Automobile Production And Ford Essay Research Paper

Automobile Production And Ford Essay, Research Paper

Automobile Production and Ford

Most people think of Henry Ford as the man who invented the automobile, but his influence on the American society and economy was far greater and will last for all time. Ford changed the face of the nation and set the stage for the entrepreneurs of today. He helped develop the infrastructure for automobiles, including roads and gas stations. He set a minimum wage for his workers. He shortened the workday and, most importantly, he created a successful assembly line for automobile mass production, eliminating the primitive hand-built process. He helped to create this nation’s middle class and acted to allow the workingman to realize some dreams. Although Ford was an autocrat, he believed firmly in the “little guy.”

The automotive industry is one of great historical importance worldwide. On a global scale the combustible engine serves a number of purposes. Generating power from a combination of fuel, air and fire, the engine can power just about anything from the most powerful trucks to modest lawnmowers. The concept of the combustible engine has changed very minimally throughout history. The innovations have come in the forms of new materials, technological advances and processes by which these engines could run more efficiently. In today’s automobiles the technical aspects are countless, the crank start ignitions of yesterday were quickly replaced with electric starters. We can also include on-board computers as possibly one of the greatest advancements in the automotive industry, not forgetting to mention all the other modern features from fuel injection to air-conditioning all the way down the line to cup-holders. Cars today have become so complex that prices can be found in a wide spectrum. Aside from refueling, it is practically impossible to maintain and repair vehicles without a number of specific parts and tools. The manufacturer of that particular make of car usually standardizes these parts and tools.

In 1905, there were more than 50 companies each year trying to break into the automobile business; most of them did not succeed. Ford did. He had financial backers who believed the way to maximize the company’s profits was to build cars for the rich, but Ford had another idea: he believed the workers who built the cars should be able to afford to buy one themselves. He thought those workers should be able to take their families out for a spin in their cars on Sunday afternoons. Ford resisted his backer’s demands and followed his own beliefs and eventually just bought out his investors’ interests so he could run the company exactly as he thought it should be run. That move made Ford the “father of the 20th century American industry.” The model T that rolled out of the plant in 1908 was called the “everyman car.” It was elegant in simplicity and it was a dream for everyone (Iacocca, 1998; p. 76).

Ford initiated industrial mass production in his auto plants but his interest was in mass consumption (Iacocca, 1998). Ford said, “Mass production requires mass consumption, which means higher wages” (Foster, 1988: p. 14). His philosophy was simply this: if everyone earned a decent wage and he produced more cars in less time for less money, everyone in the country would buy his cars. One of the actions Ford took in 1913 to actualize his vision was to increase the minimum daily wage of workers to $5.00 from $2.34 for a 9-hour shift, which was the average in the auto industry. He also reduced the workday to 8-hour shifts. The Wall Street Journal called Ford’s action “an economic crime” because no one could make that much money without a significant amount of training or education. Critics worldwide called it “Fordism,” not meant as a compliment. Ford lowered his costs of building each car so much, that the wages did not really matter, in fact, the increase in daily wages made it possible for more people to buy cars (Iacocca, 1998).

Ford and his investors formed the Ford Motor Company in 1901. The first Model A was sold within a month of the company being established. Ten workmen functioning out of a converted wagon factory in Detroit built the car. During the next 15 months, 1,700 Model A’s were sold. He kept improving the car, using the letters of the alphabet for each new design. The first Model T came out of the factory in 1908; it cost $850 and 10,660 cars were sold that first year. The Model T had a top speed of 45 miles per hour and it averaged 25 miles to the gallon. It had a 20 horsepower engine, side-valves, four cylinders, and 18-inch wheels with cotton cord tires. There was no gas gauge; instead, the driver had to check the gas level by lowering a wooden stick into the gas tank. Window wipers were hand operated, it had a very rough suspension and the sides of the car were open. The only color available was black. Still, even with what today’s driver would consider a complete lack of amenities, the model T was a perfect car for the time. The roads were bad and the population lived mostly in rural areas where there were very few repair facilities.

The Model T was so well engineered and so simple to repair that if anything went wrong, it took only a screwdriver to fix it. The model T was also a remarkably versatile vehicle. Farmers could buy tractor wheels for it that replaced the rear axle wheels. The model T thus became a tractor that the f