Ford, Henry (1863-1947), American industrialist, best known for his
pioneering achievements in
the automobile industry.
Ford was born on a farm near Dearborn, Michigan, on July 30, 1863, and
educated in district
schools. He became a machinist's apprentice in Detroit at the age of 16.
From 1888 to 1899 he
was a mechanical engineer, and later chief engineer, with the Edison
Illuminating Company. In
1893, after experimenting for several years in his leisure hours, he
completed the construction
of his first automobile, and in 1903 he founded the Ford Motor Company.
In 1913 Ford began using standardized interchangeable parts and
assembly-line techniques in
his plant. Although Ford neither originated nor was the first to employ
such practices, he was
chiefly responsible for their general adoption and for the consequent
great expansion of
American industry and the raising of the American standard of living.
By early 1914 this innovation, although greatly increasing productivity,
had resulted in a
monthly labor turnover of 40 to 60 percent in his factory, largely
because of the unpleasant
monotony of assembly-line work and repeated increases in the production
quotas assigned to
workers. Ford met this difficulty by doubling the daily wage then
standard in the industry, raising
it from about $2.50 to $5. The net result was increased stability in his
labor force and a
substantial reduction in operating costs. These factors, coupled with
the enormous increase in
output made possible by new technological methods, led to an increase in
company profits from
$30 million in 1914 to $60 million in 1916.
In 1908 the Ford company initiated production of the celebrated Model T.
Until 1927, when the
Model T was discontinued in favor of a more up-to-date model, the
company produced and sold
about 15 million cars. Within the ensuing few years, however, Ford's
preeminence as the largest
producer and seller of automobiles in the nation was gradually lost to
his competitors, largely
because he was slow to adopt the practice of introducing a new model of
automobile each year,
which had become standard in the industry. During the 1930s Ford adopted
the policy of the
yearly changeover, but his company was unable to regain the position it
had formerly held.
In the period from 1937 to 1941, the Ford company became the only major
manufacturer of
automobiles in the Detroit area that had not recognized any labor union
as the collective
bargaining representative of employees. At hearings before the National
Labor Relations Board
Ford was found guilty of repeated violations of the National Labor
Relations Act. The findings
against him were upheld on appeal to the federal courts. Ford was
constrained to negotiate a
standard labor contract after a successful strike by the workers at his
main plant at River
Rouge, Michigan, in April 1941.
Early in 1941 Ford was granted government contracts whereby he was, at
first, to manufacture
parts for bombers and, later, the entire airplane. He thereupon launched
the construction of a
huge plant at Willow Run, Michigan, where production was begun in May
1942. Despite certain
technical difficulties, by the end of World War II (1945) this plant had
manufactured more than
8000 planes.
Ford was active in several other fields besides those of automobile and
airplane manufacturing.
In 1915 he chartered a peace ship, which carried him and a number of
like-minded individuals
to Europe, where they attempted without success to persuade the
belligerent governments to
end World War I. He was nominated for the office of U.S. senator from
Michigan in 1918 but was
defeated in the election. In the following year he erected the Henry
Ford Hospital in Detroit at a
cost of $7.5 million. In 1919 he became the publisher of the Dearborn
Independent, a weekly
journal, which at first published anti-Semitic material. After
considerable public protest, Ford
directed that publication of such articles be discontinued and that a
public apology be made to
the Jewish people.
Advancing age obliged Ford to retire from the active direction of his
gigantic enterprises in
1945. He died on April 7, 1947, in Dearborn. Ford left a personal
fortune estimated at $500 to
$700 million, bequeathing the largest share of his holdings in the Ford
Motor Company to the
Ford Foundation, a nonprofit organization.
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