A Moving Assembly Line the Invention of Henry Ford

A MOVING ASSEMBLY LINE: THE INVENTION OF HENRY FORD.

Introduction

Henry Ford was born in 1863 July 30 at a family farm in Dearborn, Michigan. His childhood was spent at the family farm in the outskirts of Detroit. At age 12, his mother died. This marked a new beginning as he tried to live life to the wishes of his mother. He was close to his mother but not his father. He did not bother inheriting his father's farm in Michigan and always drifted his ambitions way from farming. His love for dismantling and assembling object at an early age would take him to the great assembly line invention. He was fond of repairing watches and many of his neighbors brought him faulty or defective ones for repair.

He officially left the farm at age 17 for Detroit to be an apprentice. By 1882, he had completed his apprenticeship and was crowned a competent machinist. He landed a job at a machine shop in Detroit later moving to Westinghouse Engine Company. Here, he was tasked with demonstrating and operating steam engines on neighboring farmlands. He always went back to his father's farm during winter where he was preoccupied with construction of lighter steam engines. He met Clara Bryant and got married in 1888. His father gave him land I which he constructed a saw mill, and shop and a small house. In 1891, they left the farm for Detroit. He immediately got employment at Edison illuminating company. His leisure time was spent on making gasoline engine running on electricity.

He made and sold his first horseless carriage called Quadricycle in 1896 giving him sufficient money to establish a more improved model of the carriage. He had a dream of starting a motor company and by 1903; he had registered Ford motor company which began its operations in October 1908. He sold more than 15 million T models in the United States. This marked the era of motor age as the car was no longer viewed as luxury but indispensable means of transportation for everyone. He had always desired agrarian lifestyle but his abilities were taking him to greater goals in invention.

Henry Ford had perpetuated revolution by proliferating vehicle manufacturing concerns. By 1914, using innovative production methods, he turned out a full chassis in only 93 minutes at his Michigan Plant at Highland Park. It was regarded as a remarkable improvement having saved manufacturing time by a greater margin from the previous 728 minutes. He prioritized on an assembly line that kept moving regularly and maximized on division of labor and operations planning. In the same year, he began paying his employees good wage of five dollars each day which was good compared to other car makers. He devised a daily three shift plan where workers could work for eight hours instead of nine and his turnaround time came to 24 seconds. He instantly became a global celebrity.

The purpose of his invention

He had great passion for machines and always thought that machines had a way of alleviating burden on farm animals. His invention by no comparable means changed American thinking. Many individuals began owning cars which consequently changed patterns of urbanization, flexibility among population and growth of suburbia. He died in 1947 of multiple strokes at age 83.

Henry Ford and his 'Moving assembly line'

Henry Ford did not actually invent the car but the moving assembly line. Karl Benz of Germany made the first automobile. The assembly line was created by ransom e. olds in 1901 to keep pace with high demand for horseless carriages. He quadrupled his factory's output by 1902 from an initial 425 cars to 2500. Henry Ford was there in time to take over olds automobile assembly line through introduction of conveyor belts.

This ultimately shortened manufacturing time of T model from one and half days to ninety minutes which gave him the name 'Father of the Mass Automotive Production'.