I decided to collect the accumulated information in one article in order to somehow structure the knowledge. I hope you find it useful and interesting.
Start
The history of the famous Ford brands begins from the garage of Henry Ford on Bagley Street (Bagley Street, Detroit, Michigan), who in the 1890s began to assemble the first "self-propelled carts" with his own hands. At the same time, he worked at the Edison Illuminating Company, and spent all the remaining free time in the garage.
Naturally, those around him looked at him like a geek, and no one seriously believed in the possibility of movement without the use of biological forces. Soon, Henry Ford was already riding on the street in his wagon, but something constantly broke, had to be redone and tested again. Despite the fact that in the end he still managed to get from the intended point A to point B and return, still no one took him seriously.
Awareness of the prospects and value of the automotive industry was clearly shown by competitions - racing in those days was something between a sport and a circus spectacle. In 1902, Henry challenged to a "duel" and overtook own production American champion - Alexander Winton.
In 1903, the experiment was repeated by an already hired driver - Oldfield, advertising the Ford "999" racing model. The victory brought Ford some fame, and most importantly, it helped win the hearts and wallets of future partners.
From The Freeman January 1998:
Anyone strolling by 58 Bagley Street in Detroit early in the morning of June 4, 1896, would have seen a strange sight: Henry Ford, ax in hand, was smashing open the brick wall of his rented garage. He had just started his first gas-powered car, and it was too big to fit through the door.
“Everyone who walked past 58 Bagley Street in Detroit early in the morning of June 4, 1896, saw a strange picture: Henry Ford, with a sledgehammer in his hand, broke the brickwork of the wall of the garage he rented. He had just started work on his first car, but it was too big to fit through the door."
It should be noted that Ford was far from the only researcher who tried to assemble a car. Around the same time, in different parts of Europe and America, several inventors came up with similar thoughts and their projects also did not stand still. The main difference between all of them and Ford was the economic concept - they positioned the car as an expensive toy for the rich. Therefore, each car created by them was individual.
Henry Ford had a very different idea: a car is a practical means of transportation designed for the daily needs of ordinary people. That is why his policy was to constantly reduce the price of cars and increase the number of cars produced. Some investors did not appreciate this approach, recognizing it as unpromising, and sold their shares to Henry Ford, which was only to his advantage. He soon received a majority stake in his company (he initially owned 25.5%) and was empowered to set his own rules, the first of which was the reduction in car prices.
First cars
So, for example, the first batches of the serial "Model A" had a price of $ 600-750 (depending on options) - at that time the money was very decent (for comparison, the minimum wage for a worker at a Ford plant was $ 4 per week). But later, after three years of production, the price dropped to $240, and at the same time, the bar for the minimum wage of a worker rose to $7.
During the period, 1750 copies were released. The car was equipped with a two-cylinder boxer engine, with a volume of 101.788 inches (~250 cm3), which produced 8 l / s. The gearbox is planetary, two gears forward and one reverse, the drive was carried out using a chain drive, which was subsequently abandoned. The car had two body options: 2 and 4 seater. The two-seater design weighed 562 kg and developed up to 45 km/h.
I must say, the search engines bring up a lot of photos of this model, but basically they are all restored, from someone's collections, and for the most part, they are not reliable. In particular, Wikipedia has a nice red car as the main picture - which is absolutely not true, since until 1917 Ford produced exclusively black cars. As they wrote later in their autobiographies: "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black" In general, comfort was out of the question at that time: on the one hand, driving a car was already considered a blessing and it was a sin to complain, and on the other hand, Ford's pricing policy, aimed at constantly reducing prices and expanding markets and sales volumes, did not pay attention to such " little things."
Development
The release of the new Ford Model T, which brought the company worldwide fame, required the expansion of production. Henry Ford, not having economic education, gained sufficient experience in practice and in 1910 built a completely new model for the production of a new model new plant in Highland Park. The plant had an area of 60 acres (~ 25 hectares), it embodied all the most modern solutions at that time, as well as innovations invented personally by Ford. Of course, this is a conveyor belt and tilted toilets :)
Promotional short about the Highland Park plant (silent film)
You can google around those places, but don't expect anything special - the places are almost deserted. (For fans - the abandoned Packard Automobile Factory, as well as the factory for the production of car interiors "Fisher Body 21", also abandoned)
Ford T was an amazing commercial success, because it was in no way inferior to its competitors, but due to the conveyor assembly it cost an order of magnitude cheaper. A standard 4-seater Ford T in 1909 cost $850 (equivalent to $20,513 now), while competing cars cost roughly $2,500 (equivalent to $60,033 today); in 1913, the price dropped to $550 (equivalent to $12,067 now), and $440 in 1915 (equivalent to $9,431 today). By 1914, Henry produced his 10 millionth car, 10 percent of all cars in the world were Ford T. And in all the time, 15 million Ford T were made.
