Introduction:

Being that my name is Ford Jordan, and I am doing a presentation on Ford Motor Company, I thought it was appropriate to write a blog on the life of Henry Ford. Being that we share the same name I felt a special affinity to this particular blog post. Henry Ford is one of the greatest entrepreneurs of the twentieth century. He is one of the most recognized names and his innovations have allowed the world to be able to afford and own cars. Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863. He was the oldest child of William and Mary Ford. He was extremely gifted at engineering and always enjoyed building and taking things apart. At an early age, he showed an interest in mechanical things and realized that he did not want to be a farmer, but a machinist or engineer.

 

Early Career:

Henry Ford’s first job was as apprentice machinist. He was in charge of operating and repairing stream engines. In 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit. This was important because it meant that Henry Ford was choosing to work in technology not factories. He was promoted to Chief Engineer in 1893. This allowed him to have enough money and time to devote to creating an internal combustion engines. In 1896 Henry Ford created his own combustion and with it he created his own horseless carriage call the Quadricycle.

 

Starting a Motor Company:

Like most entrepreneurs, success and fame were not just given to him it had to be earned. Henry Ford’s Quadricycle had given him enough notoriety to attracted investors, but he not instantly successful. In 1899 he convinces some investors to create a company with him called Detroit Auto Co., but it fails soon after its creation. He loses all his money and his job. He is forced at the age of 37 to move back in to his parents’ house because he is so poor, but he does not give up. He do not give up and eventually builds a car that wins a local race and attracts investor to start another company called Henry Ford Company. Henry Ford believed that the best way to succeed in business was to create cheaper products that could be afforded by the masses. His partners thought he was crazy and he eventually had to leave the company. In 1903 he forms Ford Motor Company. He was the Vice-President and Chief Engineer. He was only able to produce a few cars day which made them extremely expensive. Henry Ford wanted to create cars cheaper and faster. He looked at other industries that had learned how to make products cheaper and found four key principles that would allow him to produce cars cheaper. These four things were interchangeable parts, continuous flow, division of labor, and reducing wasted effort. It took him several years to perfect it, but in 1908 Henry Ford produced the Model T. This car revolutionized what a automobile was and who it was for. It was extremely easy to use, fix, and could drive on rough roads.

 

The Ford Motor Company:

By 1918, about half of all cars that were in America were Model Ts. In 1910 Henry Ford had to build another plant. In this new plant Henry Ford perfected his ideas about making cars in the first ever assembly line. This factory combined precision manufacturing, standardized and interchangeable parts, a division of labor, and a continuous moving assembly line. It allowed works to stay stationary and specialize in certain jobs to become maximally efficient. This drastically reduced the cost and time it took to build the automobiles. Automobiles were now affordable and reliable. Ford Motor Company became the largest automotive producer in the world. Ford eventually actually became the third largest manufacturing company because of the very thing that made them great. It was obsessed with standardization and wanted to make cars as cheap as possible. With all the different companies making cheap cars companies like

General Motors and Chrysler started offering different colors and features. Henry Ford is remembered as say, “I will give the customer any color they want as long as it is black.” This attitude caused them to fall to third place in the market. Henry Ford was great entrepreneur that caused him to see a void in the market and create a great company that filled that market. In recent Year Ford Motors Company has become known again as having some of the best cars on the market, and were the only American car company to not take government bailout money during the recession.