Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation
Secondary school №28
on economics on the topic:
"Henry Ford - the founder of the conveyor"
Completed by students of grade 9G:
Ponomareva Olya
Rybakova Irina
Checked:
Malysheva L. M.
Kirov 2001
Henry Ford.
Henry Ford was born on 30.07.1863 near Dearborn, Michigan. From 1879 he was an apprentice mechanic in Detroit, worked in an electrical engineering company. He spent all his free time making a car. Ford fumbled in his barn every night. When testing, there were many faults in the car. Either the engine or a wooden flywheel failed, or the transmission belt broke. Finally, in 1893, Ford built a car with a low-power four-stroke engine. internal combustion rather resembling a four-wheeled bicycle. This car weighed only 27 kg. Since 1893 Henry has been working as chief engineer of the Edison Illuminating Company, and in 1899 - 1902. - to the Detroit Car Company.
In 1903 he founded the Ford Motor Company, which later became one of the world's largest automotive companies. In its factories, Ford widely introduced standardization and introduced assembly line assembly. He outlined his ideas about the organization of work in the works "My Life and Work" (1922, Russian translation of 1924), "Today and Tomorrow" (1926), "Moving Forward" (1930).
Ford was not alone in building cars in the United States. In 1909, there were already 265 automobile firms in this country that produced 126,593 cars. This is more than them by then
Made in all European countries.
In 1903, Ford created a racing car. Racer Oldfield won the three-mile race on it. In the same year, Ford organized a joint stock company for the production of automobiles. 1700 cars of model "A" were produced. The car had an engine power of 8 liters. with. and could develop maximum speed 50 km / h Few? In our times, very low speed.
But already in 1906 the model "K" was released (speed at races 160 km / h).
In the beginning, Ford Motor updated car models frequently. However, in 1908 the Model "T" appeared. It is the first car to be assembled on a conveyor belt principle for carcass handling at the Swift and Company slaughterhouse in Chicago. Model “T” was produced, for the sake of economy, only in black and remained until 1927 the only one produced by Ford. In 1924, half of all cars in the world were Ford-T. It was produced almost unchanged for 20 years. About 15 million "Tins of Lizzie" were produced - this is how the Americans nicknamed new car... It looked like a small black box on wheels. Needless to say, it was an unprepossessing structure, open to all winds. But the motor, the motor worked conscientiously.
And this ensured the success of the car. This is also a relatively low cost: after all, production has become massive. From $ 850 to $ 290. Ford cars began to appear in Europe. They arrived in France, which at that time was the leading automobile power, in 1907. But Ford did not create his own production in this country, but he built large factories in Dagenhem (England) and in Cologne (Germany). The production expanded steadily. At the end of 1912, only 3,000 cars were produced at the Dagenham plant, a suburb of London. And after about 50 years - 670,000.
... The wide muddy Thames flows. The buildings of a huge factory are visible. Nearby there is a bronze monument on a pedestal. On it, "G. Ford ". Yes, the monument to the king of the automobile empire, oddly enough, was erected not in the USA, but in England.
Ford's car was getting cheaper. But by the 20s it was outdated. Chevrolet, Plymouth, and other car models began to squeeze him out on the American market.
Then Ford stopped its factories, laid off most of the workers, and began to retool production.
In 1928 appeared new model- "Ford - A". This car is interesting in that it became the prototype of the GAZ-A car, which was produced by the Gorky Automobile Plant.
At that time, "Ford - A" was considered the best passenger car in the world. Ford began production of trucks in 1917. After 10 years, a one-and-a-half-ton Ford-AA truck was put on the conveyor, on the basis of which the famous one-and-a-half truck was later created - truck GAZ - AA.
… The company grew and became rich. By 1939, the Ford Corporation had already produced 27 million cars, largely through the takeover of other, small firms. And soon the production of passenger cars in the country was banned: the second World War... On the released production areas Ford began making airplanes, 8685 bombers were manufactured by the company during the war years. It was only in 1946 that passenger cars began to be produced again, moreover, old, pre-war brands. Other American auto companies did the same. By the way, this was not the case in our country. During the war, Soviet designers were already working on blueprints for new models. And when the war thunder ceased, we immediately began to make new cars without a break. Gorky Automobile Plant - passenger car GAZ - 20 "Pobeda" and truck GAZ - 51, Moscow Automobile Plant of cars ZIL - 150 and ZIL - 110, Yaroslavsky - automobile YAZ - 200.
Traffic safety is being talked about everywhere. First of all, the Ford concern. Beginning in 1955, his factories began to produce cars with a strongly concave steering wheel, then they used safe door locks, soft dashboard trim and even seat belts.
Up to 4 million cars are produced annually by Ford factories. In order not to lag behind, to beat competitors, the "empire" allocates large sums for experimental design and research work. The Ford Research Center in Dearborn employs 12,000 people and has two proving grounds in Arizona and Michigan.
Firm "Ford" has created a full production cycle, including the manufacture of steel and glass. The Ford concern has built automobile and assembly plants in many countries of the world: in England, Canada, Germany, Brazil and others. In Australia, for example, there are five assembly plants and one Ford automobile plant.
What helped Henry Ford achieve such success? Implementation of an assembly line into production. Conveyor (from English to transport) a conveyor, a continuous-action machine for moving bulk, lumpy or piece goods. Ford used a conveyor belt in its production to assemble small car parts and even bodies. The efficiency of using a conveyor in the technological process of any production depends on how the type and parameters of the selected conveyor correspond to the properties of the cargo and the conditions in which the technological process takes place. These conditions include: productivity, transportation length, track shape and direction of movement (horizontal, inclined, vertical, combined; conditions for loading and unloading the conveyor; dimensions of the cargo, its shape, specific density, lumpiness, humidity, temperature, etc.). The rhythm and intensity of delivery, and various local factors also matter.
