Henry Ford has become a kind of symbol of the American successful businessman. All over the world he is known as the "father" of the most famous brand cars. But besides that, he is also a writer, author of many innovations in the field of manufacturing parts, as well as labor law.
Henry Ford was born into a family of immigrants from Ireland. His grandfather left this country at one time and at his own peril and risk moved to America. His son (Henry Ford's father) became a farmer, and if not for his passion for cars, who knows: maybe Henry Ford also became just another person who works the land.
Childhood and youth
On his twelfth birthday, little Henry received a watch from his parents. And he did not calm down until he took them apart. And then I put it back together. The mechanism was as good as new. This gave the boy the idea that the mechanism itself is worthless if he does not have a mechanic with golden hands. Therefore, it is not surprising that he soon figured out the mechanism of the watch and received his first money precisely thanks to this skill: he traveled all the districts in search of broken mechanisms and easily repaired them.
The second significant day was the one when Henry saw the locomobile. His childish imagination was shaken by a car that moved faster than a team.
When he was 13 years old, his mother died, and four years later, Henry Ford himself fled from his parental home - he terribly did not want to do the same thing that his father did: run a household.
Therefore, Henry goes to Detroit - the future capital of the automotive industry. There he gets a job at Westinghouse as a mechanic. The company makes locomotives, so it is not surprising that Henry himself will soon construct his first model. He sold it to a familiar farmer for almost nothing - he did not count the effort and time spent.
And then the future business tycoon returns home. The father promised that he would give the irrepressible son-dreamer a piece of land if he got rid of the strange ventures about cars from his head. Henry agrees and ... deceives his father. The land he received gives him the opportunity to marry his girlfriend and have a place where no one will stop him from working on his own "car".
Wife and muse: is it difficult to live with a genius
Henry Ford captivated his future wife Clara Bryant with the ability to dance beautifully and make watches from a heap of scrap. And although the girl's parents were against the wedding, the quickly built house calmed them down.
Klara supported her husband for more than one year in his desire to make a self-propelled crew. She patiently served spare parts at night in the garage, often caught cold from such "romantic" evenings. But she believed in Henry Ford like no one else.
Therefore, it is not surprising that when an already successful and wealthy businessman was asked who he would like to be in his next life, he repeated the same thing: "I don't care if it will be possible to marry Clara again."
The first steps and the birth of a giant company
In 1899, Ford became a co-owner of the Detroit Automobile Company, but due to frequent disagreements, decided to leave after three years. And already in 1903 his Ford Motor Company appeared. The start of the business started with a scandal: in 1979, the author of the first car patented his project, but never realized it. But he filed a lawsuit against all manufacturers with a claim that they buy licenses from him. Ford refused. Then he was threatened that all his clients would be dragged into the courts. But here, too, Ford was at his best: he promised to personally pay his customers for lawyers if they were against them. And although Ford lost the court, he won more: the respect and reputation of a person who puts the rights of buyers above his own.
In 1908, Ford Motor Company released the revolutionary Model-T, which brought success to the company.
From War to War: Ford, Tanks, and the Jewish Question
Although Ford was an avid pacifist, during the First World War, his factories changed their qualifications: they made tanks and prototypes of submarines, helmets and even gas masks. After the end of the war, Ford founded The Dearborn Independent, which, beginning in May 1922, published many anti-Semitic materials. He did not hide his negative attitude towards Jews and the apotheosis of this was the book "International Jew", which included many articles from the newspaper.
It even got to the point that the future Fuhrer Adolf Hitler began to quote him. In his book Mein Kampf, he often referred to the thoughts of Henry Ford.
But after public condemnation and a significant decline in sales, Ford publicly apologized and recanted his words, and all editions of "International Jewry" were removed from sales and destroyed. Before the outbreak of World War II, he again repeated his apology for the old words about the Jews. But during the war, his factories in Europe still collaborated with Nazi Germany.
New ideas and the last years of life
In 1925, Ford founded his own airline - Ford Airways, in the same year he began to produce airliners. The most successful model was the Ford Trimotor, nicknamed the "iron goose". She stayed on the market until 1989.
