Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American engineer, industrialist, and inventor. One of the founders automotive industry USA, founder of the Ford Motor Company ( Ford motor Company), the organizer of the flow-conveyor production.
Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863 to a Michigan farmer, an immigrant from Ireland. The father was dissatisfied with him, considering him a lazy and sissy - the son behaved like a prince who accidentally found himself on a farm. Everything he was told, Henry did reluctantly. He hated chickens and cows and hated milk. "Already in my early youth, I thought that many things could be done differently - in some other way." For example, he, Henry, has to climb steep stairs every morning, carrying buckets of water. Why do this every day when you can just lay two meters of water pipes underground?
When his son was twelve, his father gave him pocket watch. He could not stand it - he pryed off the lid with a screwdriver, and something wonderful opened up to his eyes. The parts of the mechanism interacted with each other, one wheel moved the other, each screw was important here. Having disassembled and reassembled the watch, the boy thought for a long time. What is the world but one big mechanism? One movement is generated by another, everything has its leverage. To succeed, you just need to know which levers to push. Henry quickly learned how to repair clocks and even worked part-time for a while, going around the surrounding farms and taking broken chronometers for repair. The second shock was the meeting with the locomobile. Henry and his father were returning in a cart from the city when they met a huge, steam-shrouded self-propelled machine. Having overtaken the cart and frightened the horses, the smoking and hissing monster rushed past. At that moment, Henry would have given half his life to be there in the cab.
At the age of 15, G. Ford left school and walked at night, without telling anyone, went to Detroit: he would never become a farmer, as his father wants.
At the factory where he got a job, they made horse-drawn wagons. Here he did not last long. Ford only needed to touch the broken mechanism to understand what the problem was. The gifted novice became the envy of other workers. They did everything to survive the upstart from the factory, and succeeded in this - Ford was fired. Later, Henry got a job at the shipyard of the Flower brothers. And at night he worked part time repairing watches so that he could pay for the room.
Meanwhile, William Ford decided to make one last attempt to return his son to the farming business: he offered 40 acres of land on the condition that he would never utter the word “car” again in his life. Unexpectedly, Henry agreed. The father was pleased, the son too. Gullible William did not even suspect that his son was simply fooling him. For Henry, this case served as a lesson: if you want to become a king, be prepared to lie.
Soon Henry Ford decided to marry. Clara Bryant was three years younger than him. They met at a village dance. Ford was a brilliant dancer and impressed the girl by showing her his pocket watch and claiming he had made it himself. They were connected by many things - just like Henry, Clara was born into a farmer's family, did not shun any work. The girl's parents are pious and strict people, of course, they would not have given her away for young man without a penny for the soul, without land and home. Having hastily built a cozy house on his site, Henry settled in it with his young wife. Many years later, the automotive monarch will say: “My wife believed in my success even stronger than I did. That's how she's always been." Clara could spend hours listening to her husband's reasoning about the idea of creating a self-propelled carriage. Throughout her long family life, she always knew how to maintain an elegant balance - she was interested in her husband's affairs, but never interfered in them.
As time went. And one day, Ford Sr. found the cozy house of the newlyweds abandoned - Henry and Clara unexpectedly moved to Detroit, where Ford went to work as an engineer at the Detroit Electric Company.
In November 1893, Clara gave Ford a son. The boy was named Edsel.
In the same year, in a brick shed behind the semi-detached house where he lived with his wife Clara, Ford finished building his first experimental car. The inventor worked for two days without rest and sleep, and at two in the morning on June 4 he came to inform his wife that the car was ready and he was now going to test it. Called the "Quad" and weighing only five hundred pounds, the car moved on four bicycle tires.
