Henry Ford is one of the founders of the American automobile industry. 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.
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American engineer, industrialist, and inventor. One of the founders of the US automotive industry, founder of the Ford Motor Company, organizer of the conveyor production line.
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. expensive models were in demand, the main shareholder Alexander Malcolmson sold his share to Ford, after which Henry Ford became the owner of a controlling stake and the president of the company (he was president of the company in 1905 - 1919 and in 1943 - 1945).
Ford Triumph
Henry Ford's management principles
- Do not be afraid of the future and do not respect the past. Whoever is afraid of the future (failures), he himself limits the circle of his activities. Failure only gives you an excuse to start again and smarter. Honest failure is not shameful: the fear of failure is shameful. The past is useful only in the sense that it shows us the ways and means to development.
- Pay no attention to the competition. Let the one who does the job best do the work. An attempt to upset someone's affairs is a crime, because it means an attempt to upset the life of another person in the pursuit of profit and establish the rule of force instead of sound reason.
- Put work for the common good above profit. No business can survive without profit. In essence, there is nothing wrong with profit. A well-established enterprise, while bringing great benefits, should and will bring a large income. But profitability should result from useful work, and not lie at its basis.
- Producing does not mean buying cheap and selling expensive. Rather, it means buying raw materials at reasonable prices and converting them, at as little extra cost as possible, into a good product, which is then distributed to the consumers. To gamble, to speculate and to act dishonestly means only to complicate the specified process.
Henry Ford book: "My life, my achievements"
Henry Ford, download book: My Life, My Achievements (PDF)
Henry Ford teaches everyday life in simple words. In the same simple words, he explains the most complex relations of production. The book is replete with examples. These examples are invaluable experience of models that are designed, implemented and working.
The simplicity of the analysis of industrial, social, economic and financial relations clearly proves the vital importance of Ford's main ideas:
- My goal is simplicity.
- The economic principle is work.
- The moral principle is the right of a person to his work.
- The well-being of the manufacturer depends, in the final analysis, also on the benefits that he brings to the people.
1) Henry Ford can be considered the first motorist in our world - it was he who made the first trips on his "gasoline cart" as early as 1895. It is worth noting that at that time in America there were already self-propelled carriages driven by steam engines, and in Europe there were gasoline analogues of the Ford cart, but Henry Ford was the first person to use this "great-great-grandmother" of the car for everyday trips.
2) Moreover, Henry Ford is the first inhabitant of our planet to receive a real driver's license. “… I have repeatedly had problems with the police. Why, I find it difficult to say now, as far as I know, then there were no laws regarding speed limits. In any case, I had to ask the mayor for special permission. For a time he was the only person in America with a driver's license." -Henry Ford, "My Life, My Achievements"
3) Henry Ford was the first person to use conveyor assembly at his factories, which made it possible to speed up the process of car production by 5-10 (!) Times. Also, this great mechanic was the first to think of raising the work area to the level of a person’s waist, as well as using overhead transport systems (in the form of chains and hooks above the conveyor) to move heavy parts.
4) The now well-known Ford Motor Company is the second company in which Henry Ford participated in the foundation. The first company that produced cars designed by Ford was the Detroit Automobile Company, which Henry Ford left due to disagreements with his co-founders. And by the way, now this campaign is called "Cadillac".
5) You may not have known, but Soviet GAZ cars at the dawn of their era are copies of Ford's designs. Henry Ford signed a contract with the leadership of the USSR, according to which: a) an automobile plant was built in the USSR using the achievements of Henry Ford, later called upon to produce cars according to his drawings, and Soviet workers were sent to Detroit factories in the USA for an internship; b) The USSR signed a multi-million dollar contract for the supply of Ford cars and tractors.
This fact was hidden from ordinary people, like many others at that time.
6) By the way, do not confuse: the correct English spelling of Ford's name is Henry Ford. Not Henry Ford.
7) Henry Ford paid his employees "inflated" salaries. More than paid elsewhere. But if Ford found out that a worker was spending his money on drinking or hiding it from his family, he would instantly lose his job.
8) Henry Ford made a special bet on the reliability of his cars, as well as the availability of spare parts and repairs, if the need arose. Meanwhile, competing companies proceeded from the fact that the car is a toy for the rich, and tearing them at exorbitant prices for parts and repairs is a holy cause.
What is the success of Henry Ford?
"If you chop your own wood, it will warm you twice" - Henry Ford
The founder of the plant, still young Henry Ford, raised his brainchild not only with hard work and boundless faith in success, but also with truly innovative solutions in the field of production and enterprise management. An important role was played by Henry's wife, who, as Ford himself later recalled, "Believed in my success even more than I did." Henry Ford, with the exception of his childhood and youth, worked all his life in the technical field: first as a mechanic, then as an engineer, until the founding of his production. In addition to the effective innovations that Ford adopted in his production, he was also engaged in inventive activity - Henry Ford has 161 patents. During his life, Ford wrote several books, almost immediately translated into other languages, including Russian. All his books dealt with production and enterprise management, there were also biographical books. By the way, Henry Ford's books were not just published in the USSR, they were positioned as a textbook for mastering technical specialties, his books were recommended for reading by Soviet engineers. (Which is rather unusual for the politics of those years).
Biography of Henry Ford
Henry Ford is an ethnic Irishman, his parents were Irish immigrants. The Ford family lived on their farm near Detroit and made their living from farming. Henry, while still just a boy, helped his father with the housework, helping him to feed his family. And the family was not small, Ford had several brothers and sisters. By the way, there is an erroneous opinion that the Ford family was poor and barely made ends meet. Here is what Henry himself said on this subject: “My family has never been poor, just as it has never been too rich. We always had enough money to live on, and among local farmers we could be considered a fairly wealthy family.” But still, Ford was engaged in family business only because it was necessary - he himself did not have a craving for agriculture. Since childhood, the future automobile magnate felt an irresistible attraction to technology, but his father did not approve of his son's inclinations. From the memoirs of Henry Ford: “Even at the age of 12, when every day I had to carry buckets of water from the well, overcoming a steep staircase with a 20-kilogram load, I thought that everything could be facilitated by just adding 2 meters of water pipes” . The desire to "lighten" and "do differently" with age increasingly visited him. One day, the father gave his son a brand new pocket watch. Unable to resist the temptation, Henry dismantled them, and the abundance of gears, levers and shafts once again proved to the owner about his purpose, striking the young engineer with their complexity and at the same time expediency. “Looking at the mechanism, I thought that the whole world is also a complex structure, and the impact on the levers and elements of the mechanism causes it to work, correct or not, depending on the nature of the impact. And you just need to act on the necessary levers - then success is inevitable. Henry became so interested in clockwork that he became fairly well versed in clock design, making clock repair one of his ways of making money as a teenager.
