. Ordinary people were able to buy the Model T and use it for their daily chores. (Schlagger, Lauer, 2001.)
- The invention of the Model T and Assembly line:
It was the first gasoline-powered car designed by Henry and was very successful. This car cost 750 US dollars. It was developed in the year, 1908 and his great innovation came when he, in 1913, revolutionized the car further by introducing the Assembly line. This made things more comfortable, as the manufacturing process was speeded, and as on average, each day, 9000 cars were manufactured.
The first step in the assembly came when we began taking the men’s work instead of bringing men to work. In all the operations, we now have two general principles —that a man must not take more than one step, if it can be avoided, possibly, and that no man needs ever to stoop over.
The main principles of assembly are as follow:
- The tools and the men should be placed in the sequence of the operation so that each.
- The part may travel the least possible distance while being finished.
- Use work slides or any other form of the carrier so that when a worker completes his tasks, he drops the part always in the same place—The place that must always be the most convenient and comfortable place to his hand—and if being possible, have gravity to carry the part to the next worker for his task to create more of an ease.
- Use sliding assembling lines through which the parts to be assembled delivered at convenient and reachable distances. (The Arsenal of Progress, March 1994)
Cutting it short, by applying these principles, they could do an enormous amount of job in just a few hours (9000 a day is a great deal of task completion).
- Background/history of the Model T car:
It’s popular among the masses that Henry Ford invented the car for the first time, which is a false belief. This finds its basics in the fact that Ford did develop the vehicles for the general public. Two Germans first invented the automobile cars in the 1880s.
When Ford was developing his car, there were around 50 automobile companies in the USA. Still, they had to handcraft the vehicles, making the cars too expensive and above-average Americans’ reach.
Henry Ford stands out among them because of the Revolution he brought by introducing the car among the average population. Mass production helped him a lot, and the second thing that helped him was standardization, which means each vehicle they rolled of the assembly line was the same as the one preceding.
As Ford himself was from an average farming family, much of his thinking was derived from that background. Ford explained this as “to make them all the same, to make them come through the factory just the same, the company can conquer the economy of scale that keeps the prices high.” The cars are even uniform in colors, and as Ford said, the vehicles will be available in any color the client chooses, so long as it’s black.
So in the fall of 1908, Ford showed his car, Model T, which had several features separating it from other cars, and though the price at that time was high, Ford knew that his assembly line technology would soon help the price to fall. (Scholl, Armin, and Sidenberg, 1999)
The Model T was a right looking car with a high roof, giving it more refined. It had a 4-cylinder, 20 horsepower engine. This vehicle was pretty rugged and very dependable, precisely what Ford wanted it to be like. Another development Ford made was the use of vanadium steel, which is strong and light.
This made the company work much, and the company sold out thousands of cars in the first year.
- Impact of Model T:
The Model T dramatically affected the whole of American society. The economy of the company, the country, and the lifestyle of the people was changed entirely. The farmers took the Model T car as it was good at running on rough roads, as there were no top roads in the U.S. in the 1920s.
The popularity of Ford led to a labor shortage, a constant labor shortage. He was offering the laborers 5 dollars a day, in a society where the labor’s daily wages were from 1.5 to 2.0 dollars a day. This made Ford a national hero, a Messiah, for the general public.
The production rate was too high that by 1921 the number of Ford automobiles was 5.5 million, and after seven years, when he stopped the production of Ford Model T, there were 15 million of them in the country.
In the 1920s, the Ford automobiles were outdated as new and stylish models made their way into the market. When Ford tried to match their standards, the great depression hit the nation.
Summing things up, Ford was motivated towards bringing a revolution in the society, where only the rich were able to use cars, and he achieved his goal. He completely revolutionized the whole industry. It is he who made driving a national pastime. Though his company later faced many problems, there was a time when they were losing a million dollars per day. However, the car culture is still initiated by Henry Ford, who was motivated by the wish that every American must have a car. (Nevins, Allen, Ford, 1954.)