Manufacturing Planning

and Control

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Henry Ford

Production System and Model T

(The Machine that

Changed the World)

Henry Ford’s Model T was introduced in 1908 as Ford was determined to build Motor Cars for a great Magnitude with his mind set that everyone should have one.

Henry Ford's assembly-line methods revolutionized factory production. Using his techniques, chassis assembly was reduced from 12.5 man-hours to 93 man-minutes by 1914. Assembly time reduction contributed to the drastic cut in price of the private automobile. Ford’s early efforts eventually allowed Ford Motor Company to turn Ford Car out every 24 seconds.

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Ford’s 1st Car was the Model A (1903-04 with 1750 cars), After Model C (1904-05 with 800 cars) and then when Model N cars was build (1906-08 with 700 cars), his workers arranged the parts in a row on the floor, put the under-construction automobile on skids and dragged it down the line as they worked. Perhaps his first attempt to transform the Factory floor into an “Assembly Line”.

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It was not until 1908, when Model T was introduced to the world that it became the world's first Mass Production Vehicles, manufactured in the Ford Motor Company’s moving assembly line at Ford’s revolutionary Highland Park Plant, Michigan.

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By the early 1920s more than half of the registered automobiles in the world were Fords. More than 15,000,000 Model T’s were built and sold.

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Henry Ford build his 102 acres (largest in the world at that time) Highland Park Plant Complex that includes offices, factories, power plants, and foundry (metal castings). The Foundry was Ford’s strategy of integrating the Supply Chain to supply Just-in-Time metal castings to produce automobile accessories close to his plant.

The essence of Henry Ford’s Assembly line was his idea by applying Adam Smith’s “Division of Labor” where Ford broke the Model T’s assembly into 84 discrete steps, for example, and trained each of his workers to do just one. He also hired “Time-and-Motion-Study” expert Frederick Taylor to make those jobs even more efficient.

Adam Smith (1723-1790) “Father of Economics” contribution of the “Division of labour” is an economic concept which states that dividing the production process into different stages enables workers to focus on specific tasks. ... This concept was popularised by Adam Smith in An Inquiry into “the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” (1776).

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Frederick Taylor (1856-1915) “Father of Scientific Management Thinker”, contribution of “Time-study” (Primarily employed for repetitive tasks in industries) was developed in the period between the two World Wars by Frederick W. Taylor. It dwells into procedural measurement of time taken for completion of tasks, while also accommodating human activities.

With the help of Henry Smith's “Division of Labor” and Frederick Taylor’s “Scientific Management Methods”, Ford applied 4 basic principles to increase efficiency:

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1. There is no need to move around the factory; the half-finished good comes to the worker.
2. Work to be done waist high to eliminate lifting.
3. Minimize waste motion, human or mechanical.
4. Workers need less training as they only have to master a small number of tasks.

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It was at Ford’s Highland Park factory. that by trial and error Ford and his team of engineers and mechanics developed the system of dragging a car chassis across the floor to stations where parts, brought by pulley, conveyor, or inclined plane were bolted on.

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Unlike the Model T itself, the assembly line took time to develop to a level of perfection. Once governed by skilled mechanics, the shop floor by then was conquered by scientific management and the assembly line. This process was nearly completed by 1914. Thereafter, Ford's Moving Assembly Line of Mass Production Techniques was institutionalized in various forms throughout the automobile industry.

Henry Ford’s other contributions:

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1. Just-in-time production - Ford knew the importance of not creating large amounts of inventory and managed his supply chain to have enough materials on-hand to manufacturing his cars based on demand.
2. Product platforming - Ford’s Models T, A,B,C,F,K,N,R and S with varying feature sets and price points, based on the same core product architecture.
3. Vertical integration - To complete the vertical integration of his empire, he purchased a railroad, acquired control of 16 coal mines and about 700,000 acres of timberland, built a sawmill, acquired a fleet of Great Lakes freighters to bring ore from his Lake Superior mines, and even bought a glassworks.
4. Designs for manufacturability and maintainability - Ford was years ahead of his competitors in using his drive, intuitiveness and ingenuity for implementing “Design to Manufacture” to build his Model T (DFM - Design for Manufacturability) as he realised that design and manufacture were inseparable and that designers held the keys to optimising manufacturability.
5. Ergonomic considerations - But productivity doesn’t always mean harder work. In the words of the late Henry Ford, “Improved productivity means less sweat – not more.” To achieve productivity and efficiency, With the help of Frederick Taylor, Henry Ford applied many Ergonomics principles in his moving assembly line.

Henry Ford’s Quotes

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“If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.”

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“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.”

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“What's right about America is that although we have a mess of problems, we have great capacity - intellect and resources - to do something about them.”

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“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”

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“Don't find fault, find a remedy.”

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“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.

You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.”

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“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”

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“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”