Henry Ford became a kind of symbol American successful businessman. All over the world he is known as the "father" of the most well-known brand cars. But besides this, he is also a writer, the author of many innovations in the field of manufacturing parts, as well as labor law.
Henry Ford was born into an Irish family. His grandfather at one time left this country and at his own peril and risk moved to America. His son (Henry Ford's father) became a farmer, and if not for the passion for cars, who knows: maybe Henry Ford also became just another person who works the land.
Childhood and youth
On his twelfth birthday, little Henry received a watch from his parents. He didn't rest until he took them apart. And then collected again. The mechanism was like new. This gave the boy the idea that the mechanism itself is worthless if he does not have a mechanic with golden hands. Therefore, it is not surprising that he soon figured out the clock mechanism and received his first money precisely thanks to this skill: he traveled around all the districts in search of broken mechanisms and repaired them with ease.
The second significant day was the one when Henry saw the locomobile. His childish imagination was shocked by a car that was moving faster than a team.
When he was 13 years old, his mother died, and four years later Henry Ford himself ran away from his parents' house - he terribly did not want to do the same thing as his father: run the household.
Therefore, Henry goes to Detroit - the future capital of the automotive industry. There he gets a job at Westinghouse as a mechanic. The company manufactures locomobiles, so it is not surprising that Henry himself will soon design his first model. He sold it to a farmer he knew for almost nothing - he did not calculate the effort and time expended.
And then the future business tycoon returns home. The father promised that he would give the indefatigable son-dreamer a piece of land if he puts out of his head strange ideas about cars. Henry agrees and ... deceives his father. The resulting land gives him the opportunity to marry his girlfriend and have a place where no one will stop him from working on his own "car".
Wife and muse: is it difficult to live with a genius
Henry Ford captivated his future wife, Clara Bryant, with her ability to dance beautifully and make clocks from a pile of scrap. And although the girl's parents were against the wedding, the quickly built house reassured them.
Clara supported her husband for many years in his desire to make self-propelled carriage. She patiently served spare parts at night in the garage, often catching a cold from such "romantic" evenings. But she believed in Henry Ford like no one else.
Therefore, it is not surprising that when an already successful and wealthy businessman was asked what he would like to be in his next life, he repeated the same thing: “I don’t care if I can marry Clara again.”
The first steps and the birth of a giant company
In 1899, Ford became a co-owner of the Detroit Automobile Company, but due to frequent disagreements, he decided to leave after three years. And already in 1903 his Ford appeared. motor company. The start of the business started with a scandal: in 1979, the author of the first car patented his project, but never implemented it. But he sued all the manufacturers with a claim that they should buy licenses from him. Ford refused. Then he was threatened that all his clients would be dragged through the courts. But Ford was at his best here too: he promised to personally pay his buyers for lawyers if claims were made against them. And although Ford lost the court, he won more: the respect and reputation of a man who puts the rights of buyers above his own.
In 1908 Ford motor Company releases the revolutionary Model-T, which brings success to the company.
From War to War: Ford, Tanks, and the Jewish Question
Although Ford was an avid pacifist, during the First World War, his factories changed skills: they made tanks and prototype submarines, helmets and even gas masks. After the end of the war, Ford founded The Dearborn Independent, which, starting in May 1922, published a lot of anti-Semitic material. He made no secret of his negative attitude towards Jews, and the apotheosis of this was the book "International Jew", which included many articles from the newspaper.
It even got to the point that the future Fuhrer Adolf Hitler began to quote him. In his book Mein Kampf, he often referred to the thoughts of Henry Ford.
But after public condemnation and a significant decline in sales, Ford publicly apologized and retracted his words, and all publications of the International Jewry were withdrawn from sale and destroyed. Before the outbreak of World War II, he again repeated his apologies about the old words about the Jews. But during the war, his factories in Europe still collaborated with Nazi Germany.
New ideas and the last years of life
In 1925, Ford founded his own airline - Ford Airways, in the same year began to produce airliners. most successful model turned out to be the Ford Trimotor, which was nicknamed the "iron goose". She stayed on the market until 1989.
Until the 1930s, Henry Ford personally led the company, but due to disagreements with partners, he transferred this position to his only son Edsel. But he died in 1943, so Ford headed the Ford Motor Company for another two years. After he handed over everything to his grandson
- Every year the prices for Ford cars did not grow, but decreased. Ford considered it unwise to pass on new costs to customers, so he looked for ways to make production more efficient.
