Henry Ford: How Innovation and Determination Changed the Twentieth Century

Introduction

The greatest doors in history often hang on the smallest of hinges. Western history is replete with examples, but no where is this statement more apparent than the life and work of Henry Ford. With barely an eighth-grade education, and self-educated as an engineer, Ford pioneered the first mass produced automobile and gasoline engine. While he did not invent the gasoline engine, his innovation of the production line for manufacturing cars increased the quality of the first automobiles and made them affordable to the average person. Ford’s innovation and determination to succeed set him apart from his peers and provides an interesting story rich in the history of entrepreneurship and technology.

Born on a Michigan farm to first- and second-generation immigrants, Ford had little interest in following his father’s desire for him to take over the family farm. He acknowledged the disappointment of his parents and his dislike for farm work in an interview about his mother. "I never had any particular love for the farm—it was the mother on the farm I loved."[1]

Trial and Error

The discussion of the roles of inventor and entrepreneur are rarely interchangeable. The person responsible for inventing rarely has the funds to mass produce or put his invention into production. It requires an entrepreneur who has access to capital to move an invention to the shop floor and to get it adopted as the accepted practice. Ford play both roles well and this led to his unmitigated success.

After leaving his family farm behind he tried his hand at different jobs, but with each job his skills improved, and experience became his education. His apprenticed himself as a machinist, and in a period of discouragement returned to the family farm, where he learned to operate the Westinghouse portable steam engine. He used the farm’s shop to build his first steam powered tractor and experimented with various forms of power. Asked to repair an Otto engine, the first gasoline engine Ford had ever seen, he tried his luck building a two- and a four-stroke gasoline engine. Ford stated that "In 1892, I completed my first motor car, powered by a two-cylinder four horsepower motor, with a two-and-half-inch bore and a six-inch stroke engine.”[2]

Henry Ford, Entrepreneur

With a workable car, Ford entered the second phase as entrepreneur. As mentioned regarding the inventor, capital is usually the greatest need of the inventor, and Ford was lucky to have friends who backed interest in his work with their funds. During his tenure with the Edison Illuminating Company in 1891, he met Thomas Edison, who took interest and offered encouragement for his work on the automobile.[3] Promoted to Chief Engineer at Edison provided the time and money to continue his development of the gasoline engine, and provided a network of interested friends and investors, enabling him to overcome the hurdle of finances.

Even with the help, he tried and failed at starting at least business entities if different partners before finally arriving at the founding of Ford Motor Company in June of 1903. The company began with $28,000 in capital, and due to Ford’s insolvency, John S. Gray was positioned as the first president.[4]

The Debut of the Model T

The first Model T was completed in October 1908 at $825 each.[5] Orders for the Model T steadily increased and by 1918 sales exceeded 250,000 and the price decreased to $360 for the basic unit. [6] Attempting to meet these demands with antiquated methods posed significant danger to the survival of the company and prompted Ford to make significant changes to the production, with these changes adding another title to Ford’s extensive list: innovator.

Henry Ford, Innovator

Initially, the Model T was hand-built with highly skilled labor, and each working knowledgeable of multiple processes and working to complete each unit. The process was slow and cumbersome, but also expensive. On the positive side quality was high. Ford quickly realized that without a change, they would never be able to keep up with the demands of production.

Ford’s invention of the assembly line connected two important aspects of entrepreneurship: machine technology and the division of labor. The life of the worker changed. Previously, employees worked at their own pace and were required to be highly skilled. Specialization of tasks lessened the number of jobs the worker did, but it increased the repetitive nature of tasks. Ford developed the system to increase production and improve quality.[7]

Ford borrowed his idea from the meat packing industry where they used a conveyor line to “disassemble” meat. The production increases realized by his invention were large. Previously able to produce only a limited number of cars per day, and at added time and expense. After his addition of the assembly lines in 1913 he was able to cut the cost of the car considerably since he could not use unskilled laborers and turn out more product per day. His innovation put the cost of his A-Model Ford within reach of large numbers of the population. In the end his invention changed transportation if America and the world.[8]

Conclusion

Henry Ford through invention and innovation provided the transportation needed to push the twentieth century to greatness. But his innovation provided the foundation needed for other businesses to copy his assembly line ideas to bolster their own production, early Ford the reputation and respect history has afforded him as an inventor and innovator.

Bibliography

Bak, Richard. Henry and Edsel: The Creation of the Ford Empire 2003.

Ford, Henry. My Life and Work, 24; Edward A. Guest "Henry Ford Talks About His Mother," American Magazine, July 1923, 11–15, 116–20.

Ford, Henry;

Samuel Crowther, (1922), My Life and Work, Garden City, New York, USA: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc.

Ford, Henry; Samuel Crowther. Edison as I Know Him. New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1930.

Hounsell, David A. From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1984.

Volti, Rudi. Society and Technology Change. New York: Worth Publishers. 2006.

[1]Henry Ford. My Life and Work, 24; Edward A. Guest "Henry Ford Talks About His Mother," American Magazine, July 1923, 11–15, 116–20. [2] Henry Ford, Samuel Crowther, (1922), My Life and Work, Garden City, New York: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., 12-17. [3]Henry Ford, Samuel Crowther (1930). Edison as I Know Him. New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation. [4] Henry Ford, Samuel Crowther, (1922), My Life and Work, Garden City, New York, USA: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc. 34-35. [5] Richard Bak. Henry and Edsel: The Creation of the Ford Empire (2003) pp. 54–63. [6] Ibid, 64. [7] David A. Hounsell, From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1984, 168-171. [8] Rudi Volti, Society and Technology Change. New York: Worth Publishers. 2006, 169-171.