Because of the high rate at which an assembly line can produce goods, it helps the companies with them gain more control over the economy over the nation and drive out businesses that cannot afford an assembly line. Before the assembly line was introduced, each Model T cost about $850, but after the assembly line, it cost less than $300 (6 - 9). Henry Ford had always envisioned a car that could be bought by the average family (9 - 12). He wanted to become rich and knew that aiming to have every American as a potential consumer was the best way to do so (11). When his prices fell by that much, it opened the market to many more people, so the demand for a lower price car went up, and Ford was able to sell over 850,000 Model T cars in under
Ford hired Fredrick Taylor, a motion study expert, to evaluate and refine the efficiency of his factories after years of trying to find ways himself (History.com, 2009). Taylor took what he saw in the factories to make a more efficient workforce while Henry Ford developed tools and equipment to help with a better flow of the workforce. Together, they realized four distinct things from other smaller businesses that they wanted to immolate and bring to the big stage. These four principles were the use of interchangeable parts, division of labor, continuous flow, and reduced wasted effort (Science Odyssey, 1998). With these four principles in mind and the dream to produce a more cost efficient vehicle, Henry Ford and Fredrick Taylor created the first large scale assembly line in 1913 (Goss, 2014). This assembly line was able to transfer the time it took to build a single Model T from twelve hours to a mere two hours and thirty minutes (History.com, 2009). With its eighty-four distinct steps in the flow of the assembly line, a division of labor was created where a worker could be trained to do one specific task making him more efficient at that task and able to do a much better job (History.com, 2009). Secondly, having interchangeable parts that would could be used between any model of Ford allowed Henry to focus on machinery that would produce these
With the success of the assembly line, Ford was very please however he had a bigger goal set. Ford wanted to produce cheap cars for the common people to use. Ford made many different types of cars and experimented with each of them. They were all good but not good enough. After many different models, Ford achieved his goal with his invention of the Ford Model T. The Model T was a fully functional compact automobile with a good transmission and torque as well as comfort and size. Apart from that, the most important aspect of the Model T was that is was extremely cheap. As Sobel states,”...the model T was only worth $290 in 1924.” This was a huge
The automobile industry put American citizens into action. Mass production was a big component in the success of automobiles. Although successful, it became very repetitive. Skilled workers who were once worshipped, were no longer needed. Henry Ford was described as racist, bitter, but he brought success to citizens in the 1920s. Ford started the Ford Motor Company in 1903 with the help of a limited amount of workers in a shed. It was not until 1914 where custom-made cars turned into many cars, such as the Model T, moving down an assembly line. The Model T was a very popular car that benefitted cheap labor and easy mobility for its owners. Ford became a billionaire from the help of the federal government’s actions. At this point, the government decided that funds should be spent more on roads. Automobiles introduced
In Some Lessons from the Assembly Line by Andrew Braaksma, my first interpretation of this article was that the authors main point was that decisions you make today, will affect your future. After rereading and careful analysis, the authors main point has changed. The author is not speaking of what my first interpretation was, but he is stating you cant learn everything in school. As I re-read the article using what I have learn, I see that he is explaining lessons that he has learned outside the classroom. He explains his first person accounts of the differences he has experienced between school and factory life, also giving his readers examples of these lessons learned outside of school.
A motor car for the great multitude a goal for Henry Ford(Schlager 593). In the 1920s, automobiles are rapidly changing the American lifestyle forever because of their affordability and also the development of new assembly technology to lower the cost. Technological innovations of assembly begin to expand and advance for the better throughout the 1920s, which impacts Americans and the people of the world today. Henry Ford, a bold figure during the 1920s, owner of Ford automobiles. His ideas and innovation like the assembly line forever changes the automobile and the way goods are produce. Although there are many technological advancement during the 1920s, the assembly line designed by
The automobile industry made owning an automobile more available to the public. Factories began producing cars in higher numbers than one craftsman would ever be able to. “The first automotive production on a commercial scale began in France in 1980, but the United States in the 1900’s became equal to the European automobile factories. The Europeans used engineering and handcraft methods, while the U.S. had plants that used the assembly line” (The History). Frank Duryea of Springfield, Massachusetts developed the first gasoline powered automobile in the United States, and over the next twenty years 8 million cars were manufactured and sold (Clayton 501). On the other hand, Henry Ford’s first working gasoline engine was completed at the end of 1843, and “by 1896, he had completed his first horseless carriage, the Quadricycle, so called because the chassis of the four- horsepower vehicle was a buggy frame mounted on four bicycle wheels” (Curley 165). Ford revolutionized factory production with his assembly line methods (Curly 163). The assembly line remained hard on laborers, required them to perform routinely repetitive tasks for hours on end. To retain workers, Henry Ford paid workers five dollars a day, and employees only work eight hour days. Mass production techniques rapidly increased worker productivity and output, allowing more cars to be made and to sell for less money. By the 1920’s, the number of registered vehicles rose over fifteen million, because of Henry Ford’s assembly line, which made manufacturing automobiles more time efficient and less costly, making automobiles less expensive. In 1929, Ford, who was one of Thomas Edison’s greatest admirers, asked him to design a battery for a self-starter, to be introduced on the Model T, which was Ford’s car for the common man (Curley 139). At the time of his death in 1947, Henry Ford’s
With the introductions of the Model T, the assembly line and the method of mass production created many new jobs. The Model T 's low price allowed everyone that was making a good salary to buy a car. It helped out society by giving people jobs especially at around this time when there was a lot of immigration in the United States and people needed jobs. "This vast production stimulated many other businesses: The steel, rubber, and glass industries flourished. Construction companies boomed as highways and garages were built. Oil companies, rapidly losing their kerosene business to the spread of electricity, more than made up for it with increased gasoline sales."(Gordon) As a whole it changed the economy at the time but in the long run it changed what society is today. It created mass production which is now our way of production and it changed all of working America with the numerous amounts of jobs it created. "As more Americans owned cars, urbanization patterns changed. The United States saw the growth of suburbia, the creation of a national highway system, and a population entranced with the possibility of going anywhere anytime." (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blford.htm)
During reassessment for article "Some Lessons From the Assembly Line" by Andrew Braaksma (2005), I concluded similar notations, and judgements. What I developed from the material is that life has moments of bliss, nativity, and hardships. This was related by sharing experience spent at a summer job at an assembly line, clocking hours, and followed going back to college life after their time at the summer job. Also, Mr. Braaksma, expressed that college life was lenient in contrast to the summer position, emphasizing on a lack of security, complacency causes injury, and an education is valued. However, individuals tend to lack in society, within school, and even the valued education will show within the production of work. In turn, also causing a lack of security, complacency, and a worthless education. With that, an education need to be valued, and developed throughout to ensure continued success.