- The factories of Henry Ford gladly took disabled people, even completely blind people. The company's specialists analyzed what kind of work one-armed and even legless people can do, and the first thing they took to such positions was them, and not completely healthy people.
- But women were reluctant to work at Ford factories. Only if she is the only breadwinner in the family. But as soon as she got married, she was immediately fired. Henry Ford believed that bringing money into the house was the lot of a husband, and a woman should raise children.
- Henry Ford is the inventor of the assembly line. In his factories, everything was precisely calculated: how much space each worker needed, and how many seconds they spent on this or that function. Neither time nor space was to be wasted. Ford believed that the first thing this would be reflected in the price of the car, and therefore - in the wallet of his customers.
Titles, awards and prizes:
Ford was awarded the Elliot Cressonase Medal in 1928 by the Benjamin Franklin Institute for revolutionary achievements in automotive industry and industrial leadership.
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 produced and assembled almost all components of the cars produced, using a constantly moving belt of the main assembly line and numerous auxiliary lines supplying it with parts, as well as applying the principle of vertical integration of interacting departments. 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 union.
"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. Except engine internal combustion 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 constantly moving conveyor 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, large car 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.
“Can you do something or are you sure you can’t - in both cases you are right”
Biography of great people in this case Henry Ford, this is not a textbook or manual. You cannot copy their lives and successes. But you can certainly become successful yourself by drawing on their experience and using your unique personality.
Which will be discussed in this article, said:
"All Ford cars are exactly the same, but no two people are exactly the same"
This means that only by finding your "spark of individuality" and preserving and maintaining it, you can become something more than you are at the moment.
However, there are tools that are ideal for certain tasks. So hammering nails is best with a hammer, and pulling them out with tongs.
By no means the other way around. Such "tools" - methods of solving problems and personal qualities that must be mobilized in time, should be adopted.
On July 30, 1863, in the state of Michigan, on a farm near the town of Dearborn, the son of Henry was born in the Ford family. He was to become a legendary businessman of the 20th century, the founder of the automotive industry, the creator of the conveyor production line.
The family was not poor. But, according to Ford, "there was too much work on the farm compared to the results." Henry studied at a church school and received a very modest education. Until the end of his life he wrote with errors. But that didn't bother him at all.
Ford responded to accusations of ignorance:
“If I … needed to answer your stupid questions, I would only have to press a button in the office, and specialists with answers would appear at my disposal”
At the newspaper, which called him "ignorant," he brought down legal action and guess who won.
Ford did not consider the lack of education a vice. The vice for him was the unwillingness of a person to use his natural mind, as they say, "think with his head." Henry Ford quote:
“The hardest thing in the world is to think with your own head. That's probably why so few people do it."
First acquaintance with the car
At the age of twelve, Henry first saw a locomotive. It changed and predetermined his whole life. From that moment on, all the boy's thoughts are occupied with only one thing - the design of moving mechanisms. Parents did not encourage his hobbies ... They dreamed of seeing their son as an exemplary farmer. When Henry was apprenticed to a machine shop at the age of 17, his family considered him "almost dead".
Four years later, having studied the basics of mechanics, Ford returns to the farm to his parents and works with them, devoting all his free time to his inventions.
Personal life
Ford was married only once and extremely successfully. In 1887 he marries Clara Bryant, the daughter of a farmer. Smart and calm Clara became for him an ideal life friend. Many years later, when asked by journalists if he would like to live another life, Ford will answer:
"Only if you can remarry Clara"
Four years after the wedding, the young Fords have a son, Edsed.
The beginning of the ascent
Ford's first real invention, the gasoline thresher, greatly facilitated farm work. Ford sells a patent for an invention to Thomas Edison, and receives, along with a patent certificate, an invitation to work for the company. Now he is the chief engineer.
But his main idea is to create a common available car. Throughout 1893, Henry devotes every free minute to design.
“In themselves, ideas are valuable, but every idea is, after all, just an idea. The challenge is to put it into practice."— that's his creed.
He wants to transform the car from a luxury item into a means of transportation, to make it modern, reliable and affordable.
The chief engineer's enthusiasm for side tasks is not to the liking of the company's management. He is urged to stop his experiments, and Henry resigns from his service in response. He believes in his strength, believes in his future:
“If you have enthusiasm, you can do anything. Enthusiasm is the basis of any progress.”