One day, Henry was driving with his father to the city of Detroit on business, and their cart was overtaken by a smoking self-propelled wagon. She struck and interested him even more than a watch, than anything that he had seen before. Probably this event became decisive in the fate of Henry Ford. After that, at the age of 16, Henry left home to meet his fate in the city of Detroit.
Henry Ford was the first motorist, the first owner of a personal car with an internal combustion engine, and the first person to receive a driver's license.
Henry Ford Success Story
Success did not come immediately. Henry Ford worked assembling engines for steam locomotives, then joined the. Surprisingly, that era gathered under its wing three, without exaggeration, geniuses at once. Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and the famous scientist, by the will of fate, turned out to be contemporaries. Moreover, they lived and worked in the same country - the United States. But that's not all - Henry Ford and Nikola Tesla worked for Thomas Edison for a while! An amazing set of events! But let's continue. Henry Ford worked for the Edison Illuminating Company as a mechanical engineer and later chief engineer. This company, by the way, supplied the entire Detroit with electric light almost from scratch. During that period of his life, in his spare time, Ford was inventing his first car right in his garage.
The inventor on his first car assembled in the garage behind the house
Rumor has it that Ford got so carried away with the design that he made the car too big for the garage door and had to break it down. Despite everything, the “cart” turned out to be a success. She could reach speeds of up to 20 miles per hour (about 32 kilometers per hour), cover 60 miles (96 km) without refueling and was quite light, which allowed her to make fuel consumption of only 12 liters per 100 kilometers. Despite being a century old, these figures are not much different from modern ones! It was pure success! True, success had to be wrapped in a beautiful “label” of management and solid financial investments, which were needed a lot to open your own company. In light of these events, having worked for Edison for more than 10 years, Ford became one of the co-founders of the Detroit Automobile Company. Ford acquired the financier in the person of one influential businessman, whose wallet and favor he won by giving him a ride in his self-propelled carriage. It would seem that this is it, this milestone, from which the name Ford became world famous. But no, soon Henry left the company due to disagreements with the rest of the founders. The fact is that Ford offered to produce cheaper cars for the middle class, against the backdrop of a general trend in the popularity of cars among the rich, who perceived transport as an expensive toy and luxury. But it doesn’t matter, less than a year later he founded his own company, which has been pleasing consumers with quality cars for 100 years - Ford Motors Company. It was then that Ford began producing more affordable, but high-quality cars, literally breaking into the car market with the Ford brand and popularity growing exponentially.
Innovative solutions of Henry Ford
It was Henry Ford who first tried all the charms of conveyor assembly, applying it at his enterprise. The conveyor mode of operation existed before, but it was Ford who first applied it in the technical industry. Due to the availability of Ford cars, the brand was gaining popularity at an unprecedented speed, and therefore a conveyor assembly was required, which made it possible to increase the speed of creating a new car several times. A few numbers: Ford T cost $800 against $1200 - the price of competitors, and $1200 is the minimum cost, sometimes prices reached $2500. At the time, the average worker's salary was $100, and the price difference of a few hundred dollars was very noticeable. Thanks to the price and quality, Ford T has occupied a solid market niche of 50 (!) Percent!
Popular Ford T, conquered 50% of the car market
After the successful introduction of conveyor assembly (separation of operations between workers), Henry created another "chip" - he raised the conveyor to the level of the belt, which greatly facilitated the work. It was also at the Ford Motors Company that a variety of hoists and hooks on chains were first used over the conveyor line to facilitate the movement of heavy engines and chassis elements. For the first time in the world, Henry Ford set a minimum wage at his enterprise - $ 5 a day, which at that time was pretty good. The only condition was the correct distribution of money to employees - he bought the necessary things and supported his family. As soon as Ford found out that the employee was drinking away his salary, he fired the drunkard. Henry also reduced the working week to 40 hours, and launched his factory to work in 3 shifts of 8 hours each, instead of the then usual two shifts of 9 hours. Henry Ford maintained business relations with many countries, and it is no secret that the GAZ plant in the USSR was built under a contract obliging the purchase of cars from the Ford Motors Company in the amount of $ 4 million (article about). In exchange, the USSR could send workers to the plant in Detroit for training, as well as use the methods of organizing factories of Henry Ford.
Henry Ford - social life
Henry Ford was a supporter of a healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition. He wrote several books translated into many languages of the world, including Russian.
Books by Henry Ford:
"My life, my achievements" (My Life and Work), 1922
Good book, especially interesting for an entrepreneur
"Today and Tomorrow" (Today and Tomorrow), 1926
Moving Forward, 1931
A great innovator, a talented mechanic, a man with an unbending will, a successful businessman, an excellent manager ... the first motorist and the first person with rights - Henry Ford.
PS Make no mistake, the correct spelling is Henry Ford. Not Henry Ford.
The topic of success stories of famous personalities of the world today excites most of the world's population. That is why the biography of Henry Ford, the inventor and author of 161 patents, the owner of automobile factories around the world, an American industrialist and a successful businessman, is of great interest.
The success story of this extraordinary personality is unique. Quotes from his famous book "My Life, My Achievements" have long turned into catch phrases.