High performance, simplicity of design and relatively low cost, the ability to perform various technological operations on the conveyor, low labor intensity of work, ensuring labor safety, improving its conditions - all this led to the widespread use of the conveyor. It was used in all areas of the economy: in ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, mining, chemical, food and other industries. Just as we have already seen from the above, in mechanical engineering. In industrial production, conveyors are integral part of technological process. Conveyors allow you to set and regulate the pace of production, ensure its rhythm, being the main means of complex mechanization of transport and loading and unloading processes and flow technological operations; conveyors, at the same time, relieve workers from heavy and time-consuming transport and loading and unloading operations, making their work more productive. Wide conveyorization is one of the characteristic features of developed industrial production.
The assembly of products with their continuous or periodic movement, carried out forcibly on a conveyor, is called conveyor assembly. It is carried out in line production and is aimed at reducing the labor intensity of the assembly process, alleviating working conditions and ensuring rhythmic production. Conveyor assembly requires a strict breakdown of the assembly process into individual elements. Each operation is performed by one worker or automatically. In the latter case, the functions of the worker include only the control and management of the assembly machine. The most widely used assembly line is large-scale and mass production.
Let's return to the topic of "Henry Ford" and his business and the concern he founded. In the early 1980s, Ford was in dire financial straits, rescued by its Western European subsidiaries, which were doing well at the time. In the face of intense competition, the company's engineers had to seriously engage in updating the manufactured models and developing fundamentally new designs of automotive components.
Henry Ford created the automobile power (in which he was undoubtedly helped by the invention of the conveyor belt). The term "Fordism" is associated with his name.
Fordism, a system of organizing mass production in the USA in the first quarter of the 20th century. Named for the American engineer and industrialist Henry Ford, who first introduced it to his automobile factories.
The assembly line became the basis of Fordism and the new methods of organizing production caused by it. Each of the workers, placed along the conveyor, carried out one operation, consisting of several (one and one) labor movements, for the implementation of which practically no qualifications were required. According to Ford, 43% of workers required training up to one day, for 36% - from one day to one week, and for 6% - 1-2 weeks, for 14% - from 1 month to a year.
Talented people always have a different way of thinking. Henry Ford, whose biography is known to everyone, was no exception. A great engineer, a talented boss, an inventor with a vegetarian addiction.
Henry Ford: A Brief Biography. Childhood
On a hot day on June 30, 1863, the future founder of Ford was born in Michigan. He studied at an ordinary school, had many friends. On his thirteenth birthday, his father gave him a wristwatch. The boy was so interested in the mechanism that, unable to bear it, he disassembled them, and later easily put them back together. He repeated the procedure more than once. Friends, seeing the natural talent of the master with a scrupulous approach to repairs, began to turn to the farmer's son for help in repairing wall and wrist watch... There were not enough tools at that time, I had to use improvised means in the form of a penknife, an old screwdriver with knocked down teeth.
Young Henry felt that housekeeping was not his way. In July 1876, he and his father were in Detroit. Slowly moving past him on the road vehicle driven by a steam engine. According to his own recollections, it was a locomobile.
Youth
Henry Ford leaves his father's farm at the age of 16. He was never able to find use in agricultural work. After moving to Detroit, he gets a job in Drydock's workshop as an apprentice mechanic. All the subsequent time he studied accounting and focused on the study of steam engines, since from the first memorable meeting he knew what he wanted to change in this machine. His parents never shared his passion for mechanics, they firmly stood on the intention to transfer the farming skill to the only heir. After getting a job as an apprentice machinist in Detroit, Henry worked part-time by fixing clockwork. Thus, this occupation turned into a kind of hobby that Ford carried with him throughout his life.
Henry Ford: biography and personal life
Having met Clara Ale Bryant in 1888, Ford briefly forgets about his plans, marries a young beauty and returns to agriculture in order to feed his family. But after a few years he was invited on the recommendation of the Edison Illuminating Company. In 1893, he was appointed to the position of chief engineer due to his technical literacy, responsibility and work discipline. But the thought of creating his own horseless carriage did not leave him.
Henry Ford has said more than once that his wife is the best companion for him. Son Edsel - the sole heir to Ford Motor in the future - will disappoint his active father with his indifference to the automotive business. The close circle told that the early death of his son was not a strong tragedy for the elderly Ford. But Klara, like a mother, got out of depression for a long time. Henry Ford himself will not understand that his son repeated his fate as a farm boy who dreams of racing on his own passenger car, and not trudge on a harnessed mule.
First model
In 1896 he built his first model, the Ford Quadricycle. Then in the same year, he personally meets with Thomas Edison and shows him his drawings of automotive technology. The directors and founders of the Edison Company were inspired by Ford's drawings and gave the go-ahead for the construction of an improved model.
Over the years, Henry and Thomas will become best friends and neighbors, discussing not only political and social issues, but also innovative implementations in the auto industry.
Achievements
Henry Ford, whose biography and achievements command great respect, never stopped halfway. Through numerous tests, in 1899 he already had a stake in a small car company. In 1903, at the age of 40, he founded the Ford Motor Company. The beginning production was attacked by a large auto syndicate. The litigation continued for about seven years, in the end the Ford company won and was cleared of plagiarism charges.
Industrial conveyor launch
Henry Ford, whose biography is described in the book "My Life, My Achievements", took as the basis of his work the methodology developed for Samuel Colt. Manufacturing steps include separate assembly for each item.
Ford introduced standardization of the parts used, thereby reducing overall assembly time and also reducing the number of skilled workers on the belt. Now the assembly could be controlled by ordinary workers.
Each workshop was engaged in its own work, which was actively modernized. Having figured out how to combine the work of the entire assembly mechanism, Ford created a single line in its production that passes through most of the shops. Additional lines were connected to the main conveyor for timely delivery essential elements when assembling.
By polishing the assembly process with a single assembly line, Ford achieved an amazing result. Every 10 seconds there was a finished car on its way. Thus, the company managed to make a profit, reduce the final cost of a car, allowing the average resident to purchase an iron horse.
In the fall of 1908, the first model of the legendary engineer, the Model T, rolled off the assembly line. The employees of the "Ford" company fondly called her "Tin Lizzie". American farmers give this nickname to their workhorses, and the Irish, for example, give this name to disobedient and wayward mares. The price of the car was just over $ 200 at the time. This model made it possible to occupy a niche in the market, covering the circle of people with an average monthly income in the country.