And in the same 1893, Ford became the chief engineer of the Edison Company, which specialized in lighting Detroit, and then - in 1899 - the chief engineer of the Detroit car company. But after a while, they began to notice that Ford was spending all his mental and physical strength on a gasoline cart, and not at all on office work. Henry was offered a leadership position on the condition that he give up his invention. Ford hesitated. The arguments of reason were as follows: the family must be supported, there are no savings - everything went to the construction of the cart. Clara, seeing his hesitation, said that no matter what Henry did, she would approve of his decision. After quitting, Ford began to "sell himself." He was looking for wealthy partners, because Henry himself did not have money, as such, and in his new enterprise he assigned himself the role of a supplier of ideas. But no one wanted to buy these ideas. Eventually, after giving a Detroit businessman a ride at breakneck speed, Henry agreed to work with the inventor. The Detroit Automotive Company did not last long. “There was no demand for cars, just as there is no demand for any new product. I left my post determined never to be dependent again,” Ford recalled. And the "trading of ideas" began again, the search for partners. Refusals rained down on him like from a cornucopia, he was almost taken out of one office by force. Finally, in 1903, the Ford Motor Company was incorporated. Henry became General Manager. Being a self-taught mechanic himself, Ford willingly hired the same nuggets at the plant: “Specialists are so smart and experienced that they know exactly why this and that cannot be done, they see limits and obstacles everywhere. If I wanted to destroy competitors, I would provide them with hordes of specialists.
The automobile king never learned to read blueprints in his entire life: the engineers simply made a wooden model for the boss and gave it to him for judgment.
In 1905, Ford's financial partners did not agree with his intention to produce cheap cars, because. were in demand expensive models, the main shareholder Alexander Malcolmson sold his share to Ford, after which Henry Ford became the owner of the controlling stake and the president of the company (he was the president of the company in 1905 - 1919 and in 1943 - 1945).
The real triumph of Ford was the introduction of the “T” model, which meant a change in all landmarks in the concept of the automotive industry. He created it as a sculptor, cutting off everything superfluous, creating not a luxurious toy for the elite, but an affordable product for thousands and thousands of “average Americans”. The success exceeded all expectations. During the years of production of the “T” model, over 15 million cars were sold, which easily won consumer market.
Mass production required standardization and unification of all technological processes. "The terror of the machine" - this is how Ford characterized the control system he introduced. A clear system of control and planning, conveyor production, continuous technological chains - all this contributed to the fact that the Ford empire worked in automatic mode.
Ford was the first to establish a minimum wage and an 8-hour workday in his factories. However, going to improve the social situation of workers, Ford preferred to do this solely on his own initiative. Therefore, in the future, he stubbornly ignored the pressure of the trade unions, which eventually led to a protracted conflict with them in 1937-1941. At its factories, a sociological service was created with a staff of 60 people, which at that time was a major innovation.
Ford was literally obsessed with diet and a healthy lifestyle, was fond of the history of American culture, and was not alien to philanthropy. However, his public activities - active anti-Jewish interventions, a peace cruise during the First World War, an attempt to become a senator - were mostly scandalous.
Believing in his own genius, Ford began to lose flexibility and innovator's flair. In the 30s, there were serious changes in consumer demand, and Ford, devoted to his previous concept, did not take them into account. As a result, the leading positions in the automotive industry had to be ceded to another big company- General Motors.
In September 1945, Ford handed over the leadership of the company (formerly formally owned by his only son Edsel) to his grandson and namesake Henry Ford 2 and retired. Two years later, on April 7, 1947, Ford died at the age of 83.
Henry Ford is usually credited as the creator of the "industry of industries" of the 20th century. And the man who brought the Industrial Revolution to its climax. His company manufactured and assembled virtually every component of the cars it produced using a constantly moving main belt. assembly line and numerous auxiliary lines supplying it with details, as well as applying the principle of vertical integration of interacting units. The money and efforts of people were spent in such a way as to ensure significant volumes of production: since 1914.
Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863 in Michigan on his father's farm near the village of Dearborn. USA.
The Ford family - an ideal find for moralizing biographies - lived a working life, enjoying a modest, hard-to-find prosperity.
Henry spent his entire childhood on a farm helping his parents, and also began his education at a rural school in Dearborn, Michigan.
In addition to Henry, the family had six more children.
Even in his youth, at the age of twelve, Henry built a small workshop in which he spent all his free time. A few years later, Henry had already created his first engine, which was powered by steam.