Tycoon's childhood
Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863. His father, William Ford, was a Michigan farmer, an Irish immigrant. Mother's nee name was Marie Litogot. In addition to Henry, the parents raised three sons: John, William and Robert - and two daughters: Margaret and Jane.
Such interesting facts from his childhood have come down to us: if a clockwork toy was presented to someone, the sisters and brothers vied with each other shouting that it should not be given into Henry's hands. And in fact, having fallen into the hands of a little child prodigy, the toy was sure to be disassembled to the last screw. When reassembling, many details turned out to be superfluous, but the toy acted no worse, and sometimes even better than the previous one.
From early childhood, the father taught the children to farm work. However, Henry did not like this joyless work. And already in the period of childhood, thoughts about its improvement, automation arose in his brain.
Having received a wrist watch as a gift from his father, the twelve-year-old boy quietly opened the lid with a knife and was shocked by the mechanism. Henry could not resist taking the clock apart, then put it back together. In a future life, this first experience helped Henry to earn a living and to pay for housing.
Youth and early career
In the end, Henry Ford ran away from his parents to the city at night. At first, the teenager got a job at a factory that produces horse cars. But his talent became a hindrance to career growth. The ability of the boy to understand at a glance what the malfunction of the mechanism lies, aroused a feeling of envy in other workers. So very soon they outlived the young Henry Ford. The fugitive spent the next years of his life working at the shipyard of the Flower brothers. In his free time, the young man repaired watches, earning money to pay for a room and buy food.
Upon learning that his son was living a difficult life financially, his father, William Ford, decided to “buy” him. He offered Henry 40 acres of land in exchange for his dream. But according to an oral agreement, the word "car" should not break from the lips of the young Ford, even in a dream. There was no end to William's joy when Henry agreed to return to his parents' house! And how would my father know that this return was just a cunning move on Henry's part, which he undertook for the sake of a temporary respite.
Marriage of the future owner of automobile factories
The chosen one of Henry Ford was a modest girl from a farming family, Clara Bryant. Over the years of life in marriage, the wife constantly morally supported her beloved. Henry Ford, whose biography has become a role model for many, constantly consulted with her, told her about his grandiose plans.
Ford's success story would not be complete if not to pay tribute to his wife's influence on his fate. In the memoirs of Henry Ford there are quotes with which he thanked his wife for supporting him in all his endeavors: “My wife believed in my success even stronger than I did. That's how she's always been."
The birth of a son and the birth of the first car
And in 1893, Henry Ford gave birth to two “brainchildren”: the first-born son was born, and he completed work on assembling his first car. The wife's son was named Edsel, and the car was called "ATV".
In the same year, the inventor is accepted into the Edison company, which specialized in lighting Detroit, as an engineer. After 6 years, Henry becomes the chief engineer at a Detroit car company. But during these years, Ford's mind was occupied with the invention of a gasoline cart.
Looking for companions
The company's management decided to "return" the chief engineer to the ground: he was offered a leadership position so that the inventor would forget about his new project. But it is not in the nature of Henry Ford to abandon the goal, although doubts overwhelmed him: all the savings were spent on making the cart, and the family needed to be supported by something.
The wife's statements that she would take any decision of her husband for granted strengthened him in the decision made: the inventor quit the enterprise and came to grips with the search for wealthy partners who would buy his ideas. But for a long time his attempts were fruitless.
The success story of Ford, the automaker, began with the case when an almost desperate Henry decided to give a ride to one of the local businessmen with a breeze. It was then that a turning point occurred in the life of the inventor: Henry finally found a companion!
Thus, the Detroit Automobile Company was born, which did not last long. Ford's statements on this subject are conclusions based on experience. He did not consider it possible to complain or blame someone for failures. The main thing is to benefit, even if you need to extract it from your mistakes. “At that time, there was still no consumer demand for cars at all - this is how there is no demand for a single new product that is still unfamiliar to the consumer. I gave up this occupation, leaving my post in the company, and for the future I decided: from now on, I will never occupy a dependent position, ”Henry's statements about this time sounded.
The search for new partners was no less difficult, but in 1903 luck smiled - the Ford Motor Company appeared, where Henry Ford was the general manager.
As a manager
Interesting quotes from his book reflect the manager's view of education: “Specialists are so experienced and educated that they know exactly why something cannot be done, they are able to see obstacles and limits everywhere. So if you want to beat your competitors, then just provide them with hordes of the most educated specialists. These quotes from the self-taught nugget Henry Ford from his book are not without some sense: the main thing, after all, in a person is not education, but talent.
Although the resistance to education in Ford's life sometimes reached the point of being ridiculous. For example, such interesting facts from the life of the great talented inventor are known: Ford did not know how to read blueprints until his death! Engineers had to make wooden models instead of drawings, which they laid out on the table for the car king to make a verdict.
Triumph of the inventor - model "T"
But what the brilliant Henry Ford invented, taking an expensive car model as a basis and creating a “car for middle-class Americans”, was a real revolution in the automotive industry. Cars were snapped up by consumers at such a rate that Henry began to think of a new idea - how to improve the process of manufacturing cars.
So he invented a new control system, which he called the "terror of the machine." The Ford Manager's success story has written a new page.
The control system implemented by Ford
The first step towards increasing production efficiency was the introduction of a conveyor system. This made it possible to reduce the manufacturing time, both for individual components and for the machine itself as a whole. Later, the conveyor was further improved by the king of the automotive industry - it began to be developed in two versions: for tall and for short workers.
Of course, the businessman was primarily interested not in the very facts of creating the convenience of the work of workers, but in increasing the profits.
The second step was the establishment of an 8-hour working day, a social service at the enterprise. Raising wages was the third step in increasing profits.
Strange at first glance, the facts actually had their explanation: labor productivity increased, workers tried their best not to lose their jobs, “churn” became a rare occurrence and, as a result, the cost of training new workers decreased.
The success story of the automobile magnate was at the zenith of his fame: his actions were supported by the main mass of the population - the working class.
Major milestones in life after 1925
In 1925, the automobile magnate already creates an airline, which he calls Ford Airways. The first airliner produced was the three-engined Ford 3-AT Air Pullman. In total, over the years from 1925 to 1989, 199 copies of the liners were produced under the leadership of Henry Ford.