Until the 1930s, Henry Ford personally ran the company, but due to disagreements with partners, he transferred this position to his only son Edsel. But he died in 1943, so Ford took over the Ford Motor Company for another two years. After I transferred all the affairs to my grandson
- Every year the prices for Ford cars did not grow, but decreased. Ford considered it unwise to throw new costs onto customers, so he looked for ways to make production more efficient.
- Disabled people, even completely blind people, were gladly hired to the factories of Henry Ford. The company's specialists analyzed what kind of work one-armed and even legless can do, and the first thing they took to such positions was them, and not completely healthy people.
- But women were reluctant to take to work at the Ford factories. Only if she is the only breadwinner in the family. But as soon as she got married, she was immediately fired. Henry Ford believed that bringing money into the house was the lot of the husband, and the woman should raise the children.
- Henry Ford is the author of assembly line production. At his factories, everything was accurately calculated: how much space is needed for each employee, and how many seconds they spend on this or another function. Neither time nor space should be wasted. Ford believed that the first thing this would be reflected in the price of the car, and therefore on the wallet of his customers.
Titles, awards and prizes:
In 1928, the Elliot Cresson Medal was awarded to Ford by the Benjamin Franklin Institute for Revolutionary Achievement in the Automotive Industry and Industrial Leadership.
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 - April 7, 1947) - American engineer, industrialist, inventor. One of the founders of the US automotive industry, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, the organizer of the in-line production.
Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863, the son of a Michigan farmer, an emigrant from Ireland. The father was dissatisfied with him, considering him lazy and sissy - the son behaved like a prince who happened to be on a farm. Henry was reluctant to do whatever he was told. He hated chickens and cows, hated milk. "Already in my early youth, I thought that many things could be done differently - in some other way." For example, he, Henry, has to climb steep stairs every morning, carrying buckets of water. Why do this every day when you can only lay two meters of water pipes underground?
When his son was twelve, his father gave him a pocket watch. He could not resist - he forged the cover with a screwdriver, and something wonderful opened up to his eyes. Parts of the mechanism interacted with each other, one wheel moved the other, each screw was important here. Having disassembled and assembled the watch, the boy pondered for a long time. What is the world if not one big mechanism? One movement is generated by another; everything has its own levers. To be successful, you just need to know which levers to push. Henry quickly learned how to repair watches and for some time even worked part-time, touring the surrounding farms and taking chronometers that had been put up for repair. The second shock was the meeting with the locomobile. Henry and his father were returning by cart from the city when they met a huge self-propelled car enveloped in steam. Overtaking the cart and frightening the horses, the smoking and hissing monster rushed past. At that moment, Henry would have given half his life to be there in the chauffeur's booth.
At the age of 15, G. Ford left school and at night on foot, without saying anything to anyone, he went to Detroit: he would never become a farmer, as his father wanted.
At the factory where he got a job, they made horse-drawn carriages. Here he did not last long. Ford only had to touch the broken mechanism to understand what the problem was. Other workers began to envy the gifted newcomer. They did everything to survive the upstart from the factory, and they succeeded - Ford was fired. Later, Henry got a job at the Flower Brothers shipyard. And at night he worked part-time by fixing the clock so that he had something to pay for the room.
And William Ford, meanwhile, decided to make one last attempt to return his son to farming: he offered 40 acres of land on the condition that he would never say the word "machine" again in his life. Henry suddenly agreed. The father was pleased, the son too. The gullible William did not even suspect that his son was simply fooling him. For Henry, this incident served as a lesson: if you want to become king, be ready to lie.
Soon, Henry Ford decided to get married. Clara Bryant was three years younger than him. They met at a country dance. Ford was a brilliant dancer and impressed the girl by showing her his pocket watch and claiming that he had made it himself. They were connected by a lot - just like Henry, Clara was born into a farmer's family, she did not disdain any work. The girl's parents are pious and strict people, of course, they would not give her up for a young man without a penny, without land and a home. Having hastily built a cozy house on his site, Henry settled in it with his young wife. Years later, the automobile monarch will say: “My wife believed in my success even more strongly than I did. She has always been like that. " Clara could spend hours listening to her husband's reasoning about the idea of creating a self-propelled crew. Throughout her long family life, she always knew how to maintain an elegant balance - she was interested in her husband's affairs, but never interfered in them.