When one of the children was presented with a wind-up toy, the young Fords squealed in six voices: "Just don't give Henry!" They knew that he would take it apart to the screw, and after assembly, half of the parts would be superfluous. This bright image arises from the memoirs of Ford himself: in one hand, young Henry held a broken alarm clock, in the other - a screwdriver, and a small flashlight, the only source of light, was squeezed by his knees.
In 1879 he was sixteen years old, and one fine day, without saying a word to anyone, he folded the bundle and went to Detroit. After walking nine miles, Henry took a room there and got a job as an apprentice in a mechanical workshop as an assistant machinist.
In 1887, having gone to a congress in Atlantic City, where experts in the field of electrical engineering meet, he meets Thomas Edison, already famous and rich at that time, with whom he communicates for a long time and tells him about his achievements and ideas in the field of creating new engines. . business manager ford management
Ford's assistants were struck by the fact that Henry, always saving on the wages of workers, doubled his salary with the onset of the Great Depression (1929-1932). And the Henry family had their own reasons for concern: the way he treated his only son, Edsel, defied any explanation.
Edsel was always a good boy: he received only excellent grades, obeyed his father, was respectful to his employees and really wanted to lead the Ford Motor - in a word, he did what he was supposed to. Henry did not want to let his son go to the First World War - and Edsel appeared at the recruiting station and demanded that he be given a reservation as the organizer of military production; Henry was suspicious of higher education - and the excellent student Edsel immediately after school came to Ford Corporation, at 21 he got a seat on the board of directors. Edsel caught his father's instructions on the fly and disappeared for hours in the design bureau: his father made the most reliable car in the world, he dreamed of making the most beautiful.
In the late thirties, Edsel began to complain of abdominal pain. He was prescribed a barium diet, but he considered himself a sophisticated person and did not want to be treated in this way. When doctors diagnosed stomach cancer, it was too late to do anything. Ford Jr. was cut out half of the stomach and asked the family to prepare for the worst, but Henry decided that doctors, as usual, were doing nonsense. He was absolutely sure that his son could deal with his problems on his own: his secretary handed Edsel a lengthy memorandum in which Henry outlined all his claims. His father told him to work harder, ordered him to break off relations with the "slobbers" from the rich families of Detroit, offered to make friends with good, reliable, trusted people, a list of which Henry attached to his letter. It ended with a pathetic appeal: "Restore your health by partnering with Henry Ford!"- Edsel burst into tears at this phrase, wrote a letter of resignation and went home.
Henry never believed that his son was dying; during the funeral, the older Ford looked less broken than confused. Walking behind the coffin, he repeated: "There's nothing you can do, you need to work harder."
Harry Bennet, Henry's new right-hand man, became chief executive of Ford Motor. He began his career as a sailor, then became a professional boxer, and then got into Ford's bodyguards, liked him and managed to break out to the very top. Bennett turned out to be a useless manager: together with Henry, who had completely lost his mind, they almost brought the company to bankruptcy: under the onslaught of competitors, Ford Motor sales fell every year.
Henry was actively out of his mind - recently the old man often called aside unfamiliar people and shared his innermost with them: "You know, I'm sure that Edsel is not dead!" He became more and more manageable, and power in the family passed to women. The old man became more and more strange, he really wanted to celebrate his centenary, but fate did not want to give Ford the elder last favor. He died in 1947 at the age of 84. Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law entered into a temporary alliance.
"Ford Motor" is still owned by the heirs of the founder. But the Fords no longer run the company - hired managers run the business.
Henry's grandson, at the insistence of his relatives, was named Henry II. He still cannot read and does not know that his name is written on tens of millions of cars.
MAIN CONTRIBUTIONS OF HENRY FORD
While Ford is often credited with inventing the assembly line and the highly efficient mass production, most of his ideas and practical innovations, which brought prosperity and fame to both the entrepreneur and the company, were known for many decades, and sometimes centuries. In addition to the internal combustion engine and the automobile as such, these inventions and ideas included scientific management methods that required the study of labor movements. As well as the systematic use of wages as an incentive to work; use of interchangeable parts; planning and standard procedures for inventory control, production and maintenance accounting; application of assembly and production lines; and even continuously moving assembly line production.
