There’s no question: Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company invented the art of high-volume auto production. Here’s some of their wizardry at work in an original 1928 clip.
Introduced in 1928, Henry Ford’s Model A was not quite as wildly successful as the car that put America on wheels, his 1908-1927 Model T. Still, nearly five million units were produced over the Model A’s four years of production, as Ford and his production experts, led by Cast Iron Charlie Sorensen, continued their search for faster, cheaper, and better ways to produce automobiles. This little two-minute film clip from 1928 is a wonderful history lesson on the production process at the colossal River Rouge factory complex. Here are just a few of the insights:
+ Note the complicated maze of conveyors feeding components into the production line at every step. While the moving assembly line was a key innovation in auto manufacturing, it was the conveyor system—timed and choreographed with painstaking care—that made it possible. Many, including Ford manufacturing boss William E. Knudsen, said it was actually the trickiest part of the exercise.
+ While the Ford manufacturing process was highly automated in these years, it still required intensive hand labor. As we see here, large numbers of workers were used in every department, so many that they are bumping into each other. At one point we counted seven men with their hands on a single chassis. That’s a far cry from today’s robot-operated auto plants, which seem almost like ghost towns in comparison.
+ On the cylinder block conveyor line, we can see African-American men at work. Ford was a pioneer in hiring black workers at the giant Rouge plant—although the reasons weren’t entirely altruistic. The company recognized these workers had fewer opportunities elsewhere, and thus their turnover was lower. At Ford, minority employees were placed mainly in the most menial or physically grueling positions, including janitorial and foundry work. Ultimately, the World War II labor shortage brought more complete integration to the auto plants.
Summing up, there’s a lot to see in this two-minute silent film. After multiple viewings, we’re still picking up lessons. Video follows.
I bet those guys had no problems sleeping at night, they had to be worn out after a days work at those speeds!
It’s amazing more workers weren’t hurt or killed on those assembly lines working in such a rush. In one segment, a guy is bolting something down, and they start dropping the body down to the chassis, and he has to jump to get out of the way, they weren’t slowing down a bit!
Very dramatic. Obviously, auto plants are not the engines of employment they once were.
This statement below from your article doesn’t tell the whole story;
On the cylinder block conveyor line, we can see African-American men at work. Ford was a pioneer in hiring black workers at the giant Rouge plant—although the reasons weren’t entirely altruistic. The company recognized these workers had fewer opportunities elsewhere, and thus their turnover was lower. At Ford, minority employees were placed mainly in the most menial or physically grueling positions, including janitorial and foundry work. Ultimately, the World War II labor shortage brought more complete integration to the auto plants
Also the reality was;
By the end of World War I over 8,000 black workers were employed in the city’s auto industry, with 1,675 working at Ford, primarily as janitors and cleaners or in the dirty and dangerous bowels of the River Rouge Plant’s massive blast furnaces and foundries. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s Ford Motor Company was the largest employer of black workers in the city, due in part to Henry Ford’s personal relationships with leading black ministers. The work of church leaders in the black community helped secure employment for hundreds and possibly thousands, but more importantly, they also helped to mediate conflicts between white and black.
In addition to jobs, Ford Motor Company also provided additional social welfare services to predominantly black suburban communities in Inkster and Garden City during the depths of the Great Depression. Ford Motor Company provided housing and fuel allowances as well as low-interest, short-term loans to Ford employees living in those communities. Additionally, Ford built community centers, refurbished several schools and ran company commissaries that provided inexpensive retail goods and groceries.
Altruistic ?
Although your reply is quite lengthy — far longer than the piece you are responding to — you still managed to provide only part of the story yourself. I’m satisfied with my account. While very brief, it states the matter.
Never seen this one before. Very nice.