Technical Ford specifications Model T:
Engine: gasoline, 4-cylinder, 2896 cm3, developed 22.5 hp at 1800 rpm.
Gearbox: planetary, two-stage.
Body: length 3350 mm, width 1650 mm, ground clearance 250 mm, weight: 880 kg.
Max. speed: 70 km/h.
Ford Model T advertisement
"Teshka" was cheap in price, but not in performance. To the design thought out to the smallest detail, Henry added another important ingredient - a high, or rather the highest, maximum possible level of quality at that time. And this concerned not only the assembly process itself - at his enterprise, this was implied by itself. Another thing is that representatives of component supplier companies who worked with Ford were hysterical from super-strict quality requirements for parts, assemblies and mechanisms intended for the T model. Tolerances for some positions reached 4 mm - and this, I recall, at the beginning of 20 century! On the other hand, the suppliers who worked for Ford were given exactly as much time to develop and complete the order as they required, and they were paid for their services at the highest level.
A component of success and a guarantor of high sales was the first established dealer network: in 1913-1914, Ford had 7 thousand such dealers, who not only sold, but also repaired the Model T. By 1914, the number of Model T cars sold reached 250,000, which accounted for about 50% of the entire US car market of those years. By 1927, when the "Model T" was discontinued, the number of cars sold in this series reached 15 million. Throughout the history of the world automotive industry only the famous "Beetles" of the German corporation "Volkswagen" were sold more.
Related production
Henry Ford's businesses weren't just about making cars. In an effort to control the entire process, Ford launched a production line ranging from ore mining to the production of interior fabrics. Thus, it was possible to avoid possible delays from unscrupulous suppliers.Social politics
Ford was well aware that stability and prosperity in the work environment means the stability and prosperity of the corporation. In January 1914, he announced an increase in the minimum daily wage to five dollars, which shocked competitors. For example, on General Motors workers received $2.5 per day. But even here there were some pitfalls: in fact, these $5 consisted of two equal parts - salary and "profit share". Moreover, only those workers who met special "efficiency standards" and whose candidacies were approved by the social department of the corporation received a "share".At first, the social department dealt with the regulation of disputes, monitored the atmosphere at the enterprise, as well as in the families of employees. Employees of this department helped the workers to keep the family bookkeeping. However, later, with the onset of the crisis, the department became a protective screen for the company from former employees. This same social department monitored everything that happened at the enterprise and shamelessly interfered in the personal lives of workers and employees. Suffice it to say that his staff included hundreds of informers. In response to accusations of infringing on the rights of citizens, Henry Ford said that these "little inconveniences" were the price for the high incomes of workers. Democracy really did not smell there, there was only freedom of choice: to obey or be fired from a good job.
With the best of intentions, he went down in history as one of the most implacable fighters against trade unions. And this position of Henry is quite easy to understand and share. He literally created a system from scratch in which workers and managers had the opportunity to earn good money if they were completely devoted to their work. Ford was convinced that a good worker, as well as a smart manager, does not need an advocate from the labor organization at all. Not surprisingly, Henry was at the forefront of the anti-union movement of the 1930s.
With a new attack automotive giant fought in very specific ways. As head of service internal security Henry hired navy sailor and boxer Harry Bennett. The two-meter tall man whom Ford had once saved from prison was pathologically loyal to the boss and did not hesitate to carry out all his orders, including orders of a very dubious nature. It is not surprising that there were no problems with labor discipline at the Blue Oval factories, and those that arose were suppressed in the most decisive way. As the saying goes, a fist and a kind word convinces better than just a kind word. Moreover, attempts by union leaders to force Ford to sign a collective labor agreement, which by the mid-30s was approved by all other automakers in America, including General Motors and Chrysler, also did not lead to anything.
Be that as it may, but the next ten years to get into one of the Ford factories has become the dream of many Americans. In anticipation of a place, I had to stand (that is, be listed) in a queue for months. For immigrants, being at the assembly line meant the end of ordeals and the embodiment of hopes for a cloudless future. Ford treated the workers like a father: for them he opened educational programs, created a system of medical care, and started the tradition of collective picnics and lunches. He established a fund in his name, whose assets are now valued at $6.6 billion.
The Great Depression
From 1929 to 1939 the United States was in a state of severe economic crisis. This greatly affected the Ford enterprise, which had to lay off tens of thousands of employees. Wages were cut in half, an order was issued to prohibit any communication between workers at the assembly line, and a wave of layoffs of older workers began.Production was reduced, but the reason for this was not the lack of means of production, but the lack of demand. As before, Henry Ford adhered to the policy low prices And in the end, she redeemed herself.
