Ford and the assembly line

Assembly line

Assembly line is an industrial arrangement of machines, equipment, and workers for continuous flow of work pieces in mass-production operations.

An assembly line is designed by determining the sequences of operations for manufacture of each product component as well as the final product. Each movement of material is made as simple and short as possible with no cross flow. Work assignments, numbers of machines, and production rates are programmed so that all operations performed along the line are compatible.

An automotive assembly line starts with a bare chassis; components are attached as the growing assemblage moves along a conveyor. Parts are matched into subassemblies on feeder lines that intersect the main line to deliver body parts, engines, and other assemblies. As the units move past, each worker along the line performs a specific function. Each part and tool is delivered to its point of use in synchronization with the line.

A number of different assemblies are on the line simultaneously, but an intricate system of scheduling and control ensures that the appropriate body type and colour, trim, engine, and optional equipment arrive together to make the desired combinations.

Automated assembly lines consist entirely of machines run by machines. In such continuous-process industries as petroleum refining and chemical manufacture and in many modern automobile-engine plants, assembly lines are completely mechanized and consist almost entirely of automatic, self-regulating equipment.

Most products, however, are still assembled by hand because many component parts are not easily handled by a simple mechanism. The number of products automatically assembled is steadily increasing but at a low rate because a product must be designed for automatic assembly and must be accurately and consistently manufactured. Expensive automatic assembly machines are economical only if run at very high outputs. However, the development of versatile automatic machinery and industrial robots is increasing the flexibility of fully automated assembly operations.

Ford and the assembly line

The mass-produced automobile is generally and correctly attributed to Henry Ford, but he was not alone in seeing the possibilities in a mass market. Ransom E. Olds made the first major bid for the mass market with a famous curved-dash Oldsmobile buggy in 1901. Although the first Oldsmobile was a popular car, it was too lightly built to withstand rough usage. The same defect applied to Olds's imitators.

Ford, more successful in realizing his dream of “a car for the great multitude,” designed his car first and then considered the problem of producing it cheaply.

The car was the so-called Model T, the best-known motor vehicle in history. It was built to be durable for service on the rough American country roads of that period, economical to operate, and easy to maintain and repair. It was first put on the market in 1908, and more than 15 million were built before it was discontinued in 1927.

When the design of the Model T proved successful, Ford and his associates turned to the problem of producing the car in large volume and at a low unit cost.

The solution was found in the moving assembly line, a method first tested in assembling magnetos. After more experimentation, in 1913 the Ford Motor Company displayed to the world the complete assembly-line mass production of motor vehicles. The technique consisted of two basic elements: a conveyor system and the limitation of each worker to a single repetitive task. Despite its deceptive simplicity, the technique required elaborate planning and synchronization.

The first Ford assembly line permitted only very minor variations in the basic model, a limitation that was compensated for by the low cost. The price of the Model T touring car dropped from $950 in 1909 to $360 in 1916 and still lower to an incredible $290 in 1926. By that time Ford was producing half of all the motor vehicles in the world.

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