Further, a brief biography of the magnate is as follows:
1928 Ford received the Elliott Cresson Medal of the Benjamin Franklin Institute for revolutionary achievements in the automotive industry and industrial leadership.
1930 - Ford resigned from leadership due to disagreements with unions and partners and transferred control of the campaign to his son Edsel,
1943 - death of his son and return to the post of head of the company. 1945 - transfer of management of the company to the grandson of Henry Ford II.
Book of Life and Achievement
Ford's biography, along with his reflections, is set out in his author's work "My Life, My Achievements." The author of the book expresses interesting thoughts in it on how to succeed, sheds light on the reader some facts of his biography.
It has some interesting quotes reflecting on reincarnation. “Genius is experience. Some people think that this is a gift or talent given by someone, but in reality these are just the fruits of experience that a person has accumulated over many previous lives.
Other interesting quotes from the book are suitable not only for a businessman, but for every person, regardless of gender and age. For example, in thinking about the past and the future, a wise thought is expressed: “You should not be afraid of the future in the same way that you should not respect the past. Fearing failures in the future, a person sets a boundary for himself. Failures in the past are just an opportunity to start all over again, but to do everything more intelligently.”
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. Three years later he 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 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. A decent salary and a sufficient amount of 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 his own company, Detroit Automobile. Despite the fact that the company went bankrupt a year later, Ford managed to assemble 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.
A former van factory in Detroit was converted into an automobile plant. 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 by releasing the Model "T", a reliable and inexpensive car that became one of the most popular and popular cars of its time. Ford's car was easy to drive, required little maintenance, and could even run on country roads, becoming a means of transportation rather than a toy for the rich.
Most Americans believe that Henry Ford invented the automobile. Everyone is sure that Henry Ford invented the conveyor, although 6 years before Ford, a certain Ransom Olds used moving carts in production, and belt conveyors were already used in grain elevators and meat processing plants in Chicago. Ford's merit is that he created mass production. He invented the car business. When enterprises became economically organized, there was a demand for a manager. The 20th century has become the century of governance. But in order to come to this, creators had to appear at the beginning of the century. Henry Ford was such a creator. And for this he was recognized by Fortune magazine as the best businessman of the 20th century.
Henry Ford built the largest industrial production of the early 20th century and earned $1 billion ($36 billion in today's dollars) from it, his principles had a huge impact on US public life. He sold 15 and a half million Ford-T cars, the assembly line became a familiar and necessary thing. Ford began to pay workers twice as much and thus created a class of "blue collars". His workers saved up money to buy "their" car - "Ford-T". Ford didn't create demand for cars, it created the conditions for demand. In the struggle against Ford's principles, American management was born. The founders of management theory formulated their principles in an absentee dispute with Ford, and one of the first American practical managers, Alfred Sloan of General Motors, defeated Henry Ford in a face-to-face fight.
Ford's incredible success as an entrepreneur ended in 1927 with the collapse of Ford's manager. By this time, Ford could no longer change. He was so convinced of his success and his rightness that he did not notice the change of time when the process of organizing successful production moved into the management stage. Ford once said: "Gymnastics is complete nonsense. Healthy people do not need it, but it is contraindicated for the sick." The same was his attitude to management. Only the product matters. If he is good, he will bring profit himself, if he is bad, then no financial injections, no wonderful leadership will make him successful. Ford despised the art of management. He spent less time in the office than in the workshop. Financial papers irritated him. He hated bankers and only accepted cash. He called financiers speculators, thieves, pests and even robbers, shareholders - parasites.
“How many people believe that the most important thing is the organization of the factory, sales, financial resources, business leadership,” Ford was surprised. Ford launched mass production when he achieved a universal, that is, ideal, from his point of view, product. Further, a well-established production cycle creates a car, managers take into account only the overall output, Ford himself makes sure that departments work in harmony, and profit flows by itself. In his company, Ford single-handedly made all the important decisions. The market strategy was to use "penetration prices". The annual increase in production, the constant reduction of costs, the regular reduction in car prices created stable demand and increased profits. Profit returned to production. Ford did not pay shareholders anything. Having become a successful individualist entrepreneur, Ford considered commercial success to be the best evidence for his theory. He never tired of repeating: "Only work can create value."
American dream in its purest form
Henry Ford was born into a poor family, became rich and famous. Americans may forget the name of their president, but they will always remember the name of their car. The life of Henry Ford was subordinated to one idea. He suffered defeat, endured ridicule, struggled with intrigues. But he achieved everything he dreamed of. Henry Ford created a universal car and became a billionaire. He lived all his life with his wife Clara, who believed in him and always supported him. When asked if he would like to live his life again, Ford replied: "Only if you can remarry Clara." According to his biography, you can shoot a Hollywood movie.
He was born July 30, 1863 to an American farmer near Dearborn, Michigan. The family was not rich, the father worked all day in the field. Once, twelve-year-old Henry and his parents went to Detroit and for the first time saw a carriage with a motor - a locomobile. A cart without a horse made a strong impression on the bright boy. The boiler was heated with coal, the locomobile was barely dragging along the country road and stopped to let the Fords' wagon pass. While his father, who was driving the horses, was trying to pass, Henry spoke to the driver. He was terribly proud of his unit, so he began to show how the chain is removed from the moving wheel and how the drive belt is put on.
From that day on, Henry spent days trying to design a moving mechanism. Tools became his toys, his pockets were stuffed with nuts, and after his parents gave Henry a watch, he took it apart and put it back together. When you scold your kids for choosing to see what's inside the tape recorder, think of Henry Ford. At the age of 15, Henry repaired broken clocks for his neighbors and assembled the simplest mechanisms from all sorts of rubbish. He did not finish school. “Nothing practical can be learned from books - a machine is to a technician what books are to a writer, and a real technician would actually have to know how everything is made. From here he will draw ideas, and since he has a head on his shoulders, he will try to apply them," Henry Ford would later write.