In 1899, Henry Ford became a co-owner of the Detroit Automobile Company. He tries to convince his colleagues that his idea is promising, but to no avail. Three years later, Ford leaves the company, unwavering in his determination to do what he set out to do. “When it seems that the whole world is against you, remember that the plane takes off against the wind!”
The first Ford car
The prototype car is ready. Ford gets behind the wheel and drives around potential customers. However, the Fordmobile is not in demand, and Henry gets the nickname "obsessed from Begley Street" from the townsfolk.
But failures cannot break him, he has his own approach to them. Ford counts failures “an opportunity to start again, but more wisely” . He is sure that an honest defeat does not humiliate human dignity, only the fear of being defeated is humiliating.
It is impossible to imagine a situation where a person gets everything in life the first time. You have to fight for success.
“More often than not, people give up than they fail.” Quote from Henry Ford.
Perseverance, determination, readiness to persevere towards the goal - that's what defines a fighter.
Manifestation of business talent
In 1902, for the first time, the business talent of Henry Ford was fully manifested. Advertising of his car blew up America: Ford driving a Fordmobile wins the race of the national champion! The perfect PR! And Ford fully understands the importance of advertising: “If I had 4 dollars, 3 of them I would give to advertising”
Customers soon began pouring in to Ford. Investors are also interested. In 1903, the Ford Motor Company is founded... Ford is no longer someone's partner. He is the master of his future empire. True, shareholders are investors. But he's in charge here.
All the efforts of the company are aimed at the embodiment of Ford's favorite idea - "cars for everyone." Ford was ahead of its time. Then the idea mass car” seemed fantastic to people, as the idea of a “mass aircraft” would have seemed to us.
However, Henry does not care about such trifles. He knows that “everything can be done better than it has been done so far”, in other words, he believes in himself.
The design of the car is simplified as much as possible, parts and mechanisms are standardized - which means unprecedented ease of operation and repair.
Finally - conveyor production. Actually, the conveyor was used in factories long before Ford - since the 19th century. But it was Ford who brought assembly line production to perfection and was the first to introduce it into the automotive industry. Competitors instantly left far behind.
Success literally falls on the Ford company in 1908, with the release of the Ford T model. The car did not shine with luxury, but it was comfortable, reliable, practical and was much cheaper than any other.
"Cheap" (in 1909 the price of "Ford-T" was $850 in 1913 - $550) car brings huge profits.
Ford is guided by the principle: "Cheap and good, not cheap and bad" . He pays serious attention to quality, and believes that it is necessary "doing the right thing even when no one is watching" . In 1914, the company celebrates the release of the 10 millionth Ford T. By this time, the world's "car fleet" consisted of 10% of Ford cars.
the man who invented the day off
The next truly revolutionary transformation of Ford was the organization of labor. In 1914, Ford raises the wages of workers to $5 a day, explaining his decision as follows:
“If you require someone to give his time and energy to a cause, then make sure that he does not experience financial difficulties”
Ford considered this a necessary component of success:
“My secret to success lies in the ability to understand the point of view of another person and look at things from both his and my own points of view”
For the first time in the United States, the Ford plant legalized an 8-hour shift, a 6-day work week, and paid vacations. Now he is no longer called "the Begley Street Obsessed", but "the man who invented the day off."
Working for Ford was a dream for many. People literally lined up. And he accepted anyone who was willing to work honestly.
“I don't care where the person came from - from Sing Sing prison or Harvard. We hire a person, not a story"
Discipline at the Ford plant was tough. Ford was demanding not only to the workers, but also to himself.
"Time doesn't like being wasted"
he repeated.
“Only two incentives make people work: the desire for wages and the fear of losing it”
Ford did not like bureaucracy. Quote:
"Less administrative spirit in business life and more business spirit in administration"
The Ford company did not hold production meetings, only the minimum necessary documentation was drawn up, statistics were abolished. Ford believed that paperwork was the enemy of machine manufacturing.
car king
Meanwhile, sales so increase that Ford buys out all the shares of the shareholders of the company and becomes its sole owner. "Who should be the boss?" - it's like asking: "Who should be the tenor in this quartet?"
Of course, the one who can sing in a tenor,” said Henry Ford, who received the title of “automobile king” in the early 20s. At this time in the US, out of every 10 cars sold, 7 were Ford T's.
