Henry Ford’s Innovations

Ford’s Early Life Born Near Detroit, MI in 1863 Attended school until he was 15. Secretly worked on mechanical projects at night after his chores. Ran away at 16 to become an apprentice in a Detroit machine shop Picture from www.americaslibrary.gov Ford took apart and reassembled a watch using nothing but homemade tools.

You Can Go Home Again After years of earning $2.50 per week at one job and $2 per week at another (to make ends meet), Ford returned to his father’s farm and built a one-cylinder tractor. Ford was earning $4.50 per week and paying $3.50 per week working two jobsfor room and board.

Moving Back to the City Ford eventually got a job as an engineer and machinist and moved back to Detroit. Detroit image fromwww.cityyear.org In 1890 he began making $45 per month

Ford sells his first car Ford sold his first “gasoline buggy” for $200 in 1896. Engine image from www.first-to-fly.com Ford’s “gasoline buggy” was four horsepower. He drove it about 1,000 miles but sold it because he wanted to make a lighter car. He later bought it back after he became successful as a memento for $100.

Chief Engineer Ford became chief engineer of an electric company, earning $125 per month. Ford later quit because he refused to give up working on gasoline cars and focus on electricity. He quit his job as chief engineer at age 36.

Detroit Automobile Company Ford persuades a group of men to help him manufacture his car. He quits after two years because his backers wanted to produce small quantities at large profits. Ford was thinking big. He wanted to begin mass production.

999 Ford built a racing car in a one-story brick shed that won every race that it entered. Image of Barney Oldfield from www.rumbledrome.com Ford’s four-cylinder, eighty horsepower “999” was driven to victory by Barney Oldfield (pictured).

Ford Motor Company Publicity from his racing car helped Ford start the Ford Motor Company. He received $100,000 in capital. He and his son became sole owners in 1919. Ford and his son, Edsel, bought out the minority stockholders for $70,000,000. In 1903, he sold 1,707 two-cylinder, eight-horsepower automobiles.

Ford Concentrates on One Car Ford concentrated his efforts on developing a single chassis, the Model T Model T image from www.uh.edu

“any customer can have a car painted any color he wants, so long as it is black” Henry Ford

$850 The Model T sold for $850 in 1908. By 1925, mass production cut the cost to $290. In his 2nd year Ford sold 10,600 cars. In seven years he sold 1,000,000.

Ford Changes the Workday Ford developed mass production techniques. This made workers’ jobs very monotonous. In order to fix this, for raised wages to $5 per day, shortened the work week, and shortened the workday from 9 hours to 8 hours. Next image from www.loc.gov Even with higher wages and reducing the workday from six days a week to five, Ford had a very high turnover ratio at his factories.

Assembly Line Conveyor belts and the assembly line reduced the amount of time need to produce a Model T from 12.5 hours in 1912 to 1.5 hours in 1914. Previous image from www.nps.gov

The Logic of Mass Production Ford reasoned that increased production allows manufacturers to reduce costs and increase the # of products sold. Another big result of this was that higher wages allowed workers to buy more products (the worker as consumer belief) Worker as consumer was a big part of Ford’s logic. More money in the hands of workers means more money spent back on the company.

Different Models? Other manufacturers such as Albert Sloan (General Motors) worked on producing new models and changing the looks of cars. Ford finally developed the Model A in 1927. Model A image from www.xyz.net www.d Ford spent several years during World War I organizing his factories for wartime production. Sloan introduced yearly model changes in 1927.

Vertical Integration Ford bought all his own coal mines, iron mines and forests, railways, and his own lake and ocean steamships. Buying everything that he needed to produce cars (all aspects of the production process) became known as vertical integration.

NO Labor Unions Ford remained strongly aligned against labor unions throughout his life. Labor Union image from www.library.ohiou.edu Ford was also an opponent to the New Deal and supported Hoover in 1928 and Landon in 1936.

B-24’s Ford’s plants produced bombers during World War II. Ford passed away in 1947 at the age of 83. B-24 image from www.collingsfoundation.org His Willow run plant turned out one bomber per hour.

Information in PowerPoint from: www.digitalhistory.uh.edu www.nytimes.com