Henry Ford's father wanted his son to work with him on the farm - he continued the business. But the future founder of the automotive empire broke away from the roots and became an apprentice in a mechanical workshop. At night, he worked part-time at a jeweler - he repaired watches. He did not know rest in work, sometimes gaining 300 hours for repairs. Soon, however, the clock ceased to interest Ford. He decided that watches were not essential and that not all people would be eager to buy them. He was drawn to self-propelled carriages. At the age of 16, he learned to drive a locomobile and got a job at Westinghouse as an expert in assembling and repairing locomobiles. These cars traveled at 12 miles per hour and were used as draft power. The weight of the locomobile was several tons, they were so expensive that only a rich farmer could buy them. Ford decided to build a lightweight steam cart that could replace a horse when plowing. It was necessary to invent and build a steam engine light enough to pull an ordinary cart or plow. "Shifting the hard, harsh work of a farmer from human shoulders to steel and iron has always been the main subject of my ambition," Ford said.
But it was not a mass product. People showed more interest in a car that they could drive on the roads than in a field tool. And Henry assembled a cart with a steam engine. But it was not very pleasant to sit on a boiler under high pressure. For two years Ford continued to experiment with various boiler systems and became convinced that a light horseless carriage with a steam engine could not be built. And then he first heard about gas engines. Like any new idea, it was received with curiosity but without enthusiasm. Ford recalled that at that time there was not a single person who would have believed that the internal combustion engine could have further distribution: “All smart people proved conclusively that such an engine cannot compete with a steam engine. They had no idea that someday he will conquer the field of action for himself. From that moment on, he disdainfully treated the advice of "smart people".
In 1887, Henry Ford designed a model engine. To do this, he had (as in childhood) to disassemble a real engine that got into his workshop and figure out what was what. To continue his experiments, Ford returned to the farm - but not to plow, but to arrange a workshop in the barn. His father offered Henry 40 acres of woods if he stopped picking cars. Henry cheated: he agreed, set up a sawmill, got married. But he spent all his free time in the studio. He read a bunch of books on mechanics, designed engines, tried to adapt a motor to a bicycle. But it was impossible to advance further on the farm alone, and then Ford was offered a job as an engineer and mechanic at the Detroit Electric Company with a salary of $ 45 a month.
New colleagues laughed at him and tried to explain that electricity is the future. It was then that Ford met Thomas Edison for the first time, told him about his work and shared his doubts. Edison became interested: "Any lightweight engine that is capable of developing more horsepower and does not need any special source of power has a future. We do not know what can be achieved with electricity, but I believe that it is not omnipotent. Keep working over your car. If you achieve the goal that you have set for yourself, then I predict a great future for you." Now no one could convince him. We must continue to work. Indeed, in addition to his devoted wife, Thomas Edison himself believed in him.
In 1893, Ford built his first car, the quadricycle. To get out of the barn, I had to break the wall. When Henry Ford rode around Detroit on his "quad bike", the horses shied away from him, and passers-by surrounded the unusual cart, which not only rode itself, but also rumbled to the whole district. As soon as Ford left the "quad" unattended for a minute, some curious impudent gentleman immediately climbed into it, who tried to ride. I had to chain the car to a lamppost during each parking lot. Although there were no rules of the road then, Henry received a permit from the police and became America's first officially approved driver. In 1896, he sold the car for $200. It was his first sale. The money was immediately put into the creation of a new car, lighter. He believed that heavy cars were for units. A locomotive, a tank or a tractor cannot be in mass demand. However, if now Henry Ford saw the Ford Expedition, he might have reconsidered his views. But Ford believed that a mass product should be easy and affordable: "Overweight is as meaningless in any object as a badge on a coachman's hat - perhaps even more meaningless. The badge can, after all, serve for identification, while excess weight means only an extra waste of strength.
Although by this time he had already been promoted to first engineer with a monthly salary of $125, the experiments with the car met with no more sympathy from the director than his father's attraction to mechanics had previously been. "I still hear his words in my ears:" Electricity - yes, the future belongs to it. But gas?! No!" Ford later recalled. The company offered Ford a high post on the condition that he would stop doing nonsense and finally devote himself to the real thing. Ford chose a car. On August 15, 1899, he refused the service to devote himself to the automobile business.
Myself. Only myself
Immediately there were quick-witted partners who suggested that Ford create the Detroit Automobile Company (Detroit Automobile Company) for the production of racing cars - they did not see another use for cars at that time. Ford tried to defend the ideas of mass production, but was left alone. “Everyone had one idea: to take orders and sell as high as possible. The main thing was to make money. Since I had no influence in my position as an engineer, I soon realized that the new company was not a suitable vehicle for the implementation of my ideas, but exclusively by a monetary enterprise, which, moreover, brought little money. In March 1902, he resigned his post and was determined never to hold a dependent position again.
Ford never considered speed to be the main virtue of a car, but since attention could only be attracted by winning the race (“a more unreliable test is hard to imagine,” he chuckled), he had to build two cars in 1903, designed solely for speed. "The descent from Niagara Falls must seem like a pleasant walk in comparison," he recalled of the first trip. For racing, Ford was recommended by the cyclist Oldfield, who had never driven a car and was looking for new sensations. He learned to drive in a week, and, getting into the car before the race, he cheerfully said: "I know that death may be waiting for me in this cart, but at least everyone will say that I raced like the devil." Aldfried never looked back, never slowed down on turns. He took off and did not slow down until the finish line. His victory attracted investor interest in Ford - it's easy to get money when you have the fastest car. A week later, Ford Motor Company was formed.
Ford organized his enterprise the way he wanted. He chose the slogan: "If someone refuses my car, I know that I myself am to blame." Priority - a product that is simple, reliable, light, cheap, massive. From the very beginning, Ford did not create a car for the rich, but a car for everyone. He avoided luxurious finishes, cared little about the prestige of the brand. There were three financial principles. Ford did not attract foreign capital into the company, he bought it only for cash, he invested all the profits back into production. Ford believed that only those who participated in the creation of the product, in the work itself, were entitled to dividends. All the efforts of this work were directed to the development of a universal model of the car.