As time went. And one day Ford Sr. found the cozy house of the newlyweds abandoned - Henry and Clara unexpectedly moved to Detroit, where Ford went to work for the Detroit Electric Company as an engineer.
In November 1893, Clara gave Ford a son. The boy was named Edsel.
That same year, in a brick shed behind the semi-detached house where he lived with his wife, Clara, Ford finished building his first experimental car. The inventor worked for two days without rest or sleep, and at two in the morning on June 4 he came to inform his wife that the car was ready and he was now going to test it. Dubbed the "Quadricycle" and weighing only five hundred pounds, the car ran on four bicycle tires.
And in the same 1893, Ford became the chief engineer of the Edison company, which specialized in lighting Detroit, and then - in 1899 - the chief engineer of the Detroit car company... But after a while, they began to notice that Ford spends all his mental and physical strength on a gasoline cart, and not at all on office work. Henry was offered a leadership position on the condition that he give up his invention. Ford hesitated. The arguments of reason were as follows: the family must be supported, there are no savings - everything was spent on building the cart. Clara, seeing his hesitation, said that whatever Henry did, she would approve of his decision. After leaving, Ford began to "sell himself." He was looking for wealthy partners, because Henry himself did not have money, as such, and in his new enterprise he assigned himself the role of a supplier of ideas. But nobody wanted to buy these ideas. In the end, after giving a Detroit businessman a ride at breakneck speed, Henry agreed to work with the inventor. Detroit Automobile Company did not last long. “There was no demand for cars, just as there is no demand for any new product. I left my post, determined never to be in a dependent position again, ”Ford recalled. And again the "trade in ideas" began, the search for companions. Refusals rained down on him like a cornucopia, from one office he was almost taken out by force. Finally, in 1903, the Ford Motor Company was registered. Henry became general manager. Being himself a self-taught mechanic, Ford willingly hired the same nuggets at the plant: “The specialists are so smart and experienced that they know exactly why this and that cannot be done, they see limits and obstacles everywhere. If I wanted to destroy competitors, I would provide them with hordes of specialists. "
The car king never learned to read blueprints in his entire life: engineers simply made a wooden model for the boss and gave him to court.
In 1905, Ford's financial partners did not agree with his intention to produce cheap cars, because expensive models were in demand, the main shareholder Alexander Malcolmson sold his share to Ford, after which Henry Ford became the owner of a controlling interest and president of the company (he was president of the company in 1905-1919 and in 1943-1945).
A real triumph for Ford was the introduction of the "T" model, which meant a change in all benchmarks in the concept of the automotive industry. He created it as a sculptor, cutting off all unnecessary things, creating not a luxurious toy for the elite, but an affordable product for thousands and thousands of “average Americans”. The success exceeded all expectations. Over the years of production of the "T" model, more than 15 million cars were sold, easily conquering the consumer market.
Mass production required the standardization and unification of all technological processes. “Terror of the machine” - this is how Ford characterized the control system he implemented. A clear control and planning system, conveyor production, continuous technological chains - all this contributed to the fact that the Ford empire worked in automatic mode.
Ford was the first to establish minimum wages and an 8-hour workday in its factories. However, going to improve the social status of workers, Ford preferred to do this solely on his own initiative. Therefore, in the future, he stubbornly ignored the pressure of the trade unions, which ultimately led to a protracted conflict with them in 1937-1941. A sociological service with a staff of 60 people was created at his factories, which at that time was a major innovation.
Ford was literally obsessed with diet and a healthy lifestyle, was fond of the history of American culture, and was no stranger to philanthropy. However, his social activities - active anti-Jewish accessions, a cruise of the world during the First World War, an attempt to become a senator - were mostly scandalous.
Believing in his own genius, Ford began to lose the flexibility and flair of an innovator. In the 1930s, there were major changes in consumer demand, and Ford, devoted to its old concept, did not take them into account. As a result, the leading position in the automotive industry had to be yielded to another large company - General Motors.