In Andrew Braaksma 's essay “Some Lessons from the Assembly Line,” he tells his personal insights, lessons learned and experiences, while he works a temporary summer job in a factory located near his hometown during college summer break. Braaksma describes his deep appreciation for receiving his education as he attended college and seeing what his life may have been like working a blue collar job in a factory if he did not go to college. As the majority of college students, Braaksma works during the summer to pay for his college books, beer as well as to reduce his summer housing expenses. More importantly, Braaksma chooses to move home and work at the local factory while his classmates are busy working in food service or at a local retail store. Obtaining a higher education will take him far in life without the threat or possibility of having to work a blue collar job in a factory.
Could you make it in the grind of the assembly line in the blue-collar world? In reading Braaksma's "Some Lessons From The Assembly Line", the main idea is how important college education is, which is conveyed in a number of different ways. The author looks at the experience they had at assembling line job on their summer break and how awful it was. Comparing it to the easy-going lifestyle as a college student. The article’s main claim of education being an important avenue to take is an important lesson to be taken seriously because of the author’s negative view of the assembly line, positive view of being at school, and the value the author holds in education.
When I revisited “Some Lessons from the Assembly Line”, the author 's goal has changed for me. It has expanded and became broader. Because I see now that the author is trying to show the readers, the lessons he learned while working his summers away on the factory floor.Adjacent to that propose the author wanted to show the readers the different ways he learned the lessons, which made him appreciate his opportunity to go to college. My evidence for this is when the author refers to, “These lessons I am learning, however valuable, are always tinged with a sense of guilt." "At times, I feel almost voyeuristic, like a tourist dropping in where other people make their livelihoods. My lessons about education are learned at the expense of those
In 1908 Henry Ford had constructed the Model T; the time it took him to create this automobile was 13 days. Now eager to achieve more, Ford knew that he needed a place to construct these cars. He also knew that to sell mass amounts he would have to sell cheap, and buy parts and supplies even cheaper (Douglas, 25). The construction of the first Ford Motor plant used the world’s only conveyer belt. This was part of the Fords plan to build fast, when he constructed the assembly line cars were pumped out in as fast as 15 minuets, this was down from 19 days. Ford was able to make the automobile a car for everyman, a working man with a family.
The title of the article is "Some Lessons From The Assembly Line" by Andrew Braaksma. After reading the article it made me realize how important it is to have an education and how fortunate I am to be able to have one. It makes me want to stay in college because I see how it is a struggle for some people today to find a job with decent pay. Braaksma's goal for writing this article was to teach his audience about the value of education. He discussed the value of his work experiences. He also mentioned that the most stressful thing about working in a factory is knowing that your job could disappear overnight. Braaksma experienced this himself when one of his co-workers had told him that the unit they were working in would be shut down within the next six months and moved to Mexico, where people would work for lower pay. Braaksma makes an effective argument about the benefits of receiving a college education by using personal anecdotes and imagery.
He introduced the assembly which reduced time to build a car from twelve hours to an incredible two hours and thirty minutes (“Ford’s assembly line starts rolling”) Although, Henry Ford's assembly line was intended to make large amounts of vehicles as simple as he could for a reasonable price as possible in order for him to make a profit. Henry ford's improvements in mass production helped other companies as well as the assembly line. Other companies that made radios, vacuum cleaners , and washing machines were even affected by the assembly line because they also used the same method to mass produce goods. The assembly line was inspired by the production methods from flour mills, breweries, canneries, and some industrial bakeries and made manufacturing faster than ever
Henry Ford created the Model T with the goal of producing a car that could be marketed to the middle class. Up until this point the average car produced cost around $2,000, which exceeded the price range of most Americans. Ford saw the middle class as an economic opportunity, a chance to create more costumers while still manufacturing the same product. His decision was not based exclusively on the lucrative market of the middle class though, but also on his humanitarian belief that citizens deserved the opportunity to purchase a car, as it would allow them to “enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces." Not surprisingly, when Ford created the Model T the working class flooded factories with