However, Ford did develop systems of production, assembly, and transportation that proved to be unprecedented in their mobility and size and anticipated the advent of the late 20th century. Just in time methods. Henry Ford's main dream of mass motorization of the population was, in fact, purely American, based on his sympathies for equality, mobility, change, realism, directness and simplicity.
- In 1908, he created the "Ford T" - a car of all times and peoples, with minor changes produced until 1928. Light, compact, cheap, simple: farmers went shopping in it, bootleggers smuggled whiskey, gangsters got away from the police - and they all could not praise the Ford T.
- · Wrote several books that have become cult classics for many business owners and fans around the world.
- · Creator of one of the first charitable foundations founded by industrialists.
- · Became a laureate of the American Petroleum Institute's award for services to the country and society.
By the age of fifty, Ford has become a multimillionaire, and his car has become one of the national symbols of America. After that, he forever abandoned the invention: "Ford T" was to remain his masterpiece. The strongest quality of H. Ford as a creator automotive industry The US had an understanding of the meaning of "performance". One of the main results of this understanding was the desire of H. Ford to provide his company with the greatest possible autonomy, the other was the belief in the possibility of "abundance for all" or in accordance with his motto: "High wages to create large markets." He was not the inventor of mass production (although in many ways he symbolized it), time-based inventory control, vertical integration, a slightly crude but effective version of the marketing concept, a large automobile company as a multinational corporation, human resource management or corporate philanthropy. But he was the first to put some of these ideas into practice, greatly improve others, and effectively combine most of them together.
However, his main achievement was that he made the car a mass means of transportation for Americans and at the same time contributed to improving the well-being of the population and saving millions of people from the need for hard physical labor. He was also ahead of his time in putting the interests of buyers and workers ahead of the interests of shareholders.
Henry Ford was indeed one of the great managers of the 20th century. All his hard life, the struggle with it, all his shortcomings, which he tried to turn into advantages, all his perseverance and ability to achieve goals, were the excellent products of his company, known throughout the world.
I believe that only one who has achieved exactly what he wanted, while bringing benefit to the people, can be called a great manager.
In the village of Springfield, near Dearborn, Michigan. He was the eldest of six children of immigrants from Ireland, William (William Ford) and Mary Ford (Mary Ford), who owned a prosperous farm. Henry spent his childhood on his parents' farm, where he helped his family and attended a rural school.
Ford showed interest in technology at a young age. At the age of 12, he equipped a small workshop, where he enthusiastically spent all his free time. It was there that a few years later Ford designed his first steam engine.
In 1879, Henry Ford moved to Detroit, where he got a job as an assistant machinist. Moved to Dearborn three years later and spent five years designing and repairing steam engines, moonlighting from time to time at a plant in Detroit.
In 1887, at an electrical convention in Atlantic City, Henry Ford met inventor and millionaire Thomas Edison and told him what he was working on. Ford asked if, in his opinion, internal combustion engines had a future and expected the scientist to burst into a panegyric in praise of the almighty electricity, but he heard: "Keep working on your car. If you achieve the goal that you set for yourself, then I predict a big future". Ford was inspired, Edison himself believed in him.
In the late 1980s, Henry Ford took over as manager of a sawmill.
In 1891 he was an engineer of the Edison Illuminating company, from 1893 he was the company's chief engineer. Good salary and enough free time allowed Ford to devote more time to the development of internal combustion engines.
In 1899, after leaving the Edison Illuminating Company, Henry Ford founded own firm Detroit Automobile. Despite the fact that a year later the company went bankrupt, Ford managed to collect several racing cars.
In 1903, twelve businessmen from Michigan, led by Henry Ford, founded the Ford Motor Company. Ford held a 25.5% stake in the company and served as vice president and chief engineer of the company.
Under car factory converted a former van factory in Detroit. Teams of two or three workers, under the direct supervision of Ford, assembled cars from spare parts that were custom-made by other enterprises. Just a month later, the company's first car was released.
In 1905, Ford's financial partners did not agree with his intention to produce cheap cars, as expensive models were in demand. Major shareholder Alexander Malcolmson sold his stake to Ford, who became president and majority owner of the company.