In September 1945, Ford transferred the management of the company (previously formally owned by his only son Edsel) to his grandson and namesake Henry Ford 2 and retired. Two years later, on April 7, 1947, at the age of 83, Ford died.
American engineer, inventor, industrialist Henry Ford was born in July 1863. He became the pride of the United States, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, the organizer of the production and the designer of the flow and conveyor complex.
Henry Ford's car was created as a work of art, there is nothing superfluous in it, its beauty is expedient and functional. And this is not a luxurious toy. This is a convenient, affordable gift that Henry Ford gave to the average American family. The biography of this inventor and designer is a worthy example for every person.
Merit
Henry Ford is famous, whose biography over time acquires more and more fantastic details, the fact that he was able to create a flow in production. And the car business is also his idea, which he also brought to life. And the most important thing is management. Economically organized enterprises need managers, and the twentieth century has given the world a creative businessman. The best businessman of the century, according to Fortune magazine!
He built the largest production facility that existed at that time, a real industry on which Ford earned his first billion (today this money is "worth" thirty-six billion). The principles of its management still have a tremendous impact on the entire structure of US society. Ford managed to sell fifteen and a half million Ford-Ts, and the production line for production became more commonplace than a bicycle on the street.
Opponent and creator of management
If he had not been an opponent of the management principles of Henry Ford, his biography would not have been replenished with the title of the best businessman. He had his own principles: he paid workers twice as much as other employers, sold them cars at significant discounts. Thus, he created the class, still called "blue collars". He did not raise the demand for his products. No! He created the conditions for such a demand.
This did not coincide very much with the principles of the current production policy. was created and formulated in an absentee dispute between Ford and theorists who could not defeat the noble automaker in any way until a practical manager from General Motors appeared, who completely defeated Henry Ford in a full-time dispute. So the successful Ford, whose biography is worthy of the pen of a Hollywood film screenwriter, as an entrepreneur, crashed in 1927.
Only the product matters
By this time, Henry could no longer change his beliefs. He really "starred", that is, he was absolutely sure of his own righteousness. And new times had come, the change of which he did not notice. Successful production now required management, and a new quality of management, which Henry Ford could not understand in time. His quotes on this matter are remarkable: "Gymnastics is nonsense. Healthy people do not need it, but sick people are contraindicated." He treated the management the same way.
Ford was convinced that if the product is good, it will certainly make a profit, and if it is bad, then the most wonderful leadership will not bring results. Ford despised the art of management, ran around the shops, looked into the office only occasionally, financial documents seemed sickening to him, he hated bankers, recognized only cash. The financiers were for him thieves, speculators, pests and robbers, and the shareholders were parasites. And so talented Henry sprinkled on this topic! Until now, grateful management uses them as an example of losing business sense. In any case, if he was not right, he was extremely honest with consumers.
Honest product
Henry Ford's statements on this matter are relevant for all time: "Only work creates value!" - he did not get tired of repeating. And so it was. Mass production at the plant did not begin until the model reached the ideal, absolutely universal, in Ford's opinion, state. Further, it is being adjusted and the car is put on stream. Managers look after the total output, Ford looks after them so that the departments work in concert with each other, and then the profit flows freely to the enterprise by itself.
The head of the enterprise decided all the most important questions himself. Henry Ford's theory was that the value of a market strategy lies in "penetration prices." The volume of production increases every year, the costs constantly decrease, the prices for the car are regularly reduced - this is how a stable growth of profits is created, since the demand also grows. Profit is necessarily returned to production. While Henry Ford’s principles worked for commercial success, he was a self-employed entrepreneur — he didn’t pay shareholders at all.
Main values
This is the American dream: to be born like Henry Ford into a poor farming family, to become rich and famous. Compatriots can forget who their president is today, but Henry Ford's car will always be remembered. Ford served an idea, one and only and all his life, suffered absolute defeats, endured widespread ridicule, fought with sophisticated intrigues. But he achieved his goal: he created a car and earned billions.