However, not entirely righteous ways were also used to combat the crisis: for example, Ford literally forced dealers to buy cars, threatening to break the contract.
Mass layoffs of workers led to demonstrations and unrest, enterprises had to be surrounded by armed guards. People are so accustomed to the fact that the Ford factories give them jobs and social benefits that they were not ready to lose it in one moment. Some politicians and rivals took advantage of this mood of the masses to turn the people against the company.
As a result, at the time of the end of the crisis, Ford was only the second in terms of sales. automobile company in USA. Chevrolet dealt a serious blow to Ford, winning the sales lead in 1927 and 1928. This was possible thanks to powerful six-cylinder engines, which Ford at that time could not oppose.
Way out of the crisis
But Ford wouldn't be himself if he couldn't fix that situation. So, in addition to the first conveyor, the first idea of mass available car, his idea was also a concept that for many years ahead predetermined the future of the automotive industry in America, and at that time brought its creator not just success, but a triumph against the background of competitors. We are talking about installing on their cars "flathead" V8 - a V-shaped eight "with flat heads".
The fact is that, of course, models with V8, V12, and even V16 were available on the market. But all of them were offered exclusively for luxury cars that are not available to the mass consumer. With the introduction of the new affordable V8 to the market, Ford paved the way and perspective for an entire industry, giving life and giving the world the idea of simple, affordable and fuel efficient V8s.
On commercial vehicles the eight was introduced in late 1932, and most of the early pickups with the original V8 are from 1933. The idea of an affordable eight quickly gained momentum, and by 1934 more than 1,000,000 of them had been produced. In 1935, rapidly losing its positions four-cylinder engine stopped being installed on pickups, and since 1937 an economical version was released to replace it - a 60-horsepower V8 with a volume of 136ci (2.2l). The motor produced 127 N * m with a compression ratio of 6.6: 1. Interestingly, this motor became more widespread in Europe than in America, since buyers in the home market preferred more powerful motors. In the post-war years, the 136ci was often used in small car racing in the USA, the most common name for this motor is the "60 horse" flathead, or V8-60.
World War II
Henry was a famous pacifist. At the height of the First World War, Ford paid for the freight of a huge ocean liner. On board, he, with a group of diplomats and cultural figures, went to Europe in order to try to convince the warring parties to lay down their arms. Needless to say, the expedition failed, and after that, only the lazy did not laugh at Henry's naivety ?! But no matter how primitive his act seemed, Ford's thoughts were pure and noble.Based on these same pacifist views, Henry Ford did not want to take any part in the war for a long time. Although, perhaps, he did not want to openly support either side, since he partially shared fascist beliefs.
And yet the huge money that could be made from this war affected him as an entrepreneur. Since 1940, the Ford plant, located in Poissy in German-occupied France, began to produce aircraft engines, trucks 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."
When the Allies landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944, the soldiers were surprised to find the familiar Ford markings on some of the vehicles and armored personnel carriers abandoned by the Germans during the retreat. The history of relations between large American industrialists and Nazi Germany is the subject of many studies. It is quite logical that in the 1920s largest companies The United States opened its enterprises in Europe. However, these enterprises survived in the same Germany in the 30s and 40s. And Ford-Werke, the Ford plant in Cologne, was one of the largest. Moreover, in the second half of the 30s, Ford-Werke received documents confirming that the company is German and can act as a contractor for government contracts. It is clear that the lion's share of these contracts came from the military. And the Ford-Werke factories produced wheels for German cars, wings for aircraft, caterpillars for tanks. Did Henry Ford know about this? Surely he knew. Was he aware that prisoners of war and prisoners of concentration camps were involved in work at the factories of his company? It is likely that he was informed about this, since the savings in wages were significant. Did Ford understand what a concentration camp was? Obviously not much. When people in the US learned the truth about Buchenwald, they refused to believe it. And Henry Ford did not want to believe that a tiny dot on the map, from where the workers for the Ford Werke were supplied, was a symbol of hell.
But Ford is just an entrepreneur, and therefore his products were supplied to both parties. Also, a lot of equipment was sent to the countries of the allies under the Lend-Lease agreement.
produce cars of their own production. In total, over the period from 1929 to 1936, contracts were signed between Soviet organizations and Ford for an amount exceeding 40 million dollars.
End of an era
Having ensured the absolute success and prosperity of his company, the eighty-year-old Ford handed over the reins of government to his grandson Henry Ford II in 1945 and retired. And in 1947 the great entrepreneur was gone.
world crisis
What seemed to Ford and his followers to be a new word in capitalist politics, what the Social Democrats proclaimed "white socialism", was in essence only an ideological superstructure based on a twenty-year solid monopoly on the cheap car market. Once the monopoly ended, Ford had to abandon most of his theories and resort to the usual methods of capitalist competition.