By introducing mass production at his plant, Ford was able to achieve an increase in the daily wages of workers. All drinkers, gamblers, having problems with the payment of alimony, convicts, and those on the wanted list could not get into the team. Later, the owner of the company will change his mind, changing his attitude towards people who have problems with family and the law, believing that this is not his concern. For order on the assembly lines, Ford often resorted to the services of crime bosses, appointing them to look at the sites. The reputation-destroying method worked flawlessly. There were no fights and squabbles, the workers were exclusively engaged in matters that were in their responsibilities.
The next step was the division of the working day into three shifts, the transfer of production to a round-the-clock operating mode. The eight-hour day was introduced by Henry Ford. His biography tells that he thereby organized several hundred jobs that are so necessary for local residents.
Many interesting things happened in the life of such a person as Henry Ford. A biography, a summary of which cannot convey all the details, includes a lot interesting facts from his life. By the way, the inventor described his life in his writings.
No one expected that the book that Henry Ford himself wrote (biography on English language), will be sold in such a circulation. It will become a kind of car bible.
Henry Ford will become America's first registered chauffeur. Although at that moment the rules road traffic did not exist yet.
The first car Ford sold cost $ 200.
The great designer firmly believed in human reincarnation. Answering questions, Henry Ford, whose biography is set out in the book, will tell about the soldier he was in a past life.
At his famous plant in wartime, equipment was assembled for the Germans who idolized Ford.
The first car was black. The shade was not chosen for the love of color, it just dries faster.
The first model is among the top ten man-made objects that changed the world, according to Forbes magazine.
Coal in briquettes is another innovation invented by a brilliant and talented engineer.
Takeover of "Ford Motor"
In 1909, the Ford brand was registered in the patent office. The image has changed slightly over the years, as Henry Ford himself wrote. The biography in English tells about a triangle with spread wings, denoting lightness and the desire for speed. The colors - blue and orange - did not change until the end of the 20th century.
In 1919, Ford and his son bought out the remaining shares, and the company was completely taken over by the family. Ford Jr. takes the lead in production.
Ford Motor Crisis
While Henry Ford, whose biography had not yet been completed, was resting in retirement, his son was in crisis. Outdated production, Model T was inferior to competitors in technical specifications... It was decided to close all Ford factories for restructuring and reconstruction of production facilities. However, at this time in the leadership race, General Motors came out on top, which a little earlier took care of expanding the range of cars - for any wallet and status.
The released Model A was defeated as a result, the sales rate was low. Consumers wanted a faster engine, more modern design. In 1932, Ford launched a monolithic eight-cylinder engine for the first time in history. Many years will pass while other companies implement their ideas on how to safely start such an engine. Henry Ford himself did not stand aside from the implementation of the project, the biography of that period indicates his indirect involvement in the grandiose breakthrough.
War time
The discoverer of briquette coal was always negatively disposed towards military operations, therefore he openly declared his pacifist sentiments. Imagine the surprise of society when it became known about the beginning of military production on the basis of "Ford Motor".
In 1942, the production of cars for civilians was stopped due to martial law. A massive campaign launched by Ford's son designed more than 50,000 military-grade elements in less than three years.
In 1943, Edsel Ford's only son dies of cancer. This was the reason for the return to the post of head of Henry Ford.
Last years
The first automobile tycoon Henry Ford met his old age with dignity. Biography, description of his life in his declining years confirm this.
Having transferred powers to his grandson, the brilliant engineer quietly retired and lived on his estate with his wife. He was awarded several honorary awards for his contribution to the automotive industry, received a medal of the highest standard for his contribution to the development of society. Ford died in 1947, at the age of 83.
After the death of the founder of the Ford Motor brand, his grandson continued the business and in several years raised production to a high level, capable of competing to this day.
Childhood with bolts and nuts in hand. A youth spent with dirty hands, always smelling of fuel oil. Not every boy dreams of such a life, but not Henry Ford. Originality of thinking, a kind of analytical mindset, natural talent and golden hands made him a person recognizable in every corner of the world. The biography of Henry Ford is a book that has become for many a hope for their future. With faith in himself and the Vedic spiritual forces, he persistently built his ladder of glory. The Ford Motor company founded by him today is one of the leaders in the automotive industrial arena.
Most Americans believe that Henry Ford invented the automobile. Everyone is sure that Henry Ford invented the conveyor, although 6 years before Ford, a certain Ransom Olds used moving carts in production, and belt conveyors were already used in grain elevators and meat processing plants in Chicago. The merit of Ford is that he created a continuous production. He came up with the car business. When enterprises became economically organized, there was a demand for a manager. The 20th century has become the century of government. But to come to this, creators had to appear at the beginning of the century. Henry Ford was such a creator. And for this he was recognized by Fortune magazine as the best businessman of the 20th century.
Henry Ford built the largest industrial production of the early 20th century and earned $ 1 billion ($ 36 billion in today's dollars) from it, his principles had a huge impact on public life in the United States. He sold 15 and a half million Ford-T cars, the assembly line has become a routine and necessary thing. Ford paid workers twice as much and thus created the blue-collar class. His workers saved money to buy "their" car - "Ford-T". Ford did not create demand for cars, he created conditions for demand. American management was born in the struggle against Ford principles. The founders of management theory formulated their principles in a correspondence dispute with Ford, and one of the first American practicing managers - Alfred Sloan of General Motors - defeated Henry Ford in a face-to-face battle.
The incredible success of the Ford entrepreneur ended in 1927 with the collapse of the Ford manager. By this time, Ford could no longer change. He so believed in his success and his righteousness that he did not notice the change of time, when the process of organizing a successful production passed into the stage of management. Ford once said: "Gymnastics is complete nonsense. Healthy people do not need it, but sick people are contraindicated." His attitude to management was the same. Only the product is important. If he is good, he will make a profit himself, if he is bad, then no financial investments, no wonderful management will make him successful. Ford despised the art of management. He spent less time in the office than in the shop. The financial papers annoyed him. He hated bankers and only accepted cash. He called the financiers speculators, thieves, wreckers and even robbers, shareholders - parasites.
