The Assembly Line

Henry Ford was a car builder. He was not the first to have the idea of the horseless coach. The Germans Daimler and Benz had invented it, but he was the first to use the assembly line for mass production. His Model-T car was the first to be produced on the assembly line. The new system cut the time in which the car was put together from 14 hours to 1 hour and 33 minutes. Eventually the price of the car fell from $1,200 to $295. The car lacked certain luxuries; still, it could be relied on and did not need much looking after. Soon, the Model-T became the people’s car. After nineteen years, when the Model-T became obsolete and sales dropped sharply – for other car manufacturers, copying Ford’s assembly line system, were able to bring down the costs of much more attractive cars – Ford developed the new Model-A. It, too, was the most inexpensive car on the market. Today there are hardly any factories to be found where Ford’s assembly line system is not being utilized for mass production.