At this time, the "Ford empire" is being formed. He buys enterprises that provide the automotive industry - mines, coal mines, factories. Everything that allows him not to depend on the vagaries of the market.
At the same time, Henry Ford does not set himself the goal of amassing untold wealth. He says:
“The main use of capital is not to make more money, but to make money for the betterment of life”
Ford's autobiographical book "My Life, My Achievements", vividly and talentedly written, was published in 1922.
On the brink of ruin
It seems to be - it's time to rest, to reap the abundant fruits of labor and talent. But not destined.
Sales of America's most massive and affordable car are starting to fall. Having launched the Ford T on the market, Henry Ford believed that "if you bought once, you will always buy." But the market was saturated with one model, people wanted variety, and Ford only produced "a car of any color, as long as that color is black."
took advantage of the situation Company General motors. New models were released to the market, and Ford's main competitive advantage - affordability - was leveled by the fact that GM began to sell cars on credit.
By 1927, Ford was on the verge of ruin. Spiteful critics were already looking forward to the crushing collapse of the "automobile king". But why give up to Ford, who never gave up? Remember - even in his youth, he considered failures "an opportunity to start again, but more wisely." And he started.
rebirth
The past is the past. He is no more. If yesterday's methods do not work, it's time to come up with new ones.
"They are everywhere - these strange people who do not know that yesterday is yesterday, and who wake up every morning with last year's thoughts in their heads". Henry Ford said so.
And in these words of his is an invaluable lesson that every modern person should take advantage of. Only A New Look the situation will allow you to resolve it in your favor, no matter how hopeless it may seem. This is an efficient method.
Do not forget about positive thinking. Do not be discouraged, believe in yourself and in your luck.
“Thinking about the future, wanting to do more, puts the mind in a state where it seems that nothing is impossible.”
And then it really turns out that nothing is impossible for you!
Ford curtails the production of Ford-T and begins to work on the creation of a new model. In the same year, 1927, he presents "Ford-A". New car compares favorably with competitor vehicles appearance And technical specifications, and Henry Ford regains lost ground in the automotive market.
Tireless, inclined to "think with his own head," Ford emerges victorious again. He manages the company until the 30s, then transfers control to his son. But he is not destined to "rest on his laurels." After the death of his son in 1943, Henry Ford was again forced to take over as head of the firm.
Henry Ford lived a long and colorful life, and died at the age of 83 in the same place where he was born. In the small town of Dearborn. And the company he created is still operating today, and ranks 4th in the world in terms of the number of cars produced.
Henry Ford is called the epitome of " american dream". But what was his personal dream? Not only success. A brilliant business was just a tool. He saw his mission as bringing something good into the world. For him, cars were not only a useful commodity, but also a source of joy for people.
And when they asked him what a person who has everything and even more can wish for, Ford answered:
"I would like to improve the world by living in it"
An answer worthy of a big strong personality. Think about it.
And now I suggest you watch a video about the success story of Henry Ford.
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- 9 ways of self-development and self-improvement…
Henry Ford
The production of practical and inexpensive cars, which was organized by Henry Ford, improved the lives of many people around the world. By introducing conveyor assembly, Ford not only launched mass production of cars, but also directed the development of industry along a new path.
Henry Ford was born in Springfield, Michigan on July 30, 1863. He was the eldest of six children of William and Mary Ford, who owned a prosperous farm. 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.
Experience
At the age of 12, Henry equipped a small workshop, where he enthusiastically spent all his free time. It was there that a few years later he designed his first steam engine. In 1879, Henry Ford moved to Detroit, where he got a job as an assistant machinist. Ford 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 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. Good salary and enough free time allowed Ford to devote more time to the development of internal combustion engines.
quadricycle
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 quadricycle appeared - vehicle, which was the first Ford car.
own business
After retiring in 1899 from the Edison Illuminating company, Henry Ford founded his own company, Detroit Automobile. Despite the fact that a year later the company went bankrupt, Ford managed to collect several racing cars. Ford himself took part in motor racing and in October 1901 managed to defeat the American champion Alexander Winton.
Ford company Motor
The Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903. Its founders were twelve businessmen from Michigan, led by Henry Ford, who 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 on Mack Avenue 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. The company's first car was sold on July 23, 1903. In 1906, Henry Ford became the company's president and principal owner.
