Henry Ford

History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present, and the only history that is worth a tinker's dam is the history we make today.

The above perspective on history demonstrates that Henry Ford might not approve of a history paper devoted to himself. However, while he lived he did make history in the here-and-now and his influence has a lasting impact on society to this day. Contrary to popular opinion, Henry Ford did not invent the automobile nor was he responsible for developing interchangeable parts. However, his application and origination of the assembly line to the concept of interchangeable parts revolutionized the automobile industry and industry itself with a concept known as mass production. Because of this innovation and application "the car became the most influential consumer product of the century" (Isaacson 1). By creating a moving belt in his factory production line, Ford enabled employees to build cars one part at a time instead of one car at a time. This was responsible for many things now standard in industry, such as piecemeal work, division of labor, the assembly line, and cost efficiency. The original price of a Model T Ford built the traditional way, one car at a time, was $850 per vehicle, but the first year Ford installed his assembly line car production became so cost efficient that he lowered the price of the Model

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arted at the top on the fourth floor and descended down to the first floor where production was complete by a system of ramps. On the top floor body panels were hammered, on the third floor tires were placed on the vehicle and bodies painted, on the second floor assembly was completed, and on the first floor assembled vehicles rolled past the offices and out of the factory. Ford's organized method of assembly would eventually lead to the creation of the moving assembly line, but even at this crude stage of manufacturing his methods instituted a new concept of mass production. From now on he would slash profit margins per vehicle in order to make more profit in the long-term by selling mass numbers of vehicles: �I'm going to democratize the automobile,' Henry Ford said in 1909. �When I'm through, everybody will be able to afford one, and about everybody will have one.' The means to this end was a continuous reduction in price. When it sold for $575 in 1912, the Model T for the first time cost less than the prevailing average annual wage in the U.S. Ignoring conventional wisdom, Ford continually sacrificed profit margins to increase sales. In fact, profits per car did fall as he slashed prices from $220 in 1909 to $99 in 19

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