"How many people are convinced that the most important thing is the structure of the factory, sales, financial resources, business management," Ford wondered. Ford launched mass production when he achieved a universal, that is, ideal, from his point of view, product. Further, an established production cycle creates a car, managers take into account only the total output, Ford himself makes sure that the departments work in concert, and the profit flows by itself. In his company, Ford made all the important decisions single-handedly. The market strategy was to use "penetration prices". The annual increase in production, the constant decrease in costs, the regular decline in car prices created stable demand and increased profits. The profits were returned to production. Ford paid nothing to shareholders. After becoming a successful individual entrepreneur, Ford saw commercial success as the best confirmation of his theory. He never tired of repeating: "Only work is able to create value."
The pure American dream
Henry Ford was born into a poor family, became rich and famous. Americans may forget the name of their president, but they will always remember the name of their car. Henry Ford's life was subordinated to one idea. He suffered defeat, endured ridicule, fought against intrigue. But he achieved everything he dreamed of. Henry Ford created the universal car and became a billionaire. He lived all his life with his wife Klara, who believed in him and always supported him. When asked if he would like to live life again, Ford replied: "Only if you can marry Clara again." His biography can be used to make a Hollywood film.
He was born on July 30, 1863, the son of an American farmer near Dearborn, Michigan. The family was not rich, the father worked all day in the field. Once, twelve-year-old Henry with his parents went to Detroit and for the first time saw a carriage with a motor - a locomobile. The horseless cart made a strong impression on the intelligent boy. The boiler was fired with coal, the locomobile barely trudged along a rural road and stopped to let the Fords cart pass. While the father driving the horses tried to drive, Henry spoke to the driver. He was terribly proud of his unit, so he began to show how the chain is removed from the moving wheel and how the drive belt is put on.
From that day on, Henry spent days trying to construct a moving mechanism. His toys were tools, his pockets were stuffed with nuts, and after his parents gave Henry a watch, he took it apart and put it back together. When you scold your children for deciding to see what's inside the tape recorder, think about Henry Ford. At the age of 15, Henry was fixing broken watches for neighbors and collecting the simplest mechanisms from all the rubbish. He did not finish school. “You cannot learn anything practical from books - a machine is for a technician what books are for a writer, and a real technician should, in fact, know how everything is made. them, "Henry Ford later wrote.
Henry Ford's father wanted his son to work with him on the farm - he continued the business. But the future founder of the automobile empire broke away from his roots and entered a mechanical workshop as an apprentice. At night he worked part-time with a jeweler - he repaired watches. He did not know rest at work, sometimes gaining 300 hours for repairs. Soon, however, Ford ceased to be interested in watches. He decided that watches were not essential and that not all people would be eager to buy them. He was drawn to self-propelled carriages. At the age of 16, he learned to drive a locomobile and got a job at Westinghouse as an expert in the assembly and repair of locomotives. These cars traveled at 12 miles per hour and were used as pulling power. The locomotive weighed several tons, they were so expensive that only a rich farmer could buy them. Ford decided to build a light steam wagon that could replace the horse when plowing. It was necessary to invent and build a steam engine, light enough to pull an ordinary cart or plow. "Shifting the difficult, harsh work of a farmer from human shoulders to steel and iron has always been the main subject of my ambition," Ford said.
But it was not a mass product. People showed more interest in a car they could drive on the road than in a field tool. And Henry put together a cart with steam engine... But it was not very pleasant to sit on the boiler under high pressure... For two years, Ford continued experiments with various boiler systems and made sure that a light horseless carriage with a steam engine could not be built. And then he first heard about gas engines. Like any new idea, she was perceived with curiosity, but without enthusiasm. Ford recalled that then there was not a single person who believed that the internal combustion engine could be further spread: "All smart people have irrefutably proved that such an engine cannot compete with steam engine... They had no idea that someday he would conquer the field of action. ”From that moment on, he disdained the advice of“ smart people ”.
In 1887, Henry Ford designed a model of the engine. To do this, he had (as in childhood) to disassemble a real engine that had fallen into his workshop and figure out what's what. To continue his experiments, Ford returned to the farm - not to plow, but to set up a workshop in the barn. His father offered Henry 40 acres of forest if he stopped poking around in cars. Henry cheated: he agreed, set up a sawmill, got married. But he spent all his free time in the workshop. He read a bunch of books on mechanics, designed motors, tried to adapt a motor to a bicycle. But it was impossible to advance further alone on the farm, and then Ford was offered a job as an engineer and mechanic at the Detroit Electric Company with a salary of $ 45 a month.
New colleagues laughed at him and tried to explain that the future belongs to electricity. It was then that Ford met Thomas Edison for the first time, told him about his work and shared his doubts. Edison became interested: "Any lightweight engine that can develop a larger number of Horse power and does not need any special source of strength, has a future. We do not know what can be achieved with electricity, but I believe that it is not omnipotent. Continue working on your car. If you achieve the goal that you set for yourself, then I predict a great future for you. "Now no one could convince him. We must continue to work. After all, besides his devoted wife, Thomas Edison himself believed in him.
In 1893, Ford assembled his first automobile, the ATV. To get out of the barn, I had to break the wall. When Henry Ford rode around Detroit on his "ATV", the horses shied away from him, and passers-by surrounded an unusual cart, which not only drove by itself, but also rattled around the whole district. As soon as Ford left the ATV unattended for a minute, some curious impudent gentleman immediately climbed into it and tried to ride it. I had to chain my car to a lamppost during every parking lot. Although no traffic rules existed at the time, Henry received a police clearance and became America's first officially approved chauffeur. In 1896 he sold the car for $ 200. This was his first sale. The money was immediately used to create a new car, lighter. He believed that heavy vehicles were for units. A locomotive, tank or tractor cannot be in mass demand. However, if now Henry Ford saw the Ford Expedition, he might have revised his views. But Ford believed that a mass product should be light and affordable: “Excess weight is as meaningless in any object as a badge on a coachman's hat - perhaps even more meaningless. The badge may, after all, serve for identification, while being overweight only means wasting energy. "
Although by this time he had already been promoted to the first engineer with a monthly salary of $ 125, the experiments with the car were met with no more sympathy from the director than his father's attraction to mechanics had previously. "I still hear his words in my ears:" Electricity - yes, the future belongs to him. But gas ?! No! ", - Ford will later recall. The company offered Ford a high position on the condition that he quit doing nonsense and devote himself at last to a real business. Ford chose a car. On August 15, 1899, he refused service to devote himself to the automotive business.