Henry Ford's wife, Clara, was also alone for life. She believed him unquestioningly, supported him in difficult moments wholeheartedly. He was once asked how he would live his life if he was given a second opportunity. Henry Ford's statements were always worthy of memorization: "I would agree, but on one condition: I will marry Clara again."
Start
In fact, Henry's life did not start so easily. He was born on a farm in Michigan, where from an early age he was forced to help his father work in the fields. He sincerely hated this occupation. He was attracted only by mechanisms. And the steam locomobile that he saw at the age of twelve shook the boy's soul to the very bottom. This is how the story of Henry Ford began.
Every day until late in the evening, Henry struggled with the construction of a moving mechanism. He ceased to look like an ordinary boy: his pockets are full of nuts, instead of toys - tools. His parents gave him the first watch in his life, which he disassembled on the same day and assembled as it was. From the age of fifteen, he ran around the neighboring farms and repaired any mechanisms for everyone, and, thus, he did not graduate from school. subsequently, Henry Ford's statements on this matter did not change ideologically. He said that books do not teach anything practical, and for a technician the most important thing is the mechanism from which he, as a writer from books, will learn all the ideas and be able to apply them.
Steam locomotives
Henry did not know rest in work: he completely broke away from the farm roots, worked in a mechanical workshop, and at night he repaired watches, working part-time with a jeweler. Since he already had an idea, and only a self-propelled carriage carried away all his dreams, at the age of sixteen he got a job at the Westinghouse Company as an expert in the assembly and repair of locomotives. These multi-ton monsters of the automotive industry did 12 miles per hour and were most often used as a tractor. Locomotives were so expensive that not every farmer could buy such a car.
Henry Ford's first company, although not his brainchild, gave him the opportunity to grow in the profession, find ideas and try to implement them. The first attempt was the creation of a lightweight steam trolley for plowing. Henry remembered his father, that his purely paternal dream of a helper son had collapsed, and his conscience, of course, worried him. Therefore, he wanted to quickly alleviate the harsh lot of farmers, to shift the main work from his father's shoulders to the iron horse.
New engine design
The tractor is not a mass product. People want a car that can be driven on the road, not a tool for field work. However, the cart that Henry had assembled was dangerous: it is more comfortable to sit on the bomb than on the boiler under high pressure... Young Ford studied boilers of all designs and realized that the future was not behind them, that a light crew with a steam engine was impossible. Hearing about gas engines, Ford was filled with new hopes.
Smart people listened to him with interest, but they absolutely did not believe in the success of Henry Ford in this matter. He did not meet a single educated acquaintance who would understand what was behind the engine internal combustion the future of humanity. From that moment on, he disregarded all the advice of the "wise men". This engine was designed by Henry Ford in 1887. To do this, he had to disassemble Philippe Le Bon's gas engine and figure out what's what, then return to the farm to experiment there.
Engineer and mechanic
The father was overjoyed at the return of his son and presented him with a plot of forest so that he would just stop picking at the pieces of iron. Henry Ford, slightly cunning, agreed, built a house, a sawmill, a workshop and married Clara. Naturally, I spent all my free time in the workshop, reading books on mechanics, designing.
Since it was impossible to advance on the farm alone, he moved to Detroit, where he was offered a $ 45 salary from an electric company. Clara always supported her husband in all his endeavors.
He did not find sympathy with his new colleagues about his throwings, because they were sure that electricity was absolutely the whole future of the planet, but the "father of electricity" himself became interested, treated with understanding and wished good luck. Henry Ford was incredibly elated.
America's first chauffeur
When in 1893 Henry Ford rode through Detroit on his own with an internal combustion engine, which he called an ATV, the horses shied away, passers-by were surprised at the loud rumble, surrounded and questioned. There were no traffic rules yet, so I had to get permission from the police. So he became the first officially approved chauffeur in America.
After driving for three years, Henry sold the first brainchild for two hundred dollars and used them to create a new model of a lighter car. For some reason, he then believed that heavy cars were not needed. Ah, if he now looked at the brainchild of his company - Ford Expedition, then he would definitely change his mind. However, then he believed that the mass product was easy and affordable.