Ford's theory of production was based on a single standard model. Model "T" existed for almost 20 years (from 1908 to 1927). The model "A" that replaced it existed for only three years (from 1928 to 1931), and major changes were made to this model every year.
In 1932, the "A" model was replaced by two new models: a 4-cylinder model "B" and an 8-cylinder model "U-18". The engine power in the new model was increased to 65 hp. With.
In 1933, a new 8-cylinder U-40 model was released, which has an engine with an increased power of 82 hp. With. and finally in 1934 automotive market appeared again new model"U-8" with 8-cylinders and even more increased engine power - 90 liters. With.
Ford is responsive to the demands of the market, it no longer defends the idea of a single model and does not try to prove its right to choose the car it wants for the public.
Ford takes into account the changed situation, takes into account that America is covered with a network good roads, and the buyer primarily requires stability and speed from the machine.
Over the past seven years, Ford has changed the model six times, increasing engine power by 4.5 times, lowering the height of the body and lengthening the base of the car. Despite significant improvements to the model, Ford did his best not to raise prices. The most recent upgraded model cost $575, while the "A" model cost $500 and the "T" model averaged $645.
The year 1930 and beyond were years of crisis. We will not characterize here in detail the state of American industry and commerce during these years. A significant amount of material was published in the world and Soviet press describing the unemployment and starvation of American workers, the shutdown of enterprises, bankruptcies, and the attempts of the capitalists to shift the burden of the crisis onto the shoulders of the working class.
Ford's enterprises from the very first days of the crisis felt its severity. Car sales dropped sharply, and Ford began to cut production month after month, while throwing tens of thousands of workers onto the street.
On July 30, 1931, Ford completely shut down factories, threw 75,000 workers out on the street, and suspended work in eleven of its overseas branches.
Simultaneously with Ford, other automobile manufacturers began to close their factories. The hitherto flourishing city of Detroit has turned into a city of hunger and poverty. The American bourgeois weekly The New Republic described the situation in Detroit in October 1931 as follows:
“According to the reports of doctors, in Detroit alone, at least one person dies of starvation every 7 hours and 15 minutes. An average of four people are admitted to the Detroit hospital every day, so emaciated from hunger that they can no longer be saved. And how many people die outside the walls of the hospital?
In a city park where the unemployed and homeless gather, three dead workers were found. Mayor Frank Murphy reports that there are about 200,000 unemployed people in Detroit. Thousands of children are starving. The number of suicides is on the rise. They don't write about it in the papers. The psychiatric department of the hospital is overflowing with people whose mental abilities could not withstand the terrible need.
Detroit is a typical example of all other American industrial cities, and it is safe to assume that 100 people are now dying of hunger every day throughout the country.
Thousands of unemployed men and women roam from one end of the country to the other, hoping to find work somewhere. They travel, of course, without tickets, in freight trains, and there are cases when up to 200 people are recruited in one such train. Because This Since the phenomenon has assumed a mass character, the railway administration is forced to turn a blind eye.
The director of one railway company claims that his trains kill at least two stowaways every day. Exhausted by hunger and need, they often cannot stand on their feet, break off the platforms and fall under the wheels of wagons.
A workers' demonstration after the Detroit shootings marches through the streets with a banner: "Henry Ford is responsible for the death of 6 workers."
Some time later, Ford reopened his factories, but reduced the working week to four days, then to three, and in some periods his factories worked no more than two days a week.
However, Ford still tries to hypocritically play the role of defender of the workers. He announced through the press that he was ready to sacrifice his fortune to provide work for the American people.
“The American people made the Ford Company what it is today. Everything we have, we got from the public. No surplus exists for private use. All surplus must be used for the future. The future is now, and we will do whatever it takes, risk everything, use the surplus that the public has given us in the process of dealing with us to try to do what the country needs most - a job."
Ford went on to say that he planned to start manufacturing a million and a half cars in 1932 and that for this he would have to hire 400,000 workers and give work to mines, factories and the railroad.
Ten days have passed since Ford's ranting. In Detroit, five thousand workers, participants in the hunger campaign, demonstrated, demanding, not in words, but in deeds, work and immediate help.
They successfully passed through the barbed wire that surrounded the Ford Company plant in River Rouge, but here they were met by machine guns, and firemen in freezing weather launched a stream of ice water on them.
Despite machine-gun fire, tear gases and icy water jets, the workers fought for more than an hour and a half.
This is how the course of events is drawn according to the testimony of eyewitnesses.
