Henry Ford: phrases, who was it, Fordism and administration

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Henry Ford was an American businessman and inventor who revolutionized the auto industry.

He was the founder of Ford Motor Company, creator of the Ford T model and the series production system known as Fordismo.

Biography

Henry Ford, son of a family of farmers, was born on July 30, 1863, in the city of Springwells, Michigan, United States.

Since childhood, he cultivated the desire to understand how equipment and machines work. He even structured a workshop in the back of his house.

At age 15, the boy received a watch as a gift from his father. He dismounted and reassembled the equipment.

So he becomes curious about the workings of machines and apparatus. When his mother dies, he refuses to take over the family farm in 1879.

That same year, he went to Detroit and began working as an apprentice mechanic. The city teemed with factories and would later become known as the automobile capital of the United States.

The apprenticeship secured a job as a steam engine repairman. Henry Ford was 16 years old when he built his first steam engine.

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From 1891, Ford assumed the position of engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company, in Detroit. In the company, owned by Thomas Edison, Henry Ford reaches the rank of chief engineer.

In 1903, opens the Ford Company and launches the Ford T that would become an icon of the auto industry and the 1920s.

In conjunction with managing large-scale automobile production, Henry Ford also coordinated the supply of automotive inputs. In 1905, he was sworn in as president of the Society of Automotive Engineers.

Henry Ford died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 7, 1947 in the city of Dearborn, Michigan. In addition to the legacy of revolutionizing the world industrial system, the businessman registered 161 patents and created the franchise system.

Part of his fortune was left to charity and is managed by the Ford Foundation, which invests in scientific and educational research.

Management

On weekends, Ford developed a car in his garage at home. Seeing so much activity, neighbors dubbed him “Crazy Ford”.

In this phase, he creates the first internal combustion engine, patented in 1893. The prototype was an independently propelled gasoline powered quadricycle.

Given the success of this model, Ford leaves his job encouraged by Thomas Edison himself, who advises him to follow his dream.

THE Ford Motor Company is founded in 1903. At its factory, Ford implements several novelties in production, such as the mass or series assembly line.

Inspired by Taylorism, Ford created a method that consisted of specializing workers in few functions. Thus, the car's chassis passed over a conveyor belt while workers placed the components.

The workers did not need to travel to the action of installing the parts and an entire car was ready in a few hours. This first project was named Model T, which in Brazil was named Ford Bigode.

With this production line, Ford managed to make the product cheaper. However, a problem arose: people couldn't afford it.

Therefore, it reduces the working day to 8 hours a day, with weekend breaks and increases the wages of workers.

Vehicles, previously restricted to a few, become cheaper and, therefore, more accessible to the population. In 1914, the company sells 250,000 units of cars. Two years later, the production sold rose to 450 thousand.

The products became the object of desire of the American middle class, which directly influenced the US economy. In 1920, two million units were already produced.

This peak of production is called the US prosperity cycle, whose direct impact was designated "American way of life" (American life style).

However, Ford suffered competition from other automakers such as General Motors. Not wanting to accept innovations such as changing car colors caused car sales to decline.

In response to his son's requests, Ford launches another model called the Ford A, which would be a sales success.

From then on, the company regained its market share and to this day it is one of the leaders in car sales worldwide.

Fordism

The work structure created by Ford became known as Fordism, a fundamental element for the modernization that characterized the Second Industrial Revolution.

Fordism consists of mass production, cost reduction and administrative organization of the company to encourage mass consumption. This technique contributed to the optimization of the production process and increased productivity.

Henry Ford's theory is described in his book "My Industry Philosophy".