Each of his first cars has its own history. Model A, built in 1904 as number 420, was purchased by Colonel Collier of California. Having traveled for several years, he sold it and bought a new Ford. Model-A #420 changed hands until it became the property of mountain dweller Edmund Jacobs. He used the car for several years for the most difficult work, bought a new Ford, and sold the old one. In 1915, the car came into the possession of a certain Cantello, who took out the engine and adapted it to a water pump, and attached shafts to the chassis, so that the engine began to conscientiously pump water, and the chassis, to which the mule was harnessed, replaced the peasant cart. The moral of the story is clear: a Ford car can be taken apart, but not destroyed.
Ford did not come up with beautiful names for their cars. He used the letters of the English alphabet in succession. Previous models, although they sold well, were still experimental. Model-T became universal. Its characteristic feature was simplicity. The advertisement read: "Every child can drive a Ford."
Creating an Ideal
And one fine morning in 1909, Ford announced that in the future he would produce only one model - "T", and that all cars would have the same chassis. Ford said: "Every customer can get a Ford T in any color, as long as that color is black." In his announcement, Ford was trying to change the idea of the car as a pleasure carriage. "A car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation," later Ostap Bender parodied the principle of Henry Ford. But most importantly, Ford believed in the possibility of mass selling cars at a time when buying a car was treated the same as buying an airplane is now. "I intend to build a car for general use. It will be large enough to fit a whole family in it, but also small enough for one person to drive it. It will be made of the best material, built by first-class workers and constructed using the simplest methods, notwithstanding, the price will be so low that any person receiving a decent allowance will be able to purchase a car to enjoy free, clean air with his family," Ford said in a statement.
It is easy to believe in an ideal until it is available. The tangible ideal arouses suspicion. Everyone believed that you can’t do something well, but sell it cheaply, that a good car can’t be made at all for a low price - and in general, is it advisable to build cheap cars when only the rich bought them? They said, "If Ford does what he said, he'll be dead in six months." They laughed at Ford, called his enterprise "the greatest can factory", the people affectionately dubbed the Model-T "Lizzy's tin". Parts for the Lizzie were so cheap that it was cheaper to buy new ones than fix old ones. In order to sell a lot, it was necessary not only to reduce the price of a car, but also to convince the buyer of the quality of the car. In the early days of the automobile industry, selling a car was viewed as a profitable operation. They received money from the buyer, the commission agent earned his interest and immediately forgot about the eccentric who bought himself an expensive toy. Every car owner was considered a wealthy person who was worth squeezing. "We couldn't let our sales be shy of stupid thugs," Ford announced. It infuriated him when "a disgruntled customer was looked at not as a person whose trust was abused, but as a very annoying person, or as an object of exploitation from which money could be squeezed again, putting in order the work that should have been necessary from the very beginning do it right. For example, they were very little interested in the further fate of the car after the sale: how much gasoline it consumed, what was its real power. If it was no good and it was necessary to replace individual parts, so much the worse for the owner. They considered themselves entitled to sell separate parts as expensive as possible, based on the theory that a given person, having bought a whole car, should have parts at all costs, and therefore is ready to pay well for them.
Ford's policy, which was focused on mass sales, was different: "Whoever bought our car had in my eyes the right to permanent use of it. Therefore, if a breakdown occurred, it was our duty to make sure that the crew was again fit for use as soon as possible ". This service principle was crucial to Ford's success.
His fight
Competitors got excited. In 1908, the Detroit Automobile Manufacturers Association, frightened by Ford's noisy claims to create a cheap car, tried to drag Ford in to control prices and production sizes. They proceeded from the assumption that the market for selling cars is limited, so it is necessary to monopolize the business. On September 15, 1909, Ford loses the trial on a formal basis: a certain Selden patented a "moving cart" back in 1879, which had nothing to do with Ford cars. However, a syndicate of automakers, relying on that patent, tried to subdue the production of all American cars. After the trial, Ford's opponents spread rumors that buying Ford cars was a criminal offense and every buyer was at risk of being arrested.
Ford's return move showed confidence in victory. He printed an announcement in all the influential newspapers: "We bring to the attention of those buyers who, under the influence of the agitation undertaken by our opponents, have any doubts that we are ready to issue to each individual buyer a bond guaranteed by a special fund of 12 million dollars, so that each buyer secured against any contingency prepared by those who seek to take possession of our production and monopolize it.The said bond you can get on demand.Therefore, do not agree to buy inferior products at insanely high prices on the basis of those rumors that the venerable company of our enemies." A better advertisement could not be imagined. Nothing made Ford more famous than that trial. During the year, Ford sold more than eighteen thousand cars, and only 50 buyers demanded bonds. The lawsuit against the Association of Automobile Manufacturers was lost, but the trust of buyers was won. In 1911, a new court reversed the decision in Ford's favor. "The time that is spent fighting competitors is wasted; it would be better to use it for work," Ford said. Every year he reduced the cost of the "tin" and in 1927 solemnly left the factory in the fifteen millionth Ford T, which had changed little in 19 years. Nor have the principles of Henry Ford changed.
Personnel policy
When recruiting new employees, Ford was categorically against the admission of "competent persons." For this, he was constantly accused of ignorance. Once, Henry Ford was offended by a Chicago newspaper for the word "ignorant" and sued. The newspaper's lawyer decided to demonstrate to the court Ford's ignorance and asked him the question: "How many soldiers were sent by Britain to America to put down the 1776 rebellion?" Ford was not at a loss: "I don't know exactly how many soldiers were sent, but I'm sure that much fewer returned home." Then he pointed at the lawyer and said, “If I really needed to answer your stupid questions, then all I have to do is press the right button in my office, and I will have experts at my disposal who can answer any question. Why should I fill my head with nonsense to prove that I can answer any question?"