Not far from the Dearborn Highway, halfway between Detroit and Dearborn, the workers were met by a squad of 60 police officers who told them to turn back. After the refusal, the police fired tear gases, but strong wind dispelled the gases, and the demonstrators broke through the barrier line, throwing a hail of stones and bricks at the police. The police retreated, and the workers continued their march towards the Dix Highway.
After the demonstration was met by reinforcements from the Detroit police, militia, and state military units, the workers retreated, shouting, "We'll be back with fifty thousand people, we'll see what you do then."
Troops were brought in from Wayne Front, 3 miles away. Deadly fire was opened on the retreating mass. Three of those killed were young men under the age of 25.
The workers, recognizing the car of Harry Bennet, Ford's chief detective, who was traveling with Charles Sorenson, Ford's chief manager, threw stones at him. The brick knocked Bennet unconscious, and Sorenson, Ford's most hated executive, fled when the car was overturned.
Eyewitnesses claim that the Ford factories in Detroit had nests for machine guns in the galleries going over the shops. Apparently, the administration has long been preparing for the days when the workers will take to the streets.
From the hands of John Comins, a newspaper photographer, the police shot the camera out, riddling his arm in the process. The bosses of the Company were afraid of the appearance of a photograph about the execution of workers.
Eleven people were arrested by the police - they were mainly the organizers of the union Union League and the councils of the unemployed.
Here is a list of requirements put forward by the participants of the hunger campaign, characterizing the state of affairs at the Ford plant.
The workers demanded:
1. Jobs for all laid-off Ford workers.
2. Immediate payment of 50% of full earnings.
3. A seven-hour working day without a pay cut.
4. Slow down the killer speed of the conveyor.
5. Two 15-minute rest breaks.
6. Equal status of Negroes with whites regarding work, assistance and medical care.
7. Free medical care in Ford's hospitals for the employed and unemployed and their families.
8. 5 tons of coal or coke for the winter.
9. Elimination of detectives and police.
10. Cessation of evictions from the homes of the Ford Company. The cost of land contracts and taxes on houses must be paid to workers after 6 months. work full time.
11. Immediate payment of $50 winter allowance. The fire of police rifles and machine guns served as a response to these legal requirements workers.
The Communist Party of America, through the Daily Worker, called on the working class to fight back "the armed terror against the unemployed and the workers, expressed in the attack on the demonstration in Detroit."
The Daily Worker reminded the workers that the billionaire Ford, who professes to be a friend of the working class, was speaking out against the unemployed and the workers. She recalled that Ford was also the owner of the mines in Kentucky, where the miners were shot, where Harry Smith, the organizer of the Komsomol, was killed, where a reward of a thousand dollars was announced for the extradition of Frank Bork, alive or dead, the secretary of the National Union of Mine Workers.
One of the latest Ford models. 1934 streamlined limousine on a baby Ford chassis (England)
Ford subsequently tried to officially deny his participation in the Detroit shootings, but it is impossible to refute the facts.
The machine guns of the Ford police officers shot not only the crowd of the unemployed, but also his theory about the workers - "companions", about the peaceful community of labor and capital. The image of a working benefactor was debunked even in the eyes of those who wanted to believe the hypocritical claims of the automobile king.
At the end of 1932, the crisis brought the condition of the Ford factories to almost complete collapse. Instead of 120,000 people, about 15,030 people worked at the factories. The factories were loaded with only 6 percent of their production capacity. Separate workshops were opened for a short time, then closed. Not a single person at the Ford plant could be sure of the future. The whole harmonious system was shaken technological process. Marriage has grown tremendously.
Due to the lack of work, the oldest workers who had worked in his enterprises for decades left Ford. Among them are the chief engineer Meno, the head of the foundry - Brady and the model - Mac Vilen. The dismissal of the main backbone of the Ford factories - foremen and foreman's assistants - began.
Such was the ugly picture in the Ford factories during this period. The automobile king did not find those new ways that could save him from the blows of the almighty crisis. Ford could not leave the ranks of his class and become invulnerable to the laws of development of capitalist society.
Could the automobile king in 1952 subscribe to the statements that he made, for example, in 1925, during his heyday, arguing that there could be no crises and that they were invented by malicious scientists?
“Industry,” Ford said at the time, “cannot exist for one class or another. When it is regarded as a means for the enrichment of a certain class, and not as a means for the production of commodities for the common good, then it becomes extremely difficult and often perishes. On the basis of such collapses, pseudo-scientists created the theory of the so-called economic cycles. From their writings it can be concluded that the mode of conducting industry has been established once and for all and that collapses are inevitable at certain intervals. Such views are explained by a superficial, purely monetary approach to industry.
