Henry Ford

Henry Ford is known as a great American entrepreneur and inventor who is highly credited with contributing to the middle class in American society. He was one of the first to apply assembly line manufacturing techniques to mass production of affordable automobiles (Wikipedia, Henry Ford 2006).

On July 30, 1863 William and Mary Ford gave birth to a son Henry Ford. He grew up on a prosperous farm in Springwells Township which is now part of Dearborn, Michigan. As Henry grew, he realized his interest was in mechanics and not in the family farm business. Although he knew farming would not be his lifelong occupation, Henry worked on his father's farm till the age of sixteen. Henry then left the family farm and moved to the city of Detroit to become an apprentice machinist. After three years as an apprentice, Henry returned to Dearborn taking jobs operating or repairing steam engines and occasionally over-hauling his father's farm equipment. In 1888, Ford married Clara Bryant and supported himself by running a sawmill (The Life of Henry Ford, 2003).

In 1891, Ford took employment as an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company. Two years later, he was promoted to chief engineer. This promotion proved to be of vital importance in Ford's life as it provided him more time and money to pursue his interest in internal combustion engines. This pursuit lead to Ford's first invention, the Quadricycle a self propelled four wheeled vehicle, which he test drove on June 4, 1893. The quadricycle had four wheels similar to bicycle wheels and was steered with a tiller like a boat and had only two forward speeds with no reverse. Although many credit Ford with building the first self propelled vehicle powered by gasoline, this is not so. He may not have been the first to build a gasoline powered vehicle, but Ford was determined he wanted the average middle class family to be able to afford an automobile. Because of this goal, Ford is greatly credited with building a middle class in America. By giving those of lesser means the ability to own a car, they were able to travel distances to obtain employment. Because of his assembly line process, more men were employed in higher paying positions (The Life of Henry Ford, 2003).

Ford left Edison Illuminating Company in 1899 to start the Detroit Automobile Company. By 1900, this business was bankrupt because Ford continually spent his time improving the car design instead of selling cars. Because of his love for race cars, Ford also started the Henry Ford Company. During this period, he personally drove his quadricycle to victory in a race against Alexander Winton, a well known driver and heavy favorite October 10, 1901 (Wikipedia, Henry Ford 2006).

As chief engineer for the Henry Ford Company, Ford sought to change the way cars were made. At this time, each automobile was built one at a time. Ford was constantly looking to other inventors such as Eli Whitney who created standardized parts for gun manufacturing. Ford was looking for a way to make the process of automobile assembly more efficient. Many of Ford's ideas were considered unorthodox and implausible and in 1902, Ford resigned in a dispute with his financial backers. After his resignation, the Henry Ford Company became the Cadillac Motor Car Company ( The Great Idea Finder, 2006).

Now resigned from the company which originally bore his name, Ford his own racing cars would attract new financial backers and partners. With the assistance of these new partners, Ford founded the Ford Motor Company on June 16, 1903. Just a few short months later, the first Ford vehicle, the Model A was being sold in Detroit. This made Ford's newly formed company one of only 15 car manufacturers in Michigan and one of 88 in the United States. Breaking all the conventional laws of a newly formed company, Ford's venture began to turn a profit within the first few months of operation. His initial factory was based in a converted wagon shop. Although he had made great strides, Ford was still concerned that the vehicle was not affordable to the majority of the mass market. His determination to change manufacturing and streamline the process did not set well with all his investors. Their main goal was to sell as many automobiles to those who could afford them as possible. This caused many disputes with stockholders and some of Ford's backers would eventually leave, but he was undeterred from the goal of an affordable automobile (The Great Idea Finder, 2006).

With the production of the Model T in 1908, Ford's ultimate goal was finally reached. The Model T was reasonably priced, easy to operate and was a great success. The success of the Model T opened up even more opportunity for Ford. With the profit he gained access to further experimental testing with new manufacturing processes, interchangeable parts and the creation of the assembly line. It was Ford's idea that each worker would remain in place on the line performing the same tasks continuously during the day, each worker adding to the components created by those before them in the line. Conveyor belts were used to keep the parts moving through the line. The assembly line process greatly reduced the time needed to complete a vehicle which in turn made the cost of manufacturing less (The Life of Henry Ford, 2003). Because of the reduced cost of production, Ford was able to drop the cost of the Model T from $850 to $290 in 1915. Ford is quoted as saying, "Every time I reduce the price of a car by one dollar I get one thousand new buyers." (The Life of Henry Ford, 2006). Ford sold a million cars that year and at last realized his dream to "build a motor car for the great multitude." The Ford Motor company became the largest manufacturer of automobiles in the world (The Great Idea Finder, 2006). Although this seemed to be his finest hour, Ford was not free of adversity from stockholders. Horace and John Dodge, minority stockholders in Ford's company took him to court in 1916. The Dodge brothers accused Ford of reckless expansion and for lowering the price of the Model T to less than half the original price. In doing this, they charged, Ford had diverted money from the stockholders dividends. Although Ford used the law suit to expound upon his business theory, the judge ruled in favor of the Dodge brothers stating the primary purpose of the business was to produce profit for the stockholders. Ford became more determined than ever to buy out all of the shareholders. When asked what would become of the Ford Motor Company, Ford stated "Why I don't know exactly what will become of that: the portion of it that does not belong to me cannot be sold to me, that I know" (The Life of Henry Ford, 2006). Ford insisted that if he could not be master of the company which bore his name, he