Although he himself announced that he would never hire a specialist. “If I wanted to kill competitors with dishonest means, I would provide them with hordes of specialists. Having received a lot of good advice, my competitors could not get to work,” Ford said caustically and ruthlessly fired anyone who could only imagine himself an “expert”. Only someone who did something with his own hands could be worthy of Ford's respect. He believed that everyone should start at the bottom rung of the work ladder. Old experience and the past of new employees were not taken into account. “We never ask about the past of a person who is looking for a job with us - we do not accept the past, but the person. If he was in prison, then there is no reason to assume that he will fall into it again. I think, on the contrary, that if only to give him an opportunity, he will take special care not to fall into it again.Our employees' bureau therefore does not refuse anyone on the basis of his former way of life - whether he comes out of Harvard or from Sing Sing prison, we do not care; we do not even ask about "This. He should have only one thing: the desire to work. If this is not the case, then, in all likelihood, he will not seek a place with us, because in general it is quite well known that Ford is doing business."
Ford believed that in his factory everyone eventually got where they deserved. That the wave will carry a capable person to the place that belongs to him by right. “The fact that there are no “free” posts for him is not an obstacle, since we, in fact, have no “posts,” Ford wrote. “Our best workers create their own place. The appointment is not connected with any formalities ; this person immediately finds himself in a new case and receives a new reward. The factory manager started with the machinist. The director of a large enterprise in River Rouge was taken over by the sample maker. The head of one of the important departments started out as a garbage collector.
His achievements
In his search for cost savings, Ford noticed that the worker was spending more time finding and delivering materials and tools than he was working. I did not want to pay for walks of workers around the workshop. "If 12,000 employees save 10 steps each day, you'll save fifty miles of space and strength," Ford calculated, and realized that it was necessary to deliver work to the workers, and not vice versa. He formulated two principles: to force the worker never to take more than one step and never to allow him to work leaning forward or to the side. On April 1, 1913, Ford launched the assembly line. The worker who drove in the bolt did not screw in the nut at the same time; who put the nut, did not screw it tightly. None of the workers lifted or dragged anything.
On January 12, 1914, Ford sets the minimum wage at $5 a day (twice the industry average!) and reduces the working day to eight hours. “The ambition of every employer should be to pay higher rates than all its competitors, and the desire of workers should be to make it practically easier to realize this ambition,” Ford justified his decision. At the same time, he pursues a policy of using the labor of disabled people, who are paid the same as healthy workers. The benefit was different: the disabled were better prepared for the monotony of assembly line work, because no qualifications were required. Thus, a blind man was assigned to the warehouse to count the screws and nuts intended for shipment to the branches. Two healthy people were engaged in the same work. Two days later, the head of the workshop asked that both healthy men be assigned another job, since the blind man was able to perform the duties of two others along with his job.
"An employer will never gain anything if he reviews his employees and asks himself the question: "How much can I lower their wages?" Just as little benefit does the worker when he shakes his fist at the employer and asks: "How much can I squeeze out of you?" Ultimately, both sides should stick to the enterprise and ask themselves the question: "How can this industry be helped to achieve a fruitful and secure existence, so that it will give us all a secure and comfortable existence?" - Ford insisted that the partners of the industrialist are not the shareholders, but the creators From January 1914, he notified the workers of the plan for their participation in the profits.
Ford believed that profit belongs to three groups: first - to the enterprise, in order to maintain it in a state of stability, development and health; secondly, to workers, with the help of which profit is created; thirdly, to a certain extent, the same applies to society. A flourishing enterprise delivers profit to all three participants - the organizer, producers and buyer. According to Ford, the responsibility of the leader is to ensure that the personnel subordinate to him have the opportunity to create a decent existence for themselves. In other words, be able to buy Ford cars. This was the first step towards the formation of the blue collar class.
"Beware of worsening the product, beware of lowering wages and robbing the public. More brain in your working method - brain and more brain! Work better than before, only in this way can help and service be provided to all countries. This can always be achieved," Ford called. His statements were treated with distrust, but they were not just a publicity stunt. In one year, profits exceeded expectations so much that Ford voluntarily returned $50 to each car buyer: "We felt that we unwittingly charged our buyer more expensively for this amount."
Finance
The consequence of this policy of Ford was a conflict with the shareholders. "If I were forced to choose between cutting wages and destroying dividends, I would not hesitate to destroy dividends" - such maxims could not find a response from partners. Ford put all the money he made into production. The enterprise grew rich, and the shareholders, led by the Dodge brothers, hoped to receive dividends. They did not imagine that production could be limited to a single model. Ford contemptuously compared them to "women's fashion makers": "It's amazing how deeply rooted the conviction is that a brisk business, a constant sale of goods, does not depend on winning the buyer's trust once and for all, but on first getting him to spend money on a purchase. object, and then convince him that he should buy a new one instead of this object.
Ford's principle was different: every part of the car should be replaceable so that, if necessary, it could be replaced with a more modern one. A good car should be as durable as a good watch. Let the Ford car was monotonous, but reliable. Shareholders rebelled. Henry Ford, to lull their vigilance, resigned and handed over the management to his son Edsel. In the meantime, he himself began to buy up shares and very soon added the remaining 49% to the 51% he had at his disposal. There are no shareholders left. There was no one to pay dividends. Ford put Edsel in charge of finances, and he continued to single-handedly manage production. The policy remained unchanged: it is better to sell a large number of cars for a small profit than a small number for a large one.
How did Ford manage to buy nearly $60 million worth of stock? He discovered a new way to spend less money in an enterprise - by accelerating turnover. On January 1, he had $20 million in cash (remember Ford only accepted cash?!), and on April 1 he had $87 million, $27 million more than he needed to pay off his share debt. He sold all the property that had nothing to do with production - he received $ 24,700,000, and received another 3 million from foreign production. Bought a railroad to reduce the cost of shipping - the gain was 28 million. The sale of war loans and by-products brought 11,600,000. As a result, 87,300,000.