In subsequent years, with the transition of the crisis into a long depression, Ford's name again pops up on the pages of the world press in connection with his struggle with General Johnson, head of the Recovery Administration (RRA).
The NRA organization was created by the American government under pressure from financial capital to revive industry and improve the overall economic situation. This organization has developed a number of measures that significantly worsen the position of the working class, but also impose certain obligations on the industrialists. In particular, the NRA required public reports on the activities of enterprises.
Ford, arguing that his workers were paid more than the NRA required, refused to sign the "code" and allow officials to look into his business books.
Ford's refusal to participate in the activities of the NRA was a strong blow to this organization. The leadership of the NRA was worried that if a man like Ford did not sign the "code", then in the eyes of significant sections of the public who believed in his authority, the correctness of the activities of the NRA might be questioned.
Ford, backed by Hearst's printing concern, took up the campaign against Johnson. In turn, General Johnson, relying on the support of President Roosevelt, spoke out against Ford and invited the general public to organize a boycott of Ford cars.
It is not known how the matter would have ended, but a new participant unexpectedly intervened in it: the workers of Ford went on strike.
Ford wanted to cut the workweek to 35 hours and lower work rates accordingly. This was the beginning of the discontent of the workers, and the categorical refusal to negotiate with the representatives of the workers forced them to declare a protest strike.
The strike of the Ford workers, insofar as it was in the interests of General Johnson, was supported by public opinion in America. Attacked from two sides, Ford surrendered and announced his agreement to submit a report on the state of his factories.
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700 workers of the Vsevolozhsk plant of the American company Ford will be dismissed by the summer, after a two-month downtime, the administration of the plant said. The country's economy is experiencing better times, new car sales continue to fall, business performance is becoming increasingly difficult to ensure. At first it was assumed that it would be enough to stop production for two months, but then the experts came to the conclusion that the plant could not do without laying off 35 percent of the staff and switching to a single-shift operation.
The trade union of the plant met the news with hostility: no one liked that at first a press release about the upcoming layoffs was sent to the media, and only then the administration announced a meeting at which it turned to the workers with a "voluntary dismissal program", providing for the payment of five monthly salaries to those who agree to resign of their own free will.
The union responded with a statement stating: "The MPRA considers the actions of the Ford Motor Company as a cynical and unscrupulous game, contrary to the principles of social partnership. We see this as the only desire of the capitalist to shift the consequences of the crisis onto the shoulders of ordinary workers."
The trade union leaders are sure that the administration of the enterprise has not exhausted all possibilities to minimize the social consequences of the crisis, save jobs and provide workers with fair compensation for the harm caused. “We believe,” they write, “that mass layoffs are not necessary for the successful conduct of the company’s business. We will fight for every job in the enterprise and for providing compensation payments to voluntarily leaving employees in the amount of at least one year’s salary. worker must be agreed with the union.We are ready to defend our demands in all possible ways, including strikes and protests, as we did in 2007. Don't cry, get organized!"
Not all trade unionists agree with this position.
"Ford" has long left our regional organization, because at this plant they always wanted to use more radical methods of fighting for their rights, - says Viktor Kalinin, chairman of the Trade Union of Mechanical Engineers of Russia in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. – Both in the USA, and in England, and in Brazil, workers have learned to find a compromise with the employer. And at Ford there is a long-term, protracted conflict with the administrations, and it does not lead to anything good. Their union puts forward too many radical demands, and I think the workers only lose from this.
Aleksey Etmanov, chairman of the Interregional Trade Union of the Workers’ Association, does not think so, he is sure that the struggle to save jobs makes sense, and although he admits that a strike is a painful measure for both workers and plant management, he does not exclude that will have to resort to:
"We will fight with all available methods. When things are going well, the owners do not call us to share the profits, why do they make us pay during a crisis? If it is not possible to save jobs by any means, we will demand decent compensation, that is, an annual salary for people who have worked at the plant for more than 5 years, and not just two salaries in excess of what is required by law. If the state does not want an increase in unemployment on its territory, it must take care of how to avoid mass layoffs, how to stimulate demand for cars, and come up with new programs. In South America, for example, in such a situation, they set a zero sales tax, this helped to withstand competition and save jobs, nothing like this is being done in Russia today. But the same problem as we have exists at all enterprises that work with the euro-dollar mass, with European and American companies Ford, as always, this is the first sign, the rest will follow," says Aleksey Etmanov .
Mass layoffs should soon be expected at other factories, Rima Sharifullina, chairman of the public organization Petersburg Aegis, which helps people protect their labor rights, believes. However, she doesn't think Ford workers should go on strike when layoffs are inevitable:
"I think that in this case the employer has the right to make cuts, so the employee, as a seller of his labor force, can only bargain for Better conditions. Since the employees were not ready for such a rapid dismissal, they have the right to count on some kind of financial cushion, and here everything will depend on the negotiation process. There is a fairly strong union there, and he can insist on good conditions for those who are laid off. Getting a two-year salary, probably, will not work, but you can count on an annual salary, it would be a great success to achieve this. And the strike will not give anything, it will only accelerate the exit of the employer from this market."
