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Henry Ford

From a humble farm in Michigan, Henry Ford started of his career as a simple mechanical engineer in the Edison Illuminating Company, later on to become a chief engineer; from here he picked up the basic of manufacturing. He was actually much amused with production and manufacturing that even in his leisure time he had a knack for getting scrap metals and experimenting with them. On 1896, he had released one of his breakthrough experiments, the Quadricycle. And on 1903, on this product, he founded a company which sparked great expansions in the American industries and set a whole new standard of living, the Ford Motor Company.

What set the Ford Motor Company apart amongst the many other automobile companies in its time was its manufacturing capability. Making use of a team-based assembly line, work was designated per teams of workers; instead of bringing the work to the car, the brought the car to the work. This meant faster installation of each car part through each worker’s specialization. And to compensate for the monotony of the work, Ford increased its wages to its workers from $2.34 for every 9 hours to $5.00 for every 8 hours. The reason behind the 1 less hour of work was to be able to have work shifts in the company, letting the company work round the clock leading to more production. Many critics spoke against Ford in this decision of higher wages, which later on even spiked to $10. However, what the critics didn’t see was that with the increase in wages and decrease in car costs the cars they produce will be bought an increasing amount of people: a goal aiming at mass production. It was also the first company ever to make use of an automatic conveyer belts as a means of moving around the cars around the company. It produced 1 car in every 93 minutes.

At the peak of the Ford Motor Company, it was basically self-sufficient. It had rubber plantations in Brazil, a fleet of ships, a railroad all to...