Mass Production - Predecessors To Mass Production, Mass Production Begins At Ford, The Assembly Line, The Spread And Limits Of Mass Production
Mass production is an entire system of manufacturing products that uses specialized labor, machinery, the smooth and logical flow of materials, and an assembly line to turn out large volumes of the same product at the lowest possible cost. The fullest expression of mass production was probably found at the Ford Motor Company in the early years of the twentieth century, when hundreds of thousands of Model Ts were produced a year, all exactly the same.
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The principals of mass production grew out of manufacturing techniques that were already widespread in the United States. Called "the American system" or the "uniformity system," these techniques called for goods made of interchangeable parts. This meant that the cost of parts went down, but it was expensive to set up an interchangeable parts system. Initially the unifo…
The various threads of mass production came together at the Ford Motor Co. in Highland Park, Michigan, from 1908 to 1915. Cars were a relatively new invention and were still too expensive for the average person. Many were too heavy or low powered to be practical. Henry Ford set out to produce a light, strong car for a reasonable price. His Model T, released in 1908, was designed to meet these goal…
Initially groups of workers at Ford moved down a line of parts and sub-assemblies, each worker carrying out a specific task. But some workers and groups were faster or slower than others, and they often got in each other's way. So Ford and his technicians decided to move the work instead of the workers. If engines in need of assembly were moved by a conveyor belt, the speed of work would be…
Ford became the toast of the nation. Manufacturers of many types quickly became interested in Ford's methods. The company's manufacturing process was initially known as Fordism, before being called mass production in the 1920s. Soon other car manufacturers, as well as manufacturers ranging from household appliances to radios, were using variations on Ford's methods. Ford…
Mass production calls for mass consumption. Thus mass production helped create the modern advertising industry as manufacturers sought to make consumers buy their products. But what if everyone already had bought a car? Partly to give customers more choices, partly to give those who already owned a car a reason to buy another, in the 1920s GM began creating a new version of its cars each year. In …
As the idea of mass production became popular, manufacturers and industrialists of every kind looked for new areas in which to apply its methods. Henry Ford tried with mixed success to grow and process soybeans using mass production methods, turning them into products ranging from food to plastics and fabrics. Foster Gunnison considered himself the "Henry Ford of housing" because he …
Mass production has become far more sophisticated than at its inception. To increase productivity, managers have focused on planning and scheduling. Actual production has become a carefully managed flow of parts, materials, and employees. Sales and marketing have become part of production, enabling management to know how many copies of a product to make. One of the most important innovations is &#…
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