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HOW THE FATHER OF MASS AUTOMATION PERFECTED THE ASSEMBLY LINE

Did you know that manufacturers will produce over 70 million cars this year around the world? More than 60% of these will originate in Asia, with China far and away the leader in terms of annual global production. For many years people considered the USA to be the “home” of the automobile but in 2019 the country will only produce a fraction of the total and will fall well behind both Japan and Germany in the pecking order.

Born in the USA

Yet would any of this have been possible without American innovation, or the work of an unassuming and slightly built resident of rural Michigan, the son of an Irish immigrant?

Early Days

Henry Ford was born in the summer of 1863 and destined to work on the family farm. Thankfully, he hated this work and left home in his late teens to work as an apprentice machinist in the big city Detroit. This give him a taste of engineering and a growing interest in everything automotive. He was to become an accomplished inventor in his own right and would work with Thomas Edison and others in a variety of different roles.

Ford and the Model T

With help from investors, the Ford Motor Co was born in 1903 and met with limited success in what was still an emerging industry. Americans would have to wait until 1908 for the Model T and a further five years for that pivotal moment in automobile history–the assembly line.

Slow and Steady

Until this time the automobile was still something for the rich and famous. It was not available in large enough numbers to overtake the horse and cart as the preferred means of transportation, but that was about to change.

Father of the Line?

To be clear, Mr. Ford did not invent the assembly line concept. Historians attribute this to Ransom E Olds (of Oldsmobile fame). Olds increased the output at his car factory, but his technique was far from perfect. However, Henry Ford supercharged the concept and rightly became the father of mass production.

Lack of Coordination

Prior to the assembly line, each car would sit in its own static assembly station and workers would bring all the individual parts to it. This approach required considerable coordination and was far from efficient. Instead, Ford determined that the whole process would be much quicker and simpler if they could move the chassis past the various component stock rooms.

Automation

To do this, Ford’s team placed the Model T frame on a skid and pulled it from one side of the facility to the other on the end of a rope. Eventually, these vehicles would be mounted on top of a conveyor belt and so the true concept of an automated assembly line was born.

Seeking Perfection

Of course, it would take quite a while to perfect the process. After all, some parts would take more time to attach to the vehicle than others. They had to synchronise all the work, and this was quite a challenge given the rudimentary technology available at the time. All of this work would pay off handsomely though as by the end of 2014 the Model T was flying off the end of each production line and Ford had cemented his place in history.

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