“If we had accepted a loan,” Ford wrote, “our desire to cheapen production methods would not have come true. If we received money at 6%, and, including commission money and so on, we would have to pay more, then one interest at production of 500,000 cars would add up to $4 per car. In a word, instead of better production, we would acquire only heavy debt. Our cars would cost about $100 more than they do now, and our production would also be reduced, because after all, the circle of buyers would also be reduced.
Management - according to Ford
In 1920, having sold everything that was not related to the automotive industry, Ford carried out a reconstruction at the factory. "Bezdelnikov" were transferred from the control building to the workshops. "A large building for administration may be sometimes necessary, but the sight of it awakens the suspicion that there is an excess of administration here," he said at the same time. All employees who did not agree to return to the machine were fired. Internal telephones between departments are disabled. Ford coined the motto: "Less administrative spirit in business life and more business spirit in administration." This meant that the work of lower managers was reduced to accounting, there were no organizational charts and horizontal connections between departments at the enterprise, production meetings were eliminated, no "extra documentation" was kept, and job logs were canceled. Proudly declaring that you can't build a car with statistics, Ford abolished statistics.
A purely utilitarian approach to management has been called Fordism. In order not to be unfounded, we will quote the founder himself: “The greatest difficulty and evil that has to be fought in the joint work of a large number of people lies in excessive organization and the resulting red tape. In my opinion, there is no more dangerous calling than the so-called organizational genius. He loves to create monstrous schemes, which, like a family tree, represent the ramifications of power to its last elements.The entire trunk of the tree is hung with beautiful round berries that bear the names of persons or positions.Each has his own title and known functions, strictly limited to the scope and scope of his activity. berries. If the head of a team of workers wishes to address his director, then his path goes through the junior head of the workshop, the senior head of the workshop, the head of the department and through all the assistant directors. Six weeks pass before the employee's paper from the lower left berry in the corner of the great administrative tree reaches the chairman or president of the supervisory board. When she happily pushed her way up to this all-powerful face, her volume increased like an avalanche, to a whole mountain of critical reviews, suggestions and comments. It rarely happens that it comes to official approval before the time has already passed for its implementation. Papers travel from hand to hand, and everyone tries to shift the responsibility to another, guided by the convenient principle that "the mind is good, but two is better," Ford wrote in his book "My Life, My Accomplishments."
He saw the enterprise as "working communication of people whose task is to work, not to exchange letters." One department doesn't need to know what's going on in another. In his company, he left only lower-level managers who accounted for the products produced by their departments. No meetings and meetings were held: the horde considered them completely unnecessary. The overly complex organizational structure, according to Ford, led to the fact that it was not clear who was responsible for what. Everyone had to be responsible for the small area of work entrusted to him - that is, in management, he used the organizational conveyor. He shuffled the petty leaders, making sure they didn't blame each other. He also did not encourage friendly relations at work, fearing that people would begin to cover up for the mistakes of a friend.
"When we work, we must take the matter seriously; when we have fun, then with might and main. It makes no sense to mix one with the other. Everyone should set themselves the goal of doing a good job and getting a good reward for it. When the work is over, you can have fun. That's why - then the Ford factories and enterprises do not know any organization, no posts with special duties, no developed administrative system, very few titles and no conferences.We have just as many employees in the bureau as absolutely necessary, there are no documents of any kind at all, and consequently, there is no red tape. We place the entire responsibility on everyone. Every worker has his own job. The head of the brigade is responsible for the workers subordinate to him, the head of the workshop for his workshop, the head of the department for his department, the director for his factory. Everyone is obliged know what is going on around him.The factory has been subordinated for many years to a single leader.Since we have neither titles nor official authority, there is no red tape and no excesses of power. Every worker has access to everyone; this system has become so habitual that the head of the workshop does not even feel offended if one of his workers addresses directly through his head to the head of the factory. It is true that the worker seldom has cause for complaint, since the heads of the workshops know perfectly well, like their own name, that any injustice will very soon be revealed, and then they will cease to be the heads of the workshops. If a person is dizzy from a high post, then this is detected, and then he is either kicked out or returned to the machine. Work, only one work, is our teacher and guide. Titles are amazing. Too often they serve as a sign for exemption from work. Often the title is equal to the insignia with the motto: "The owner of this is not obliged to do anything other than assess his high value and the insignificance of other people."
Always wanting more
Ford lashed out with aphorisms ("Failure is only an opportunity to start again more intelligently", "More people give up than losers"), was a tough boss, but truly loved his workers and cared for them. He opened a school, a hospital, and started a tradition of collective picnics and lunches. He was a strict but fair father, hammering old-fashioned truths into the heads of his fools. If it were in his power, "Ord-T" would always be produced. When it had to be replaced in 1927, it shut down production for six months. But it was too late: General Motors became the leader of the American automobile industry, having realized to reorient itself to the production of different brands, to offer the buyer a range of cars "for any purpose and any wallet."
Ford experienced the collapse of his principles extremely hard. Hatred of the financiers spilled out with anti-Semitic bile (however, Ford later repented), the company rolled down: not only GM, but Chrysler Corp. studied demand, sold on credit (and not just for cash), developed successfully, and Ford still rested on its once surprisingly successful principles. If he had been a general, he would have sent the staff officers to the front line, put a heroic foreman over them. Ford's soldiers would have been dressed, shod, well fed, he would personally check the thickness of the armor of tanks, officer ranks would have been canceled. Before the battle, he would ride the Ford-T in front of the army and lead it on the attack.
What's left: the assembly line, the blue collars, the dealer system, and the guarantees to the buyers? Not only: any mass product from the Big Mac to the disposable pen has a common parent - the Ford T car. His grandson Henry Ford II, after his grandfather's death, hired a rescue team of educated managers led by future US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Henry Ford's principles have been adjusted. Model "Ford-T" named the car of the century. The new "Ford Focus" was recognized as the best car in 1999. The slogan of the advertising campaign "Ford Focus": "Always wanting more." True, the founder of the company himself meant something else by this. But was this Henry Ford, who was called a grumpy miser and a mad dictator, so simple? And was it not he who laid the foundations for today's prosperity of the Ford empire?