By then, the electric company had made him the first engineer, paid $ 125 a month, but his experiences in the automobile industry caused resentment among the management. It believed only in electricity. In gas - no. The company offered Henry Ford an even higher post, but just let him drop this nonsense and get down to real business. Ford thought about it and chose his dream.
Racing car
Companions were quickly found and invested in the newly formed Detroit Automobile Company to manufacture racing cars. Henry Ford could not defend the idea of mass production. The companions needed money, they simply did not see any other use of the car. True, this enterprise did not bring a lot of money to anyone. In 1902, he left the company to never again find himself in a dependent position. "All by myself!" Henry Ford said to himself. Achievements were on the way.
Speed was never considered to be the merits of a car, but since the attention of society could only be attracted by victory, he still had to prepare two cars designed for high speed. "It is impossible to give a more unreliable guarantee! - he said to himself, - you can fall from Niagara Falls with a large percentage of luck."
But the cars were ready to race. Only the driver was missing. The thrill-seeking cyclist named Oldfield agreed to ride with the breeze. But he never drove a car. There was a week left before the races. The cyclist did not disappoint. Moreover, he never looked around, did not turn around and did not slow down when cornering: just as he pushed the pedal all the way in at the start, he did not slow down to the finish line. Ford's car came first. Investors got interested, about a week later the company was founded, the main brainchild of Ford - Ford Motor.
A car for everyone
Henry Ford organized his own enterprise according to his own plan. The priority was a product that was reliable, easy to operate, cheap, lightweight, and mass-produced. Ford didn’t want to work for the rich, but he wanted to make all his compatriots happy. No luxury, the simplest and most functional finish. And the prestige of the brand did not matter either. His models did not even have beautiful names; he called each new one the next letter of the alphabet.
Ford observed three basic financial principles: he did not take other people's capital, he bought everything exclusively for cash, and all profits went into production. Dividends are only due to those involved in the creation of the product. All thoughts, all Ford's efforts were directed towards the creation of a universal car. It was a model with the letter "T". The previous ones also sold quite well, but compared to the "T", they seemed just experimental. Now the advertisement could quite rightly read: "Every child can drive a Ford!"
Perfect creation
In 1909, Henry Ford announced that he would now only produce the Model T with the same chassis. And, as always, he made this statement witty: "Everyone can buy a Ford-T of absolutely any color, provided that any color is black."
To understand the scale of the event the head of the company started, and started it with absolute faith in success, you need to imagine that a certain person created a company in order to provide each of us with cheap and comfortable planes. Such was the attitude towards buying a car in those days.
The car had to be roomy enough so that the whole family could comfortably fit in. Henry Ford was also worried about choosing the best material. The design should be as simple as possible in today's technology, he thought. And he always had first-class workers.
Ford said that the price of the car would be so low that any working person could buy it. Here, with these very words, many stopped believing him. Tin can factory! - shouted his opponents. And the Model T was called Lizzie's Tin Can. It would seem, what's the difference, what the dogs bark about. It doesn't matter - the caravan is on its way. But in order to sell a lot, low prices will not help. You need to convince about the quality.
Customer care
At the origins of the automotive industry, selling a car was considered a profitable operation - and nothing more. Sold - forgotten. Nobody was interested in the further fate of the car. When repairing, the spare parts were prohibitively expensive, since the owner has nowhere to go - he will buy it as cute. Ford sold spare parts extremely cheaply and took care of repairing the cars of his plant.
The competitors got excited. Intrigues, gossip, even patent courts began. Ford did not hesitate to print in the newspapers that every car buyer could demand a twelve million dollar bond from Ford Motor, guaranteeing that money would be received in the event of unpleasant accidents. And he asked not to buy cars of obviously low quality at high prices from enemies of the Ford Motor Company. And it worked! In 1927, the fifteen millionth one left the factory gates, which has not changed in nineteen years. As did not change his principles, Henry Ford. His biography did not end there. Before his death in 1947, he managed a lot: to create best cars, write some great books, and make the American Dream come true.
When it seems that the whole world is against you, remember that the plane takes off against the wind! That's what Henry Ford said. And he followed this rule all his life.