In 1908, Henry Ford realized his dream 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. It was the appearance of the “T” model that marked the onset new era in the development of personal transport. Ford's car was easy to drive, it did not require complex Maintenance and could even drive on rural roads.
New Generation
In 1919, Henry Ford and his son Edsel bought the company's shares from other shareholders for $105,568,858 and became the sole owners of the firm. 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.
Resignation
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 that year, the American Petroleum Institute (American Petroleum Institute) awarded him gold medal for services to society.
end of an era
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 rapidly.
Henry Ford. Born July 30, 1863 - died April 7, 1947. American industrialist, owner of car factories around the world, inventor, author of 161 US patents.
Ford's slogan is "a car for everyone". His factory produced the cheapest cars at the beginning of the automobile era. The Ford Motor Company still exists today.
Henry Ford is also known for being the first to use the industrial assembly line to mass production cars. Contrary to popular belief, the conveyor was used before, including for mass production. However, Henry Ford was the first to "put on the conveyor" technically complex, that is, in need of technical support throughout the entire life cycle, products - a car. Ford's book "My Life, My Achievements" is a classic work on the scientific organization of work.
In 1924, the book "My Life, My Achievements" was published in the USSR. This book became the source of such a complex political economy phenomenon as Fordism.
Born into a family of emigrants from Ireland, who lived on a farm in the vicinity of Detroit. When he was 16, he ran away from home and went to work in Detroit.
In 1891-1899 he acted as a mechanical engineer, and later as a chief engineer in " Electric company Edison" (Edison Illuminating Company). In 1893, in his free time, he designed his first car.
From 1899 to 1902, he was a co-owner of the Detroit Automobile Company, but due to disagreements with the rest of the owners of the company, he left it and in 1903 founded the Ford Motor Company, which initially produced cars under by Ford A.
Ford Motor Company faced competition from a syndicate of automakers that claimed a monopoly in this area.
In 1879, J. B. Selden patented a design for an automobile that was never built; it contained only a description of the basic principles. The very first patent infringement lawsuit he won prompted the owners of a number of automotive companies to acquire the appropriate licenses and create an "association of legitimate manufacturers."
The lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company, initiated by Selden, lasted from 1903 to 1911. "Legal manufacturers" threatened to subpoena buyers of Ford cars. But he acted courageously, publicly promising his customers "help and protection", although the financial capabilities of the "legitimate manufacturers" far exceeded his own. In 1909, Ford lost the case, but after a review of the case, the court decided that none of the automakers violated Selden's rights, since they used a different engine design. The monopoly association immediately collapsed, and Henry gained a reputation as a fighter for the interests of consumers.
The greatest success came to the company after the start of production of the Ford T model in 1908.
In 1910, Ford built and ran the most modern factory in the automotive industry, the well-lit and well-ventilated Highland Park. On it, in April 1913, the first experiment on the use of an assembly line began. The first assembly unit assembled on the conveyor was the generator. The principles tested in the assembly of the generator were applied to the entire engine as a whole. One worker made the engine in 9 hours and 54 minutes. When the assembly was divided into 84 operations, performed by 84 workers, the assembly time of the engine was reduced by more than 40 minutes. With the old production method, when the car was assembled in one place, it took 12 hours and 28 minutes of working time to assemble the chassis. A moving platform was installed and the various parts of the chassis came either with hooks suspended from chains or on small motor carts. Chassis production time has been more than halved.
A year later (in 1914) the company raised the height of the assembly line to the waist. After that, two conveyors were not slow to appear - one for tall and one for short growth. Experiments spread throughout manufacturing process generally. After a few months of running the assembly line, the time required to produce a Model T was reduced from 12 hours to two or less.
In order to exercise tight 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 - $ 5 a day, allowed workers to participate in the company's profits, built a model workers' settlement, but until 1941 did not allow unionization in his factories.
In 1914, the factories of the corporation began to work around the clock in three shifts of 8 hours, instead of two shifts of 9 hours, which made it possible to provide several thousand additional jobs. An "increased salary" of $5 was not guaranteed to everyone: the worker had to spend his salary wisely, to support his family, but if he drank the money, he was fired. These rules were maintained in the corporation until the period of the Great Depression.
At the beginning of the First World War, Ford, with a group of pacifists, on his own initiative, sailed to Europe on the ship "Oscar-2" as an envoy of peace, urging everyone to stop the war as soon as possible. He was brutally ridiculed by European newspapers and returned to the US.