In 1908, Henry Ford made his dream come true with the release of the Model "T" - a reliable and inexpensive car, which has become one of the most popular and popular cars of his time. Ford's car was easy to drive, it did not require complex Maintenance and could even drive on rural roads, becoming a means of transportation, and not a toy for the rich.
In 1913, the conveyor production of the model was established, which led to a significant reduction in cost.
In order to exercise strict control, Ford created a complete production cycle: from ore mining and metal smelting to the production of finished car. In 1914, he introduced the highest minimum wage in the United States. wages- $5 a day, allowed workers to share in the company's profits, built a model workers' camp, but until 1941 did not allow unionization in his factories. In 1914, the factories of the corporation began to work around the clock - in 3 shifts of 8 hours each.
In 1909, Ford began cooperation with Russia. Sales offices of the company were opened in St. Petersburg, and then in Moscow, Odessa and the Baltic port cities.
In 1919, at the initiative of the Soviet Bureau in New York, Ford entered into a deal to sell Soviet Russia Fordson tractors, cooperation continued later.
In 1919, Henry Ford and his son Edsel (Edsel Bryant Ford) bought out the company's shares from other shareholders and became the sole owners of the company. In the same year, Edsel inherited from his father the presidency of the company, which he held until his death in 1943. After the sudden death of his son Henry Ford again had to stand at the helm of the company.
In September 1945, Henry Ford transferred powers to his eldest grandson, Henry Ford II ( Henry Ford II).
Henry Ford wrote several books, among them: "My Life and Work" (My Life and Work, 1922), "Today and Tomorrow" (Today and Tomorrow, 1926), "Moving Forward" (Moving Forward, 1931).
In 1936, together with his son, he created the Ford Foundation.
In May 1946, Ford was awarded an honorary award for services to the auto industry, and at the end of that year, the American Petroleum Institute presented him with a gold medal for services to society.
On April 7, 1947, Henry Ford died at the age of 83 at his home in Dearborn.
Henry Ford was married to Clara Bryant (1866-1950), they had a son, Edsel Bryant Ford (1893-1943).
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
American engineer, inventor, industrialist Henry Ford was born in July 1863. He became the pride of the automobile industry of the United States, the founder of Ford motor company, the organizer of production and the designer of the flow-conveyor complex.
Henry Ford's car was created as a work of art, there is nothing superfluous in it, its beauty is expedient and functional. And it's not a luxury toy. This is a convenient, affordable gift that made the average American family Henry Ford. The biography of this inventor and designer is a worthy example for every person.
Merits
Henry Ford is famous, whose biography over time acquires more and more fantastic details, because he managed to create a flow in production. And the automobile business is also his idea, brought to life by him. And most importantly - management. Economically organized businesses need managers, and the twentieth century has given the world the creative businessman. The best businessman of the century, according to Fortune magazine!
He built the largest production that existed at that time, a real industry, on which Ford earned his first billion (today this money is "worth" thirty-six billion). The principles of his management still have a huge impact on the entire structure of US society. Ford managed to sell fifteen and a half million "Ford-T", and the necessary for production flow conveyor became more familiar than cycling on the street.
Opponent and Creator of Management
If Henry Ford had not been an opponent of management principles, his biography would not have been replenished with the title of the best businessman. He had his own principles: he paid workers twice as much as other employers, he sold cars to them at significant discounts. Thus he created the class still called "blue collar". He did not raise demand for his products. No! He created the conditions for such demand.
This did not coincide with the principles of the current production policy. was created and formulated in the correspondence dispute between Ford and the theorists, who could not defeat the noble automaker in any way, until a practical manager appeared from General Motors who smashed Henry Ford head-to-head in a face-to-face dispute. So successful Ford, whose biography is worthy of the pen of a Hollywood film screenwriter, as an entrepreneur, failed in 1927.
Only the product matters
By this time, Henry could no longer change his beliefs. He really "starred", that is, he was absolutely sure of his own rightness. And new times have come, the change of which he did not notice. Successful production now required management, and a new quality of management, which Henry Ford could not understand in time. His quotes on this subject are wonderful: "Gymnastics is nonsense. Healthy people do not need it, but sick people are contraindicated." He did the same with management.
