Ford Motor Company produced this fun and informative little video that briefly explains the moving assembly line—and some other key points in Ford history, too.
Back in 2013, Ford celebrated the 100th anniversary of the moving assembly line, a key moment in the history of the auto industry. To note the occasion, the Motor Company produced this short video, and we thought it was worth circling back for a second look. The narration may remind you a little of the fast-talking guy in the old Federal Express commercials of the 1980s. But hey, they’ve got a lot of ground to cover here in a very short time: 100 years in 100 seconds.
Ford didn’t invent the assembly line, and historians will dispute that the moving assembly line, the next great step in manufacturing, was truly a Ford innovation. (One possible forerunner was the reverse assembly line used in the hog butchering industry.) But there is no question that it was Ford who assembled and refined all the tools and technologies that actualized mass production as we know it today.
If this clip inspires you to learn more about the early history of Ford Motor Company, one excellent source is Ford: The Times, The Man, The Company by Allan Nevins and Frank Hill (1954). This great book is no longer in print, but you can score a good used copy on Amazon for as little as nine bucks—the deal of the century. Another indispensable book explores the key people who helped Ford to reinvent mass production: Henry’s Lieutenants, by Ford R. Bryan. Video below.
Great clip! What a shame what has happened to the surrounding area.
The surrounding area of which facility mentioned.
If that statement was any more of a bigger blanket, you could cover the whole of S.E. Mich.