Myself. Only myself
There were also quick-witted companions who offered Ford to create the Detroit Automobile Company for the production of racing cars- they did not see any other application for cars then. Ford tried to defend the idea of mass production, but was left alone. “Everyone had one thought: to collect orders and sell as expensive as possible. The main thing was to make money. exclusively only a monetary enterprise, which, moreover, brought little money. " In March 1902, he resigned from his post and firmly decided never to occupy a dependent position again.
Ford never considered speed to be the main advantage of a car, but since attention could only be attracted by winning a race ("a more unreliable trial is difficult to imagine," he grinned), he had to build two cars designed exclusively for speed in 1903. "Descending from Niagara Falls should feel like a pleasant walk by comparison," he recalled of his first trip. For racing, Ford was recommended cyclist Oldfield, who had never ridden a car and was looking for new sensations. He learned to drive in a week, and, getting into the car before the race, said cheerfully: "I know that death may be waiting for me in this cart, but at least everyone will say that I was racing like the devil." Oldfried never turned back, did not slow down on turns. He took off and did not slow down to the finish line. His victory attracted investor interest in Ford - it's easy to get money when you have the most fast car... A week later it was issued Ford company Motor.
Ford organized his enterprise the way he wanted. He chose the slogan: "If someone abandons my car, I know that I myself am to blame." The priority is a product that is simple, reliable, lightweight, cheap and widespread. From the beginning, Ford was not creating a car for the rich, but a car for everyone. He avoided luxurious finishes, cared little about the prestige of the brand. There were three financial principles. Ford did not attract foreign capital to the company, bought only for cash, and invested all the profits back into production. Ford believed that only those who participated in the creation of the product, in the work itself, are entitled to dividends. All efforts of this work were directed towards the development of a universal car model.
Each of his first cars has a history. Model-A, built in 1904 under number 420, was purchased by Colonel Collier from California. After traveling for several years, he sold it and bought a new Ford. Model-A # 420 passed from hand to hand until it became the property of a mountain resident Edmund Jacobs. He used the car for several years for the hardest work, bought a new Ford and sold the old one. In 1915, the car fell into the possession of a certain Cantello, who took out the engine and adapted it to a water pump, and attached shafts to the chassis, so that the engine began to pump water in good faith, and the chassis, into which the mule was harnessed, replaced the peasant cart. The moral of the story is clear: Ford's car can be taken apart, but it cannot be destroyed.
Ford did not come up with beautiful names for its cars. He used the letters of the English alphabet in a row. While the previous models sold well, they remained experimental. Model-T has become universal. Her characteristic feature was simplicity. The advertisement read: "Every child can drive a Ford."
Ideal creation
And one fine morning in 1909, Ford announced that in the future there would be only one model, the "T," and that all cars would have the same chassis. Ford said: "Every customer can get a Ford-T in any color, as long as that color is black." In a statement, Ford tried to change the concept of a car as a recreational carriage. "A car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation," Ostap Bender later parodied Henry Ford's principle. But most importantly, Ford believed in the possibility of mass selling cars at a time when buying a car was treated the way it is today when buying an airplane. “I intend to build a car for general use. It will be big enough to fit a whole family, but small enough for one person to drive it. It will be made of best material, built by first-class workers and constructed with the simplest techniques possible in modern technology. Despite this, the price will be so low that anyone on a decent pay can buy a car to enjoy with their family in the free, clean air, "Ford said in a statement.
The ideal is easily believed while it is not available. The tangible ideal is suspicious. Everyone believed that one cannot do something well, and sell it cheaply, that a good car cannot be made at all for low price- and in general, is it advisable to build cheap cars when only the rich bought them? They said: "If Ford does as he said, in six months he will be gone." They laughed at Ford, called his enterprise "the greatest factory of cans", the Model-T was affectionately dubbed "Tin Lizzie" by the people. Spare parts for "Lizzie" were so cheap that it was more profitable to buy new ones than to fix old ones. To sell a lot, it was necessary not only to reduce the price of the car, but also to convince the buyer of the quality of the car. In the early days of the automotive industry, car sales were viewed as a profitable transaction. We received money from the buyer, the commission agent earned his interest and immediately forgot about the eccentric who bought himself expensive toy... Every car owner was considered a wealthy person who was worth shrinking. “We couldn't afford to have our sales shy by stupid thugs,” Ford announced. It infuriated him when “the disgruntled buyer was not looked at as a person whose trust was abused, but as a very annoying person, or as an object of exploitation from which money could be squeezed out again, putting in order the work that would have been needed from the very beginning So, for example, they were very little interested in the further fate of the car after the sale: how much gasoline it consumed, what was its real power. individual parts are as expensive as possible, based on the theory that a given person, having bought a whole car, must have parts at all costs, and therefore is ready to pay well for them. "
Ford's policy of mass sales was different: “Whoever bought our car had in my eyes the right to permanent use of it. Therefore, if there was a breakdown, it was our responsibility to ensure that the crew was ready for use again as soon as possible. ". This service principle was critical to Ford's success.
His fight
The competitors were worried. In 1908, the Detroit Association of Automobile Manufacturers, frightened by Ford's boisterous claims of a cheap car, tried to drag Ford into its office to control prices and production. They proceeded from the assumption that the market for the sale of cars is limited, therefore it is necessary to monopolize the business. On September 15, 1909, Ford loses the court on a formal basis: a certain Sölden, back in 1879, patented a "moving cart" that had nothing to do with Ford cars. However, a syndicate of automakers, relying on that patent, tried to crush the production of all American cars... After the trial, Ford's opponents spread rumors that buying Ford cars was a felony and that every buyer was at risk of being arrested.