Ford was sure that if the product is good, then it will certainly bring profit, and if it is bad, then the most wonderful management will not bring results. Ford despised the art of management, ran around the shops, looked into the office only occasionally, financial documents seemed to him nauseating, he hated bankers, recognized only cash. The financiers were for him thieves, speculators, pests and robbers, and the shareholders were parasites. And so talentedly Henry scattered on this topic! To this day, appreciative management uses them as an example of losing business sense. In any case, if he was not right, then he was extremely honest with consumers.
honest product
The words of Henry Ford on this subject are relevant for all time: "Only work creates value!" - he did not get tired of repeating. And so it was. Mass production at the factory did not begin until the model reached the ideal, absolutely universal, in Ford's opinion, condition. Then it gets better and the car is put on stream. Managers look after the overall output, Ford looks after them so that the departments work together in harmony, and then profits naturally flow freely to the enterprise.
All the most important questions the head of the enterprise decided himself. Henry Ford's theory was that the value of market strategy lies in "penetration prices." Every year the volume of production increases, costs are constantly decreasing, car prices are regularly reduced - this is how a stable increase in profits is created, since demand also grows. Profit is necessarily returned to production. While Henry Ford's principles worked for commercial success, he was an individualistic entrepreneur - he did not pay shareholders at all.
core values
Here she is, American dream: born like Henry Ford, in a poor farming family, get rich and famous. Compatriots may forget who their president is today, but Henry Ford's car will always be remembered. Ford served the idea, the one and only, and all his life, suffered absolute defeats, endured widespread ridicule, struggled with sophisticated intrigues. But he achieved his goal: he created a car and earned billions.
Henry Ford's wife, Clara, was also alone for life. She believed him unquestioningly, supported him selflessly in difficult moments. He was once asked how he would live his life if given a second opportunity. The words of Henry Ford have always been worthy of memorization: "I would agree, but on one condition: I will marry Clara again."
Start
In fact, Henry's life did not start out so easy. He was born on a farm in Michigan, where from an early age he was forced to help his father work in the field. He truly hated this job. He was attracted only by the mechanisms. And the steam locomobile he saw at the age of twelve shook the boy's soul to the very bottom. Thus began the story of Henry Ford.
Every day until late at night, Henry struggled with the construction of a moving mechanism. He ceased to look like an ordinary boy: his pockets are full of nuts, instead of toys - tools. Parents gave him the first watch in his life, which he dismantled on the same day and assembled as it was. From the age of fifteen he ran around the neighboring farms and repaired any mechanisms for everyone, and thus he did not finish school. subsequently, the statements of Henry Ford on this subject did not change their worldview. He said that books do not teach anything practical, and for a technician, the most important thing is the mechanism from which he, as a writer from books, will draw all the ideas and be able to apply them.
Steam locomobiles
Henry did not know how to rest in his work: he completely broke away from farming roots, worked in a mechanical workshop, and repaired watches at night, moonlighting at a jeweler. Since he already had the idea, and only a self-propelled carriage carried away all his dreams, at the age of sixteen he got a job at the Westinghouse Company as an expert in the assembly and repair of locomotives. These multi-ton monsters of the automotive industry did 12 miles per hour and were most often used as a tractor. Locomobiles were so expensive that not every farmer could buy such a car.
Henry Ford's first company, although not his brainchild, gave him the opportunity to grow in the profession, acquire ideas and try to implement them. The first attempt was to create a light steam cart for plowing. Henry remembered his father, that a purely paternal dream of a helper son had collapsed, and his conscience, of course, worried. Therefore, he wanted to quickly alleviate the harsh lot of farmers, to shift the main work from his father's shoulders to the iron horse.
New design engine
The tractor is not a mass product. People want a car that can be driven on the roads, not a tool for field work. However, the cart assembled by Henry was dangerous: it is more convenient to sit on a bomb than on a boiler under high pressure. Young Ford studied boilers of all designs and realized that the future was not behind them, that a light crew with a steam engine was impossible. Hearing about gas engines, Ford was filled with new hopes.
