A self-trained mechanic with a lifelong disdain of experts with university degrees, Henry Ford built his firsts automobile in 1893. In 1903 Ford and 11 business associates established Ford Motor Company. At that time, the US was home of 87 other car companies.
He intended to produce “the car for the great attitude,” and to do he had to harmonies mass production with mass consumption. Ford’s genius was to recognize that with the right technology, cars can be made available to the public at an affordable price. He focused on making the process more efficient and as a result produced more cars and charged lower prices.
Ford was not the first manufacturer to use interchangeable parts or to run an assembly line, but in his quest to produce an inexpensive and standardized product he perfected assembly line production techniques.
The result proved dramatic. In 1908, before he introduced the assembly line, Ford made 10,607 Model Ts – the “Tin Lizzie” – which he sold for $850 each. He shifted to an assembly line in 1913, and production quickly rose to 300,000 cars a year.
In 1916 he sold 730,041 Model Ts for $360 each, and in 1924 he produced two million of the cars retailing at $290 each. A total of fifteen million Model Ts rolled out of Ford plants before production ceased in 1927.
Demand for this car was so great that Ford developed new mass production methods in order to manufacture it in sufficient quantities.
Prior to Ford, it took over twelve hours to assemble a car. By contrast his first assembly line turned out a model T every 93 minutes, and by 1927 Ford was making a Model T every 24 seconds.
In 1922, Ford bought Lincoln Motor Company, named after Abraham Lincoln, for $8 million. Lincoln became the first "outsider" to join the Ford family of vehicle brands and initiated the company's entrance into the luxury market.
The Ford Motor Company became not only the word’s largest automobile manufacturer but the world’s largest industrial enterprise.
Ford Motor Company