Henry Ford is generally regarded as the creator of the twentieth century "industry of industries." And the man who brought the industrial revolution to its climax. His company manufactured and assembled virtually all the components of the cars produced, using the constantly moving belt of the main assembly line and numerous auxiliary lines supplying it with parts, as well as applying the principle of vertical integration of interacting divisions. The money and efforts of people were spent in such a way as to ensure significant volumes of production: from 1914 onwards.
Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 in Michigan on his father's farm near the village of Deeborn. USA.
The Ford family - the perfect find for moralizing biographies - lived a working life, enjoying humble, hard-to-find wealth.
Henry spent his childhood on a farm, where he helped his parents, and also began his education at a rural school in Dearborn, Michigan.
In addition to Henry, the family had six more children.
As a young man, at the age of twelve, Henry built a small workshop in which he spent all his free time. A few years later, Henry had already created his first engine, which was powered by steam.
When one of the children was given a clockwork toy, the young Fords squeaked in six voices: "Just don't give Henry!" They knew that he would take it apart to a screw, and after assembly, half of the parts would be superfluous. This bright image emerges from the memories of Ford himself: in one hand young Henry was holding a broken alarm clock, in the other - a screwdriver, and a small flashlight, the only source of light, was squeezed by his knees.
In 1879 he turned sixteen years old, and one day, without saying a word to anyone, he folded the bundle and went to Detroit. After walking nine miles, Henry rented a room there and got a job as an apprentice in a mechanical workshop as an assistant machinist.
In 1887, he went to a congress in Atlantic City, where experts in the field of electrical engineering met, met there with the already famous and wealthy at that time Thomas Edison, with whom he communicated for a long time and told him about his developments and ideas in the field of creating new engines. ... business manager ford management
Ford's assistants were amazed that Henry, always saving on workers' wages, doubled wages with the onset of the Great Depression (1929-1932). And Henry's household had reasons for concern: the way he treated his only son, Edsel, defied any explanation.
Edsel was always a good boy: he received only excellent grades, obeyed his dad, was respectful to his employees and really wanted to head Ford Motor - in a word, he did what he was supposed to. Henry did not want to let his son go to the First World War - and Edsel came to the recruiting station and demanded to give him a reservation as the organizer of military production; Henry was suspicious of higher education - and the excellent student Edsel came to the Ford corporation right after school, at the age of 21 he got a seat on the board of directors. Edsel caught dad's instructions on the fly and disappeared for hours in the design bureau: his father made the most reliable car in the world, he dreamed of making the most beautiful.
In the late thirties, Edsel began to complain of stomach pains. He was prescribed a barium diet, but he considered himself a sophisticated person and did not want to be treated in this way. When the doctors diagnosed stomach cancer, it was too late to do anything. Ford Jr. was cut out half of his stomach and asked his family to prepare for the worst, but Henry decided that the doctors were doing nonsense as usual. He was absolutely sure that his son could deal with his problems on his own: his secretary handed Edsel a lengthy memorandum in which Henry outlined all his claims. His father told him to work harder, ordered him to break off relations with the "slobber" from the wealthy families of Detroit, offered to make friends with good, reliable, trusted people, a list of whom Henry attached to his letter. It ended with a pretentious appeal: "Restore your health by partnering with Henry Ford!"- at this phrase Edsel burst into tears, wrote a letter of resignation and went home.
Henry never believed that his son was dying; during the funeral, the elder Ford looked not so much broken as bewildered. Walking behind the coffin, he kept repeating: "There is nothing to be done, you need to work harder."
Harry Bennett, Henry's new right-hand man, became the executive director of Ford Motor. He started his career as a sailor, then became a professional boxer, and then got into Ford's bodyguard, liked him and managed to get to the very top. The manager Bennett turned out to be worthless: together with Henry, who had finally lost his mind, they almost brought the company to bankruptcy: under the onslaught of competitors, sales of Ford Motor fell every year.
Henry was actively driving out of his mind - lately the old man often spoke in the direction of unfamiliar people and shared his innermost with them: "You know, I'm sure Edsel is not dead!" He became more and more manageable, and power in the family passed to women. The old man became more and more strange, he really wanted to celebrate the centenary, but fate did not want to show the elder Ford the last mercy. He died in 1947 at the age of 84. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law entered into a temporary alliance.