Ford's return move showed confidence in victory. He ran an ad in all influential newspapers: "We are informing those buyers who, under the influence of the agitation undertaken by our opponents, have any doubts that we are ready to issue to each individual buyer a bond guaranteed by a special fund of 12 million dollars, so that each buyer secured against any accidents prepared by those who seek to take over our production and monopolize it. You can get this bond on demand. Therefore, do not agree to buy products of lower quality at insanely high prices based on rumors spread by our venerable company. enemies ". A better advertisement could not have been imagined. Nothing made Ford more famous than that process. During the year, Ford sold over eighteen thousand cars, and only 50 buyers demanded bonds. The lawsuit against the Automobile Manufacturers Association was lost, but the confidence of the buyers was won. In 1911, a new court overturned the decision in favor of Ford. "The time that is wasted fighting the competition is wasted; it would be better to use it for work," Ford said. Every year he reduced the cost of the "tin" and in 1927 solemnly left the factory in the fifteen millionth Ford-T car, which had changed little in 19 years. As did the principles of Henry Ford.
Personnel policy
When recruiting new employees, Ford was categorically opposed to hiring "competent persons". For this he was all the time accused of being uneducated. Once Henry Ford took offense at a Chicago newspaper for the word "ignorant" and filed a lawsuit. The newspaper's lawyer decided to demonstrate to the court Ford's ignorance and asked him the question: "How many soldiers were sent by Britain to America to crush the uprising of 1776?" Ford was not at a loss: "I do not know exactly how many soldiers were sent, but I am sure that much less returned home." Then he pointed his finger at the lawyer and said: “If I really needed to answer your stupid questions, then I just have to press the right button in my office, and I will have specialists who can answer any question. Why do I have to stuff my head with nonsense to prove that I can answer any question? "
Although he himself announced that he would never hire a specialist. "If I wanted to kill competitors by dishonest means, I would provide them with hordes of specialists. After receiving a lot of good advice, my competitors could not get down to work," Ford said sarcastically and mercilessly fired anyone who could imagine himself an "expert." Only someone who did something with his own hands could be worthy of Ford's respect. He believed that everyone should start at the bottom of the ladder. Old experience and the past of new employees were not taken into account. “We never ask about the past of a person who is looking for a job with us - we do not accept the past, but a person. only to give him the opportunity, he will especially try not to get into it again.Our bureau of employees therefore does not refuse anyone on the basis of his previous lifestyle - whether he leaves Harvard or Sing Sing prison, we do not care; we do not even ask about He should have only one thing: the desire to work. If this is not, then, in all likelihood, he will not seek a place with us, because in general it is quite well known that Ford is doing business. "
Ford believed that everyone in his factory ends up getting where they deserve. That the wave will carry the capable man to the place that belongs to him by right. “The fact that there are no“ free ”posts for him is not an obstacle, since we, in fact, do not have any“ posts ”, - wrote Ford. - Our best employees create their own place. The appointment is not connected with any formalities ; this person immediately finds himself in a new case and receives a new remuneration. " The factory manager began with the driver. The director of a large facility at River Rouge was hired by the sample maker. The head of one of the important departments started out as a garbage collector.
His achievements
In search of lower production costs, Ford noticed that the worker was spending more time finding and delivering material and tools than he was at work. I didn't want to pay for the workers' walks around the shop. "If twelve thousand employees save ten steps each day, then there will be a saving of space and energy of fifty miles," Ford calculated and realized that it was necessary to deliver work to the workers, and not vice versa. He formulated two principles: make the worker never take more than one step and never allow him to have to lean forward or to the sides during work. On April 1, 1913, Ford launched the assembly line. The worker who drove in the bolt did not tighten the nut at the same time; who put the nut, did not screw it tightly. None of the workers lifted or dragged anything.
On January 12, 1914, Ford sets the minimum wage at $ 5 a day (twice the industry average!) And reduces the working day to eight hours. "The ambition of every employer should be to pay higher rates than all of its competitors, and the desire of the workers is to practically facilitate the implementation of this ambition," - Ford explained his decision. At the same time, he pursues a policy of using the labor of disabled people, who are paid as much as healthy workers. The benefit was different: the disabled were better prepared for the monotony of conveyor work, because no qualifications were required. Thus, the blind man was assigned to the warehouse to count the screws and nuts to be sent to the branches. Two healthy people were doing the same job. Two days later, the head of the workshop asked that both healthy people be assigned another job, since the blind man was able to carry out the duties of the other two along with his work.
“An employer will never gain anything if he looks at his employees and asks himself the question:“ How much can I lower their wages? ”It is just as little benefit to the worker when he shakes his fist at the employer and asks:“ How much can I squeeze out of you? ” In the last analysis, both parties should stick to the enterprise and ask themselves the question: "How can you help this industry achieve a fruitful and secure existence, so that it gives us all a secure and comfortable existence?" - Ford insisted that the industrialist's partners are not the shareholders, but From January 1914, he notified the workers of the plan for their profit sharing.
Ford believed that profit belongs to three groups: first, the enterprise, in order to keep it in a state of stability, development and health; secondly, to the workers, with the help of whom profit is created; thirdly, to a certain extent, it is the same for society. The flourishing business brings profit to all three participants - the organizer, the producers and the buyer. According to Ford, the responsibility of the manager is to ensure that the personnel under him have the opportunity to create a decent existence for themselves. In other words, to be able to buy Ford cars. This was the first step towards the formation of the blue collar class.
"Beware of deteriorating the product, beware of lowering wages and ripping off the public. More brain in your working method - brain and more brain! Work better than before, only in this way can help and service be provided to all countries. This can always be achieved", - called Ford. His statements were treated with suspicion, but they were not just a publicity stunt. In one year, profits exceeded expectations so much that Ford voluntarily returned $ 50 to everyone who bought the car: "We felt that we unwittingly took more from our buyer by this amount."
