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When confronted with the problem by his managers, Henry Ford declared that the simply needed to make more men. For Ford workers it meant that their wage was going to more than double. Ford also announced that it was going to reduce the work day from nine hours to eight, giving each employee one more hour outside the factory each day.
This would also permit the conversion of the factory from two daily shifts to a three-shift per day operation.
How could Henry Ford do this? The lower costs of production from the mass manufacturing of the Model T had created surplus income, estimated at over 10 million dollars.
Ford felt this money should go back to his workers, in the hopes that they would be more willing to work under the harsh conditions of the assembly line. By paying higher wages, he felt he was also creating a whole new class of buyers for his product, his employees.
This was big news and newspapers from all over the world reported the story as an extraordinary gesture of goodwill. Critics thought Ford was insane and would soon go out of business. In the end, other manufacturers would have to follow suit and raise wages although it was a number of years before workers at the other car companies would be paid a wage similar to Ford workers. To address the communication issue in the factory the Ford Motor Company established a school, with classrooms right in the factory that employees would attend either before or after their shift.
The classes were mandatory and the method of instruction was by practical example. Instructors would teach English and also provide instruction on all manner of modern industrial age living from washing their clothes and their bodies, to brushing their teeth, to keeping a clean home, to saving money in a bank to purchase that home.
With better roads and readily available fuel Americans took to the road in their Model Ts. It was affordable because of the rate at which it was built. Ford and the American Dream is a must read for anyone wanting to go into business or trying not to go out of business, for automobile enthusiasts everywhere and for anyone who is interested in the preservation of the American Dream. For Ford workers it meant that their wage was going to more than double. What would Henry Ford say about the company he founded if he were alive today? The Model T heralded an age of mechanization for the farm.
Employees would have to open a savings account, preferably at the company bank, so that they could save for the down payment on a home. They would have to be able to show that they could manage their finances and not recklessly spend away their new found wealth on drink and high living. They stabilized his workforce and helped them become prospering members of society. Ford at the Highland Park plant was hard, dirty, noisy, and even dangerous work.
In the end though, if you towed the company line and lived the company life, you could provide a good living for your family and a future for your children. Eventually a Model T left the factory every 24 seconds. Today at the Rouge Truck Plant by comparison, a new F comes off the line about once every 60 seconds.
The payment of what we would call today a living wage to workers created a new class of customers for Henry Ford. His factory workers could afford the products they built. These innovations all worked together to change the very structure of society and created what we today call the middle class. Just like horses, cars had to be fed and so we saw the development of gas stations everywhere and jobs were created.
As Tin Lizzies bounced over the rutted tracks of the horse age, better roads were needed and jobs were created. With better roads and readily available fuel Americans took to the road in their Model Ts. As they did, restaurants and motels began to dot the landscape and traveler destinations popped up wherever something thought to be interesting or unique was happening.
The modern tourist industry was born, and jobs were created. In all of this Henry Ford put Americans to work, not just in his factories, but in supporting the products of his production and serving the people that used them. Henry Ford continued to dream, scheme, plan, and create.
What Ford dreamed of was not merely increased capacity but complete self-sufficiency. He called it vertical integration, and with it he could have control over all aspects of his supply chain. The plant he built along the River Rouge embodied his idea of an integrated operation by including elements of raw materials, production, assembly, and transportation all in a single place.
To complete the vertical integration of his empire:. Once the massive and complicated Rouge was well underway, Henry Ford established a series of small village factories. His original concept was that these small production facilities would be a place where farmers could supplement their income during the off season by producing components for Ford automobiles. Known today as the Village Industries, these facilities were also an opportunity for Ford to experiment with water power. In the end the Village Industries became an opportunity for Ford to experiment with various production methods and specialized workforces.
Employment opportunities were opened up for women, the blind, and physically disabled veterans. The Village Industries thus became a model open employment as well as for the modern incubator or start up business.
Obviously he did not do it alone. Other corporations followed his lead and example otherwise his efforts would have remained only a workplace experiment. The unions played their part too. First they worked to bring the best of what Ford gave his workers to other industries; high wages and genuine concern for worker wellbeing became their goal. Second they fought to protect workers from undue control and harassment. His insistence on complete control led him to rule his vast domain with his bodyguard and close friend Harry Bennett.
Walter Ruther and the UAW would come to reign in the worst of what Ford gave his workers through paternalism and control. At the beginning of this article we stated that Henry Ford had a very large impact on the way we live today. As we said earlier for better or worse, The Henry Ford Heritage Association feels his stamp on our lives is real and significant.
The consumer ethic and middle class lifestyle we live today are heralded around the world as the American way of life. That lifestyle has its roots in Henry Ford. His desire to build a product everyone could use and afford resulted in a transformative seed change that was felt around the world. His desire to pay his workers a wage that could do more than sustain their existence brought a whole new economic class into being.
The Birth of Ford Motor Co. The Illustrious Vagabonds by Dr. From candlelight to electric light. Henry Ford standing with the newly produced one piece V-8 engine. The news spread quickly beyond southeast Michigan. But the Five-Dollar Day turned out to be an excellent investment. And by raising wages he expanded the overall market for the Model T.
As Ford said to reporters that January: A family picture of a normal American family in their Model T during the 's. Roughly 10, prospective workers from all around the country after the 5 Dollar a day speech. The cover page of the New York Times for the caption to the right. Henry Ford is shown stamping the serial number on the first one piece V-8 engine. This was an intricate project of Ford's that was as instrumental as the Model T in making the V-8 cheap enough for the aveage consumer.
Ford took a great risk letting his under experienced grandson take over the company but paid off as one of Ford Motor's greatest leaders.