Henry Ford has a prominent place in the history of the automobile industry. Without him, mass production of vehicles wouldn’t have been possible.
It happened in the beginning of the 20th century. In those days, car production was still taking baby steps. It took almost twelve hours to assemble a car and the production costs were very high. Cars were a luxury which could only be afforded by the rich; expensive toys of wealthy people.
Henry Ford wanted to make quality cars at a low cost, so that a majority of the population could afford them. After careful studies, he identified different stages of making a car. He gave specialized training for workers to work with specific stages. Using a machine similar to a conveyor belt, the cars were moved from one stage to another until all parts were in place. This method came to be known as the assembly line and it significantly reduced the time and cost of making a car. A car could now be made in less than three hours and the price dropped to almost half of the initial cost.
Cars were no more a luxury item; a common man could finally afford it. Ford’s sale skyrocketed with this technology; at one point, Ford supplied almost 50 per cent of the cars in the US. Ford’s model is the basis of modern day production of cars.
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