Finance
The consequence of this policy of Ford was a conflict with shareholders. "If I were forced to choose between cutting wages and destroying dividends, I would not hesitate to destroy dividends" - such maxims could not find a response from the partners. Ford invested all the money he earned in production. The company grew rich, and the shareholders, led by the Dodge brothers, hoped to receive dividends. They had no idea that production could be limited to a single model. Ford contemptuously compared them to "fashion makers": "It's amazing how deeply rooted the belief that a brisk business, constant sales of a product does not depend on winning the customer's trust once and for all, but on first getting him to spend money on a purchase. item, and then convince him to buy a new item instead. "
Ford's principle was different: every part of the car must be replaceable so that, if necessary, it can be replaced with a more modern one. A good-quality car should be as durable as a good watch. Ford's car was monotonous, but reliable. The shareholders mutinied. Henry Ford, in order to lull their vigilance, resigned and transferred control to his son Edsel. In the meantime, he himself began to buy shares and very soon added the remaining 49% to the 51% he had at his disposal. There were no shareholders as such. There was no one to pay dividends. Ford put Edsel in charge of finances, and he himself continued to solely manage the production. The policy has remained unchanged: it is better to sell a large number of cars with a small profit than a small number with a large one.
How did Ford manage to buy nearly $ 60 million worth of shares? He opened new way spend less money in the enterprise - by speeding up turnover. On January 1, he had at his disposal $ 20 million in cash (remember that Ford only recognized cash ?!), and on April 1 - already $ 87 million, 27 million more than was necessary to pay off the debt for the shares. He sold all the property that had nothing to do with production - he received 24,700,000 dollars, he got another 3 million for foreign production... He bought the railway to lose less on transportation - the gain was 28 million. The sale of military loans and by-products brought 11.6 million. As a result - 87.3 million.
"If we took a loan," wrote Ford, "our desire to reduce the cost of production methods would not be realized. If we received money at 6%, and, including commission money and so on, we would have to pay more, then one production of 500,000 cars would add up to $ 4 per car.In short, instead of better production, we would only buy heavy debt.Our cars would cost about $ 100 more than they are now, our production would also be reduced because after all, the circle of buyers would have shrunk too. "
Management - according to Ford
In 1920, having sold everything that had nothing to do with the automotive industry, Ford rebuilt the factory. "Bezdelnikov" were transferred from the administration building to the workshops. "A large building for management, perhaps, is sometimes necessary, but when you see it, the suspicion awakens that there is a surplus of administration here," he said. All employees who did not agree to return to the machine were fired. Internal telephones between departments are disabled. Ford came up with the motto: "Less administrative spirit in business life and more business spirit in administration." This meant that the work of lower managers was reduced to accounting, there were no organizational charts and horizontal connections between departments at the enterprise, production meetings were eliminated, no "unnecessary documentation" was kept, order journals were canceled. Proudly declaring that statistics cannot build a car, Ford abolished statistics.
A purely utilitarian approach to management has been called Fordism. In order not to be unfounded, let us quote the founder himself: “The greatest difficulty and evil that has to be dealt with when a large number of people work together is excessive organization and the resulting red tape. In my opinion, there is no more dangerous vocation than the so-called organizational genius. He loves to create monstrous schemes that, like a family tree, represent the ramifications of power down to its last elements. The entire trunk of the tree is hung with beautiful round berries that bear the names of persons or positions. Each has its own title and known functions, strictly limited by the scope and scope of its activities. If the head of the workers' brigade wants to turn to his director, then his path goes through the junior head of the workshop, the senior head of the workshop, the head of the department and through all the assistant directors. , has already become history. Six weeks pass, while the clerk's paper from the bottom left berry in the corner of the great administrative tree reaches the chairman or president of the supervisory board. When it happily pushed its way up to this omnipotent face, its volume increased like an avalanche, to a whole mountain of critical reviews, suggestions and comments. It rarely happens that it comes to an official approval before the moment for its implementation has already expired. Papers wander from hand to hand, and everyone tries to shift the responsibility onto another, guided by the convenient principle that "the mind is good, but two is better", - wrote Ford in his book "My Life, My Achievements."
He saw the enterprise as "working communication of people whose task is to work, not exchange letters." One department doesn't need to know what's going on in another. In his company, he left only lower-level managers who were accountable for the products produced by their departments. No meetings or conferences were held: the hordes considered them completely superfluous. Overly complex organizational structure, according to Ford, led to the fact that it was not clear who was responsible for what. Everyone had to be responsible for the small area of work entrusted to him - that is, he used the organizational conveyor in management. He shuffled small leaders, carefully making sure that they did not dump the blame on each other. He also did not encourage friendly relations at work, fearing that people would begin to cover up for the mistakes of a friend.
"When we work, we have to take it seriously; when we are having fun, it’s with might and main. It is pointless to mix one with the other. Everyone should set a goal for themselves - to do a good job and get a good reward for it. When the work is over, you can have fun. then the Ford factories and enterprises do not know any organization, no posts with special duties, no developed administrative system, very few titles and no conferences. Consequently, there is no red tape. We put on everyone entirely responsibility. Every employee has his own job. The head of the brigade is responsible for the workers subordinate to him, the head of the workshop - for his workshop, the head of the department - for his department, the director - for his factory. know what is happening around him. The factory has been subordinated to one and only leader for many years. As there are no titles or official powers, then there is no red tape and no excess of power. Every employee has access to everyone; this system has become so much a habit that the head of the workshop does not even feel offended if any of his workers speaks directly over his head to the head of the factory. True, the worker rarely has a reason for complaints, since the heads of the workshops know perfectly well how their given name that any injustice will be revealed very soon, and then they will cease to be the heads of the workshops. If a person is dizzy from a high post, then this is revealed, and then he is either kicked out, or returned to the machine. Work, only one work is our teacher and leader. Titles have amazing effects. Too often, they serve as a sign to excuse themselves from work. Often, the title is equal to a badge of distinction with the motto: "The owner of this is not obliged to do anything other than assessing his high value and insignificance of other people."
Always wanting more
Ford lashed out with aphorisms ("Failure - only the opportunity to start again smarter," "More people gave up than losers"), was a tough boss, but truly loved and cared for his workers. He opened a school, a hospital, and started the tradition of collective picnics and dinners. He was a stern but fair father, hammering old-fashioned truths into the heads of his mischief-makers. If it were in his power, "Ord-T" would always be issued. When it had to be replaced in 1927, he closed production for six months. But it was too late: General Motors became the leader of the American automotive industry, realizing to reorient itself to the production of different brands, to offer the buyer a range of cars "for any purpose and any wallet."