Worst of all today are those automobile plants that need components from America and Europe, cars are getting more expensive because of this, and people stop buying them. Economist Andrei Zaostrovtsev does not believe that in this situation the state should take any steps to help the factories:
“Well, yes, the ruble fell, the cost of production increased, Ford had problems with sales, overstocking. So, we need to cut production so as not to work at a loss, the actions of the administration are absolutely correct. Workers are always fighting to save jobs, with their From the point of view, this is right, but from the point of view of the economy, it is wrong. And there is no need to artificially support factories, because this is done only at our expense. Let those who can buy cars at market prices, and the market will regulate everything itself, " considers Zaostrovtsev.
The scale of the trouble. Of course, the scale of the economic crisis that happened to the Ford concern is staggering. $12.7 billion in losses last year were absolute record for a company with over a century of history. The size of losses exceeded even the most pessimistic forecasts of stock analysts. In order to save costs, Ford is forced to close factories and lay off tens of thousands of workers. But so far, such measures, instead of saving, lead to additional costs, since the amounts of compensation paid to laid-off employees are simply huge. The administration planned to cut about 50 thousand people. But unexpectedly, it turned out that the number of people who are ready to leave the company and go to early retirement is sharply higher than planned. And this not only promises an increase in costs, but also threatens a moral crisis in enterprises. Developers and middle managers began to voluntarily leave, which only confirms such fears.
To get cash, I had to sell Aston Martin. But the $925 million it raised is a drop in the bucket compared to the $23.4 billion in bank loans. At the end of 2006, the concern pledged almost all of its assets in the United States and even the famous logo, called the Blue Oval, to secure loans. In addition to the aforementioned problems Ford motor Company continues to rapidly lose share American market. And it is known that the conquest of the market (or its return) requires five times more effort than its retention. But despite the current superheavy situation, there is no doubt that the time will come for Ford to do this. What will happen next? In a few years, the Ford concern will emerge from a severe crisis and appear before the world rejuvenated, losing weight and building strong muscles. Consumers, primarily American, will receive a completely new lineup of quality, affordable, fuel-efficient and otherwise modern vehicles. Shareholders will again begin to receive dividends and will rejoice in the growth of stock prices of an efficiently operating enterprise. Tens of thousands of workers and specialists will get new interesting and highly paid jobs. And huge tax money flows will flow into the budgets of both numerous states and the state as a whole. True, some time later, some automotive journalists and authors writing for economic publications will feed on past events. And specific problem situations and ways to solve them will be described in numerous cases that students from various business schools around the world will be analyzing for a long time to come. Current Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally, having completed the necessary restructuring, will gladly retire, forever remaining in the history of world business with a well-deserved reputation as an outstanding crisis manager. So it will be. Because in an effective self-regulating market system it simply cannot be otherwise. More Henry Ford (Henry Ford), who founded Ford motor company, argued that any crisis opens up new opportunities for the entrepreneur. “... Any depression in the economic market is an incentive for the manufacturer to bring more brains into his business ...”, wise Henry taught his colleagues. And he added: “Sometimes everyone is faced with such a situation. business man. He can either voluntarily enter his losses in the books and work on, or stop all business and bear the losses from inactivity. It remains only to add: "Waiting for bankruptcy." Shareholders and managers concern Ford Fortunately, the companies did not wait for the bankruptcy, but began vigorously restructuring. The American system itself guarantees only the fact of reforms. But their speed, efficiency and financial results entirely depend on the person who conducts them. Shareholders of Ford Motor Company hired Alan Mulally, an outsider, to carry out the restructuring, giving him both the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the chair of the company's President. Why Mulally?
