Fordism is a term that refers to the model of mass production of a product, that is, to the system of production lines. Fordism was created by the American Henry Ford, in 1914, revolutionizing the automobile and industrial market at the time.
The objective of the entrepreneur Henry Ford was to create a method that would reduce as much as possible the production costs of his car factory, consequently making vehicles for sale cheaper, reaching a greater number of consumers.
Until the emergence of the system fordist, the cars were handcrafted, an expensive process that took a long time to be ready. However, even being cheaper and easier to produce, Fordism vehicles did not have the same quality attributed to handcrafted ones, as happened with the Rolls Royce, for example.
Fordism was a process that became very popular during the 20th century, helping to spread car consumption among all economic classes around the world. It was a model that emerged from the rationalization of capitalism, creating the so-called "mass productions" and "mass consumption".
Fordism worked having as a principle the specialization that each employee of the company would have when assembling the product, each one being responsible exclusively for a production step. The companies were also not concerned about hiring fully qualified professionals, as each worker needed to learn only to perform the functions inherent to a small part within the entire process of making the product.
The Fordist system was extremely advantageous for businessmen, but considered negative for employees. The repetitive, exhausting work and low qualification meant that they received lower wages, justifying themselves with the objective of lowering the price of production.
The period following the second post-war period is considered the peak of fordism in the history of capitalism. However, due to the lack of customization of the products and the rigidity of the system, Fordism found its decline in the early 1970s, being gradually replaced by a "leaner" model.
The classic movie "Modern Times" (Modern Times, 1936), of the actor and director Charles Chaplin, is a satire and criticism of the Fordist production system, as well as showing a little of the conditions that the 1929 economic crisis left in the United States.
Fordism Characteristics
Among the main characteristics of Fordism, the following stand out:
- Cost reduction in the production line;
- Improvement of the product assembly line;
- Low qualification of workers;
- Division of work functions;
- Repetition of work;
- Chain work;
- continuous work
- Technical specialization of each worker according to their function;
- Mass production of products, that is, in large quantities;
- Large investment in machinery and plant facilities;
- Use of human-operated machines in the production process;
Fordism and Taylorism
O Taylorism it was a model for organizing industrial production, like Fordism, that helped to revolutionize factory work in the early twentieth century.
Taylorism, a system created by mechanical engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor, determined that each worker should be responsible for a specific function within the production process, it is not necessary to have global knowledge about the other stages of the production of the product, that is, without knowing how it would be concluded. Employees were supervised by a manager, who guaranteed the fulfillment of each phase of the production process.
Another innovative feature of Taylorism was the bonus system. When an employee produced more in less working time, they were rewarded with awards that encouraged constant improvement at work.
Learn more about Taylorism.
Toyotism
The call Toyotism it was the model for configuring industrial production that prevailed over Fordism and Taylorism from the 1970s and 1980s onwards, when there was a growing demand for more personalized, technological products, with better quality and performance in the consumption.
The main feature of the Toyota Production System, created and developed by the Japanese car company Toyota Motor, was the elimination of waste, creating a "leaner" production, instead of the unbridled massification of the product made in the Fordism.
Another important and differential point of Toyotism is the specialization of the company's professionals, as due to diversified market segmentation, employees could not have unique and restricted functions, as was the case in Fordism. Toyotism invested in qualifying the market, investing in the education of its people.
Products in the Toyota Production System were created according to the demand that arose ("just in time"), minimizing unnecessary inventories and avoiding waste.
As of 2007, Toyota Motor is declared the largest car manufacturer in the world, due to the efficiency of Toyotism.
Learn more about the meaning of Toyotism.