However, in the spring of 1917, when America entered the war on the side of the Entente, Ford changed his views. Ford factories began to fulfill military orders. In addition to automobiles, the production of gas masks, helmets, cylinders for Liberty aircraft engines, and at the very end of the war, light tanks and even submarines began. At the same time, Ford said that he was not going to cash in on military orders and would return the profit he received to the state. And although there is no confirmation that this promise was fulfilled by Ford, it was approved by the American society.
In 1925, Ford created his own airline, later named Ford Airways. In addition, Ford began to subsidize the firm of William Stout, and in August 1925 he bought it and started manufacturing airliners himself. The first product of his enterprise was the three-engine Ford 3-AT Air Pullman. The most successful was ford model Trimotor (Ford Trimotor), nicknamed "Tin Goose" (eng. Tin Goose), a passenger aircraft, an all-metal three-engine monoplane, mass-produced in 1927-1933 by the Henry Ford Ford Airplane Company. A total of 199 copies were released. The Ford Trimotor was in service until 1989.
In 1928, Ford was awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal of the Benjamin Franklin Institute for revolutionary achievements in the automotive industry and industrial leadership.
He remained the head of the company until the 1930s, when due to disagreements with trade unions and partners, he handed over the business to his son Edsel, but after his death in 1943 he returned to the post of head of the company.
In 1945, Henry Ford finally handed over the management of the company to his grandson Henry Ford II.
Henry Ford family:
Father - William Ford (1826-1905)
Mother - Marie Litogot (O'Hern) Ford (~ 1839-1876)
John Ford (~1865-1927)
William Ford (1871-1917)
Robert Ford (1873-1934)
Margaret Ford (1867-1868)
Jane Ford (~1868-1945)
Wife - Clara Jane Ford (nee Bryant), (1866-1950).
The only son is Edsel Bryant Ford, president of the Ford Motor Company from 1919 to 1943.
The grandson also had the name Henry Ford. To distinguish him from his grandfather, he is called Henry Ford II.
Currently, the chairman of the board of directors of the Ford Motor Company is Henry Ford's great-grandson, William Clay "Bill" Ford Jr. (born 1957)
Henry Ford's anti-Semitism and support for the Nazis:
In 1918, Ford purchased The Dearborn Independent, which published anti-Semitic articles from May 22, 1920, as well as the full text of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in parts. In November 1920, a selection of articles from the Dearborn Independent was published as a separate book called International Jewry, which was later heavily used by Nazi propaganda.
On January 16, 1921, 119 prominent Americans, including 3 presidents, 9 secretaries of state, 1 cardinal and many other US statesmen and public figures, published an open letter condemning Ford's anti-Semitism.
In 1927, Ford sent a letter to the American press admitting his mistakes.
Henry Ford provided serious financial support to the NSDAP, his portrait hung in Hitler's Munich residence. Ford was the only American Hitler mentioned with admiration in his book Mein Struggle. Annetta Antona of the Detroit News interviewed Hitler in 1931 and noted a portrait of Henry Ford over his desk. “I consider Henry Ford my inspiration,” Hitler said of the American automobile magnate.
Since 1940, the Ford plant, located in Poissy in German-occupied France, began to produce aircraft engines, freight and cars that entered service with the Wehrmacht. Under interrogation in 1946, Nazi leader Karl Krauch, who worked during the war years in the management of a branch of one of Ford's enterprises in Germany, said that due to the fact that Ford collaborated with the Nazi regime, "his enterprises were not confiscated."
The influence of Ford and his book on the German National Socialists is explored by Neil Baldwin in Henry Ford and the Jews: The Hate Conveyor. Baldwin points out that Ford's publications were a major source of influence on young Nazis in Germany. A similar opinion is shared by the author of the book "Henry Ford and the Jews" Albert Lee.
Ford cooperation with the USSR:
First serial soviet tractor- "Fordson-Putilovets" (1923) - a Ford tractor of the Fordson brand (Fordson) redesigned for production at the Putilov plant and operation in the USSR; construction Gorky Automobile Plant(1929-1932), the reconstruction of the Moscow AMO plant during the first five-year plan, the training of personnel for both plants was carried out with the support of Ford Motors specialists on the basis of an agreement concluded between the USSR Government and the Ford company.