It is very interesting why the choice of the shareholders of the Ford Motor Company, in particular the Ford family, fell on Mr. Mulally. Alan Mulally worked for Boeing for 37 years before joining Ford. He was mainly engaged in military and aerospace engineering. But then Alan got "lucky". Shortly before the infamous tragedy that occurred in the United States on September 11, 2001, Mulally was just heading the civil aircraft production program. And, as you know, already on September 12, 2001, passengers, for obvious reasons, stopped flying. And the airlines, suddenly left without funds, were not up to orders for new jet liners. So, in this hard times Alan Mulally, who led Boeing, not only prevented the development of a crisis in the company he led, but reformed it in such a way that within a few years Boeing reached record profits. Some concern is the fact that Alan Mulally is not an automotive specialist and may not quite correctly understand the values of a particular brand owned by the Ford Motor Company. On the contrary, the fact of his biography that Alan is an engineer to the core inspires confidence. Even the fact that he drove a Lexus before joining Ford speaks volumes. A funny and instructive story that happened recently. At a meeting with dealers, one of the owners of the car dealership complained about the difficult fate and invited Mulally to test himself in his shoes. Alan immediately agreed and a week later went to work in this salon as a simple salesman. In less than an hour, the current President & CEO of Ford Motor Company sold three vehicles and entered into negotiations with a fourth client. This little episode, to say the least, speaks of an extremely strong charge for success. And, of course, an energetic leader, but who came "from the outside", was needed by Ford, since such a manager would not be sorry to break the existing personal ties in the event of such a need. In addition, a fresh and impartial look at the problems of the concern was needed. After all, liners from the sky did not fall on Ford. And thank God! But this fact speaks eloquently of the fact that in the current state Ford business The Motor Company brought its own management to the US, ignoring the accumulating problems for a number of years and thus losing the market. And it's good that he had the courage to admit his own miscalculations. Most likely, the Ford concern was lucky. People like Alan Mulally don't roam the world in packs looking for a job. The gigantic scale of borrowing that the new boss is carrying out speaks not only of the severity of the situation, but also that Alan Mulally understands very well that the sooner the reforms are carried out, the better. Sale of Aston Martin. Did Ford do the right thing by selling Aston Martin? The fact that the money was desperately needed is at least the fact that the Ford family sold the family estate and moved to a smaller estate. But, on the other hand, Jaguar “ate” almost a third of the proceeds for Aston with its losses only in the first quarter of this year. Of course, otherwise, the voracious predator would have eaten something else. But, having sold Aston Martin, didn't Ford sell the banner to buy cartridges?! For some reason, I want to draw a parallel with the Italian concern Fiat. Financial position"Fiat" and now, probably, is no better than the "Ford". And a few years ago it was much worse. But it seems that in Fiat it never occurred to anyone to get rid of the Ferrari. It turns out that Aston Martin did not have such moral significance for Ford as Ferrari for Fiat, for Italy and Italians. And, on the other hand, before the sale of Aston, Ford had such a great set of brands! With the exception of the Mercury, everything in this set fits together so well! And maybe it was just worth using the creative potential of Aston Martin staff to develop new models? The British company is just now announcing the creation of its advisory center, which will offer services to third-party car manufacturers. True, it seems that this is not a matter of the very near future. And Ford needs new models, as they say in Russia, “yesterday ago”. Main question. Update model range companies in the United States, up to its complete replacement, is the main problem of the Ford concern. Still, the main task for any automaker is to produce correct cars. It would be useful to quote the same Henry Ford once again: “The sharp point in industrial life is the line along which the product of production comes into contact with the consumer. A defective product is a product with a blunt point. It takes a lot of extra power to push it through. The chisel exists to cut down, not to pound." It seems that at the last Auto Show in New York, Ford Motor Company has not yet demonstrated models that can qualitatively change the situation. "King of the Roads" from Carroll Shelby (Carroll Shelby) only reminded once again that the "Mustang" was forty years old. The Ford Airstream is a designer's toy. The hope that the new Taurus will again save the day, as its predecessor once was able to do once, is weak. And for some reason, looking at the Ford Flex, you do not begin to believe that the Americans will line up for this model in line. But on the other hand, the same "SUVs" Ford Edge (price from 26 thousand dollars) and Lincoln MKX (price from 35 thousand dollars), which, in the opinion of most Europeans, have a rustic (albeit quite modern) styling, in The United States is already snapping up like hot cakes, or rather, like hamburgers at breakfast at McDonalds. Ford realized in time that the market needs crossovers first of all. Plus, these machines are well equipped. It was on Edge and MKX that they first began to install the SYNC universal communication system developed by Microsoft. It is probably not for nothing that Bill Ford entered into a strategic alliance with the Bill Gates company. Ford signed a similar strategic partnership agreement with Sony Corporation. Also a good choice. And in Europe, Ford is doing great. The S-Max and Galaxy models deliver phenomenal sales growth (between 7 and 22 percent in various European countries). Production of the new Mondeo has just begun. And this car is simply doomed to success. Mazda sells very well all over the world. Volvo does its job very well. Land Rover holding on. More recently, Alan Mulally announced that Jaguar He's not going to sell 100%. This already inspires great optimism. Perhaps the reforms have finally moved from dead center. But for complete confidence success still needs a couple of new "breakthrough" models in the US. Let's wait for new cars. And hope for the role of personality in history - the personality of Alan Mulally. Yuri Kladov
