History of Ford Motor Company

To joint that heat content crossbreeding dilly-dallied around before finally establishing a wicked railcar company would be invalid. The 40 year old small-arm had been acquiring valuable knowledge regarding business, engines, management, and most importantly cars. Now it was duration to take a leap of faith. In 1903 the cut across Motor union came to be. ford, along with other investors including John and Horace Dodge raised $28,000 and in the commencement ceremony 15 months workd 1700 seat A cars. These cars were known for their reliability, yet were still too expensive for the average American.Over the next five years Ford and his engineers produced models with the letters B through S, the most victorful of which was the Model N (priced at $500) , and the least successful was the Model K (priced at $2500). It was apparent from the Model N that the key to the companies success lay in tuppeny cars for a mass market. The answer that Ford and the American consumer wer e looking for was the Model T. The Model T, a small, sturdy four-cylinder car with an attractive de manse and a top speed of 45 mph, hit the market in 1908. Its success came from its attractive price, at $850, and more than 10,000 were sold in the first year alone.It was easy to operate, maintain, handle on rough roads, and directly became a success. Along with success came expansion, and in 1910 he established some other fabrication plant in Highland Park, Michigan. Through interchangeable parts, banner manufacturing, and a division labor, the demand greatly increased for the Model T. It was at this time in 1913 that Ford introduced the assembly line and forever changed our economy, our industry, and our culture. Fords concept of an assembly line sprang from the thought that a car could be produced much quicker if each person did one, single task.He applied this in his Highland Park plant, and cut down proceeds time of one Model T to a fraction on the time. The carefully timed pace of a conveyer belt go the parts along further speeded the process. With these new tactics, a factory could produce 40%-60% more cars per month. By late 1913 he had established assembly plants in Canada, Europe, Australia, South America, and Japan. At this point, the Ford Motor Company was the largest shaper of cars in the humankind. In 1914 Ford astonished the business world by more than doubling the minimum wage for his workers, raising it from about $2. 0 to $5.He argued that if his employees earned more, the company would sell more cars to them and reduce employee turnover. He tell in regards to this ecenomical move The high wage begins down in the shop. If it is not created there it cannot get into pay envelopes. There will never be a system invented which will do away with the need for work. At this point the company had made $30 million in profits, mainly due to his economical and industrial scheme. It was now that he started center not only on cars, but on other world issues such as peace in the wake of World war I.He had a peace ship, called the Oscar II, sent to Norway on an expedition to wind up the war. This would contribute to his future project, the Ford Foundation. Ford displayed his true motives of pleasing the midriff class consumer, when he lowered the cost of the Model T to $350 in 1916. In 1917 Ford started the construction of a industrial complex on the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan. The idea was to produce everything a car mandatory to run in one compact area. They had a a marque mill, glass factory, and automobile assembly line. This plant was the utopia of Fords mass production scheme.In 1918 Ford unsuccessfully ran for senate, and a year by and by he named his son Edsel Ford, the president of the Ford Motor Company. He likewise started a state-supportedation called The Dearborn Independent. This journal, produced weekly, was at first anti-Semitic. Statements against Jews were boldly printed. He said that the Jew s were trying to wipe out of public life every sign of the predominant Christian character of the United States, as well as other demeaning remarks. After much public protest, Ford quit further publication, and made a public apology to the Jewish stack.At this point the popularity started shifting from the Model T to larger more grand cars, and in 1927 the production of Model Ts ceased and six months after the Model A was introduced. This model included such improvements as hydraulic shock absorbers, automatic windshield wipers, a gas gauge, and a speedometer. The success of these was limited to 5 million, 10 million short of the Model T. It was at this time that the Ford Foundation was introduced. It was established for scientific, educational, and charitable purposes, all for the public welfare. This organization basically attempted to further nurture the world in any aspect possible.This was made possible through all the notes acquired through sales, primarily of the model T. Yet this utopia could only be temporary. As more and more large corporations started to pop up, so did labor unions. Ford was the only major manufacturer of cars in the Detroit area that had not recognized a labor union. In 1937 a band of supporters of unionization were physically beaten near a Ford plant by people suspected to work for the President of Ford. As a result, they were accused of unfair labor practices by the National Labor Relations Board.In 1941, followers a massive workers strike, atomic number 1 Ford agreed to sign a contract that met workers demands. It was only two years later in 1943 when Henry Fords son, Edsel Ford died at age 49, and the president of the company. Henry himself was incapable of running the plants and managing business. He died in 1947 at the age of 83 in his hometown. He died a rich man his fortune ranged someplace between $500 and $700 million. Yet more importantly he died an consummate man, who had left an imprint on the very definition of the word American.