"Ford Motor" still belongs to the heirs of the founder. But the Fords are no longer running the company — hired managers are the ones who run the business.
Henry's grandson, at the insistence of his family, was named Henry II. He still does not know how to read and does not know that his surname is written on tens of millions of cars.
THE MAIN CONTRIBUTION OF HENRY FORD
· Although Ford is often credited with inventing assembly lines and highly efficient mass production, most of his ideas and practical innovations that have made both the entrepreneur and the company prosperous and famous have been known for decades, sometimes centuries. In addition to the internal combustion engine and the automobile as such, these inventions and ideas included scientific management methods requiring the study of labor movements. And also the systematic use of wages as an incentive to work; use of interchangeable parts; planning and standard procedures for inventory control, product release and accounting; the use of assembly and production lines; and even continuously moving assembly line production.
However, Ford did develop production, assembly, and transportation systems that were unprecedented in their mobility and size, and anticipated their emergence in the late twentieth century. Just-in-time methods. Henry Ford's main dream of mass motorization of the population was, in fact, purely American, based on his sympathies for equality, mobility, change, realism, directness and simplicity.
- · In 1908, he created the "Ford T" - a car of all times and peoples, with minor changes produced until 1928. Lightweight, compact, cheap, simple: farmers drove in it to shop, bootleggers transported smuggled whiskey, gangsters ran away from the police - and they all could not boast of a Ford T.
- · Wrote several books that have become iconic for many business owners and fans around the world.
- · Creator of one of the first charitable foundations founded by industrialists.
- · Awarded the American Petroleum Institute's National and Society Achievement Award.
By the age of fifty, Ford had become a multimillionaire, and his car became one of the national symbols of America. After that, he abandoned invention forever: the "Ford T" was to remain his masterpiece. The strongest quality of G. Ford as the creator of the US automobile industry was his understanding of the importance of "performance". One of the main results of this understanding was the desire of G. Ford to provide his company with the maximum possible autonomy, the other - the belief in the possibility of "abundance for all" or in accordance with his motto: "High wages to create large markets." He was not the inventor of mass production (although he symbolized it in many ways), time-based inventory control, vertical integration, a slightly crude but effective version of a marketing concept, a large auto company as a multinational corporation, human resource management or corporate philanthropy. But he was the first to practically implement some of these ideas, greatly improve others, and effectively combine most of them together.
However, his main achievement was that he made the car a mass means of transportation for Americans and at the same time helped to improve the well-being of the population and relieve millions of people from the need for hard physical labor. He was also ahead of his time in prioritizing the interests of buyers and workers over those of shareholders.
Henry Ford was indeed one of the great managers of the 20th century. All his hard life, the struggle with it, all his shortcomings, which he tried to turn into advantages, all his perseverance and ability to achieve goals were the excellent products of his company, known throughout the world.
I believe that only one who has achieved exactly what he wanted, while bringing benefit to the people, can be called a great manager.
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 the Ford company 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 studying steam engines, because from the first memorable meeting he knew what he wanted to change in this car. His parents never shared his passion for mechanics, they firmly stood on the intention of transferring the farming skill to the only heir. Having got a job as an apprentice machinist in Detroit after training, Henry worked part-time by repairing 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 said more than once that the best companion for him is his wife. Son Edsel - the sole heir to Ford Motor in the future - will disappoint his active father with his indifference to the car 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 constructed his first model, the Ford Quadricycle. Then in the same year, he personally meets 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 politics and society, 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 start-up production was attacked by a large auto syndicate. The litigation lasted for about seven years, in the end the Ford company won and was cleared of the 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 at its production site that passes through most of the shops. Additional lines were connected to the main conveyor for timely delivery necessary elements when assembling.
By polishing the assembly process with a single assembly line, Ford achieved an amazing result. Every 10 seconds the exit was 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 talk 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 Company 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 launches 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 action, 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. The originality of thinking, a kind of analytical mindset, natural talent and golden hands made him a recognizable person 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 created by him today is one of the leaders in the automotive industrial arena.