Smart people listened to him with interest, but they absolutely did not believe in the success of Henry Ford in this matter. He did not meet a single acquaintance of educated people who would understand that the future of mankind lies in the internal combustion engine. From that moment on, he neglected all the advice of the "wise men". This engine was designed by Henry Ford in 1887. To do this, he had to disassemble gas engine Philippe Le Bon and understand what's what, then return to the farm to experiment there.
Engineer and mechanic
The father was delighted with the return of his son and gave him a piece of forest so that he would just stop poking around in pieces of iron. Henry Ford, a little slyly, agreed, built a house, a sawmill, a workshop and married Clara. Naturally, he spent all his free time in the workshop, reading books on mechanics, designing.
Since it was impossible to advance on the farm alone, he moved to Detroit, where he was offered a salary of $45 per month. electric company. Clara has always supported her husband in all his endeavors.
He did not find sympathy with his new colleagues about his throwing, because they were sure that electricity was absolutely the whole future of the planet, but the "father of electricity" himself became interested, treated with understanding and wished him luck. Henry Ford was inspired beyond words.
America's first driver
When in 1893 Henry Ford rode through Detroit on his internal combustion engine, which he called an ATV, the horses shied away, passers-by were surprised at the loud rattling, surrounded, asked questions. There were no traffic rules yet, so I had to get permission from the police. So he became the first officially approved driver of America.
After driving for three years, Henry sold the first brainchild for two hundred dollars and used them to create a new model of a lighter car. For some reason he thought that heavy vehicles Not needed. Ah, if he now looked at the brainchild of his company - Ford Expedition, then he would definitely change his mind. However, at that time he believed that the mass product was easy and affordable.
By that time, the electric company had made him the first engineer, paid $ 125 a month, but the experiences in the automotive industry aroused indignation among the management. It believed only in electricity. In gas, no. The company offered Henry Ford an even higher post, but just let him drop this nonsense and do the real thing. Ford thought and chose his dream.
Racing car
Partners were quickly found who invested in the newly created Detroit Automobile Company to produce racing cars. Henry Ford could not defend the idea of mass production. The companions needed money, they simply did not see another use for the car. True, this enterprise did not bring much money to anyone. In 1902, he left the company, never to be dependent again. "All by myself!" Henry Ford said to himself. Achievements were on the way.
Ford never put speed in the dignity of a car, but since public attention could only be attracted by victory, he still had to prepare two cars designed for high speed. "It is impossible to give a more unreliable guarantee! - he said to himself, - You can fall from Niagara Falls with a large percentage of luck."
But the cars were ready to race. Only the driver was missing. A cyclist named Oldfield, looking for thrills, agreed to ride with the breeze. But he never sat behind the wheel of a car. There was a week left before the race. The cyclist did not disappoint. Moreover, he never looked around, did not turn around and did not slow down on the turns: as he “stoked” the pedal to the stop at the start, he did not slow down until the finish line. Ford's car came first. Investors became interested, about a week later the company was founded, the main brainchild of Ford - Ford Motor.
Car for everyone
Henry Ford organized his own enterprise according to his own plan. The priority was a reliable, easy-to-manage, cheap, light, mass-produced product. Ford did not want to work for the rich, but he wanted to make all his countrymen happy. No luxury, the simplest and most functional finish. And the prestige of the brand also did not matter. Even beautiful names he didn’t have any models, he called each new one by the next letter of the alphabet.
Ford observed three basic financial principles: he did not take other people's capital, he bought everything exclusively for cash, and all profits necessarily went into production. Dividends rely only on those who participate in the creation of the product. All thoughts, all efforts Ford directed to the creation universal car. She became a model with the letter "T". The previous ones also sold quite well, but compared to the "T", they seemed just experimental. Now advertising could quite rightly say: "Every child will be able to drive a Ford"!
Perfect Creation
In 1909, Henry Ford announced that he would now only produce the Model "T" with the same chassis. And, as always, he made this statement witty: - "Every person can buy a Ford-T of absolutely any color, but on the condition that any color is black."
