When considering the concept of the assembly line, we tend to think it is credited to Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company, but like so many inventors, Ford just improved the assembly line that was patented by Ransom Olds. Before the industrial revolution, products manufactured in factories were made by hand with a single worker completing a part of the product then all the workers coming together and collaborating to make the final product. At the time, this was the most efficient process. In the 12th century, the Venetian Arsenal provided us with the first real example of the assembly line. By the beginning of the 20th century, assembly lines and mass production were starting to become more common, especially with Eli Whitney’s concept of interchangeable
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This was a great step in the right direction, but it was not affordable nor reasonable because few places needed to mass produce ships. Ransom Olds patented the assembly line in 1901 and the output of products was unlike anything seen before. Some consider Olds to be the founder of the American automobile industry. In just one year following his innovation, his companies output increased by 500 percent, producing 20 cars a day. His Oldsmobile Curved Dash, was the bestselling vehicle at the time, selling 5000 vehicles in 1904 alone. Then the man we tend to credit with the invention of the assembly line, Henry Ford, came along and improved Olds assembly line. Ford made the assembly line his own when he added one “small” aspect. Olds owns the assembly line, but Ford owns the moving assembly line. With Fords’ assembly line, the car would sit on a track and would make its way down the line, stopping at different stations so workers could add on to what had come before them on the line. This new method allowed Ford to produce cars in two and a half hours. His first vehicle that was produced on the assembly line was the Model-A, but was quickly improved upon and became the infamous Model T. By 1937, the year the Model-T ended production, 17 million had …show more content…
Even coming into this project, I was misinformed and discovering the truth made this a very interesting project. The day after I turn in this paper, December 1, is the 103-year anniversary of Henry Ford installing the first moving assembly line, it was installed in Detroit. This is the main reason why Detroit has become the home of the automotive industry in the United States. Personally, I doubt we will ever see another invention that will have the same kind of impact towards our future as the assembly line
This was a great step in the right direction, but it was not affordable nor reasonable because few places needed to mass produce ships. Ransom Olds patented the assembly line in 1901 and the output of products was unlike anything seen before. Some consider Olds to be the founder of the American automobile industry. In just one year following his innovation, his companies output increased by 500 percent, producing 20 cars a day. His Oldsmobile Curved Dash, was the bestselling vehicle at the time, selling 5000 vehicles in 1904 alone. Then the man we tend to credit with the invention of the assembly line, Henry Ford, came along and improved Olds assembly line. Ford made the assembly line his own when he added one “small” aspect. Olds owns the assembly line, but Ford owns the moving assembly line. With Fords’ assembly line, the car would sit on a track and would make its way down the line, stopping at different stations so workers could add on to what had come before them on the line. This new method allowed Ford to produce cars in two and a half hours. His first vehicle that was produced on the assembly line was the Model-A, but was quickly improved upon and became the infamous Model T. By 1937, the year the Model-T ended production, 17 million had …show more content…
Even coming into this project, I was misinformed and discovering the truth made this a very interesting project. The day after I turn in this paper, December 1, is the 103-year anniversary of Henry Ford installing the first moving assembly line, it was installed in Detroit. This is the main reason why Detroit has become the home of the automotive industry in the United States. Personally, I doubt we will ever see another invention that will have the same kind of impact towards our future as the assembly line