Ford experienced the collapse of his principles extremely hard. Hatred of financiers spilled out with anti-Semitic bile (however, Ford later repented), the company was rolling down: not only GM, but Chrysler Corp. studied demand, sold on credit (and not only for cash), developed successfully, and Ford all rested on its once surprisingly successful principles. If he were a general, he would have sent the staff officers to the front line, put a heroic foreman over them. Ford's soldiers would be dressed, shod, well fed, he would personally check the thickness of the armor of tanks, the officer ranks would be canceled. Before the battle, he would drive a Ford-T in front of the army and lead it on the attack.
What's left: conveyor belt, blue collars, dealer system and customer warranties? Not only: any mass product from the Big Mac to the disposable pen has a common parent - the Ford-T car. His grandson Henry Ford II, after the death of his grandfather, recruited a rescue team of educated managers led by the future US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Henry Ford's principles have been revised. The "Ford-T" model has been named the car of the century. New " Ford focus" was recognized the best car 1999 year. The slogan of the advertising campaign "Ford Focus": "Always want more." True, the founder of the company himself meant something else by this. But was this Henry Ford, who was called a grumpy curmudgeon and an insane dictator, so simple? And was it he who laid the foundations for the prosperity of the Ford empire today?
“On the main Ford assembly line, people are working at a feverish pace. We were struck by the gloomy excited look of the people employed on the assembly line. The work absorbed them completely, there was no time even to raise their head. But it wasn't just physical fatigue. It seemed that people were mentally depressed, that they were seized by a daily six-hour madness at the conveyor belt, after which, returning home, they had to leave for a long time each time, recuperate, so that the next day they would again fall into temporary insanity.
Labor is dismembered in such a way that the people of the conveyor do not know how to do anything, they have no profession. The workers here do not operate the machine, but serve it. Therefore, they do not show the dignity that the American skilled worker has. The Ford worker gets a good wage, but it is of no technical value. They can put him out at any moment and take another. And this other in twenty two minutes learn to make cars.
Working for Ford provides income, but does not improve qualifications and does not provide for the future. Because of this, the Americans try not to go to Ford, and if they do, then as foremen, employees. Ford employs Mexicans, Poles, Czechs, Italians, Negroes. The conveyor moves, and one by one excellent and cheap machines come off. They go out through the wide gates into the world, into the prairie, to freedom. The people who made them remain imprisoned. This is an amazing picture of the triumph of technology and the disasters of man. Cars of all colors drove along the conveyor: black, Washington blue, green, cannon-colored cars (as it is officially called), even, ox, ox, noble mice. There was one body of bright orange color, as you can see, the future taxi.
Amid the din of assembly and the clatter of automatic wrenches, one man remained stately calm. It was a painter whose duty was to draw a colored strip on the body with a thin brush. He didn’t have any equipment, not even a drill, to support his arm. On his left hand were jars of different colors. He was in no hurry. He even managed to glance over his work with a discerning eye. On a mouse-colored car, he made a green stripe. On an orange taxi, he drew a blue line. He was a freelance artist, the only person at the Ford factory who had nothing to do with technology, some kind of Nuremberg meistersinger, a freedom-loving master of the paint shop. Probably, it was established in the Ford laboratory that it is most profitable to carry out the strip in this medieval way.
The bell rang, the conveyor stopped, and small car trains entered the building with breakfast for the workers. Without washing their hands, workers went to the trailers, bought sandwiches, tomato juice, oranges - and sat on the floor. “Sir,” said Mr. Adams, suddenly animated, “do you know why Mr. Ford’s workers have breakfast on the cement floor?” This is very, very interesting, sir. Mister Ford it makes no difference how his worker will have breakfast. He knows that the conveyor belt will still make him do his job, no matter where he ate - on the floor, at the table, or even did not eat anything at all. Take General Electric, for example. It would be foolish to think, sir, that the GE administration loves workers more than Mr. Ford. Maybe even less. And yet they have excellent canteens for workers. The fact is, sir, that they have skilled workers and they must be reckoned with, they can go to another plant. This is a purely American trait, sir. Do nothing extra. Rest assured that Mr. Ford considers himself a friend of the workers. But he will not spend a single extra penny on them.
We were offered to get into a car that had just come off the assembly line. Each car makes two or three test laps along a special factory road. This is in some way a very bad road... You can go around all the States and not find one. In general, the road was not so bad. A few correct bumps, a small, even pretty puddle - that's all, nothing terrible. And the car, made before our eyes by the hands of people who have no profession, showed remarkable properties. "
Ilya Ilf, Evgeny Petrov, One-story America, in Sat: Essays on Soviet writers about America / Comp .: M.A. Saparov, L., "Lenizdat", 1983, p. 204-205.
Why Ford has sharply raised the wages of workers working on the assembly line.
In 1913, Henry Ford launched the first assembly line in the automotive industry at the Highland Park plant. First, the assembly line was applied to the generator and engine, and then to the chassis (assembly time was cut in half). By the way, to increase labor efficiency, two conveyor lines were soon launched - for workers of different heights.
The result of this innovation was a reduction in the assembly time of a car (model T) from 12 hours to 2 hours (this happened within a few months), which made it possible to reduce its cost and make it the most popular car in the United States.
In addition to increasing production efficiency by standardizing operations and deepening the division of labor (Fordism), pipeline method production allowed Henry Ford to save a lot on training of workers (and on skilled workers). For example, assembling an engine used to require a fairly high qualification from an employee. After the process of assembling the engine was divided into 84 operations, each of which was performed by a separate worker, any special knowledge from the personnel was no longer required. Each worker mastered one operation and honed its execution to automatism.
Increasing labor efficiency through the conveyor belt method and saving on skilled workers allowed Ford to raise workers' wages and put into practice the "theory of effective wages." The fact is that the conveyor method of production made the work very tedious (the worker did the same thing for many hours in a row) and exhausted the workers (it was impossible to take a break and rest), which led to an increase in staff turnover. Therefore, the increase in wages was a much forced decision (and Ford was also afraid of the appearance of a trade union at his enterprise).
P.S. Charlie Chaplin made a film satire on Fordism in 1936 - "New Times".