To understand what scale the event was started by the head of the company, and he started it with absolute faith in success, you need to imagine that a certain person created a company to provide each of us with cheap and comfortable aircraft. Such was the attitude to buying a car in those days.
The car had to be quite roomy so that the whole family could comfortably settle down. Henry Ford was also concerned about the choice of material, which should be the best. The design should be as simple as possible in today's technology, he believed. And he always had first-class workers.
Ford said that the price of the car would be so low that any working person could buy it. Here, on these very words, many stopped believing him. Factory cans! shouted his opponents. And the Model "T" was called "Lizzie's Tin". It would seem, what difference does it make what the dogs bark about. Anyway, the caravan is moving on. But in order to sell a lot, low prices won't help. You need to be convinced of the quality.
Buyer care
At the origins of the automotive industry, selling a car was considered a profitable operation - and nothing more. Sold - forgotten. The further fate of the car was of no interest to anyone. When repairing, spare parts were prohibitively expensive, since the owner has nowhere to go - he will buy like a pretty one. Ford sold spare parts extremely cheaply and took care of repairing the cars of his factory.
Competitors got excited. Intrigues, gossip, even patent lawsuits began. Ford did not hesitate to print in the newspapers that every car buyer could demand a twelve million dollar bond from Ford Motor, guaranteeing the receipt of this money in the event of unpleasant accidents. And asked not to buy cars obviously Low quality at high prices from enemies Ford motor. And it worked! In 1927, the fifteen millionth left the factory gates, which has not changed in nineteen years. Just as Henry Ford did not change his principles. His biography did not end there. Before his death in 1947, he managed a lot: to create best cars, write some exciting books, and make the American dream come true.
When it seems that the whole world is against you, remember that the plane takes off against the wind! Henry Ford said so. And all my life I followed this rule.
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947), American industrialist, owner of automobile factories around the world, inventor.
Henry Ford was born in Springfield, Michigan on July 30, 1863. He was the eldest of six children of William and Mary Ford. Henry spent his childhood on his parents' farm, where he helped his family and attended a regular rural school. A huge interest in technology, which Henry showed at a very young age, and allowed him to become one of the most famous industrialists in the world.
At the age of 12, Henry equipped a small workshop. In 1879, Henry Ford moved to Detroit, where he got a job as an assistant machinist. Three years later, Ford moved to Dearborn and for five years was engaged in the design and repair of steam engines, moonlighting from time to time at a factory in Detroit. In 1888 he married Clara Bryant and soon took up a job as manager of a sawmill.
In 1891, Ford became an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company, and two years later was appointed the company's chief engineer.
Ford assembled the first internal combustion engine in the kitchen of his home. Soon he decided to put the engine on a frame with four bicycle wheels. So in 1896, a quad bike appeared - vehicle which was the first Ford car.
After retiring in 1899 from the Edison Illuminating company, Henry Ford founded his own company, Detroit Automobile. Despite the fact that the company went bankrupt a year later, Ford managed to assemble several racing cars. Ford himself took part in motor racing and in October 1901 managed to defeat the American champion Alexander Winton.
The Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903. Its founders were twelve businessmen from Michigan, led by Henry Ford. A former van factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit was converted into a car plant. Brigades, consisting of two to three workers, under the direct supervision of Ford, assembled cars from spare parts that were made to order by other enterprises.
The company's first car was sold on July 23, 1903. In 1906, Henry Ford became the company's president and principal owner.
In 1919, Henry Ford and his son Edsel bought the company's shares from other shareholders for 105.5 million US dollars and became the sole owners of the company. In the same year, Edsel inherited from his father the presidency of the company, which he held until his death in 1943. After the sudden death of his son Henry Ford again had to stand at the helm of the company.
In September 1945, Henry Ford transferred powers to his eldest grandson, Henry Ford II. In May 1946, Henry Ford Sr. was awarded an honorary award for services to the auto industry, and at the end of the same year, the American Petroleum Institute presented him with a gold medal for services to society.
Henry Ford died at the age of 83 at his home in Dearborn on April 7, 1947. Thus ended a whole era in the history of the Ford Motor Company, which, despite the death of its founder, continued to develop actively.
