Andrew Carnegie: Captain Of Industry

Andrew Carnegie was born on November 25th, 1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland. Sixty six years later, he would own the most enormous steel corporation in the world and become the richest man of his time. He started as a poor Scottish boy earning $1.20 a week working in a factory but was able to build one of the most successful industries in history. He is a captain of industry for three reasons. First off, his business, the Carnegie Steel Company, dominated the American scene by revolutionizing steel production in the United States. Secondly, his business helped to fuel the economy and shape the nation. Lastly, he used his immense wealth to benefit others. The Carnegie Steel Company restructured steel production in the United States. Carnegie’s recipe for success included hard work, honorable business methods, attention to detail and the ability to hire and rely upon qualified help. He built plants all over the country and used methods and technology that made manufacturing easier, faster, and more efficient. In addition, he owned exactly what he needed for the massive production of steel, such as raw materials, ships and railroads for the transportation of goods, and coal fields to fuel the steel furnaces. Carnegie used a method called vertical integration to bring stability to the steel industry. He bought railroad companies and iron …show more content…
The formation of Carnegie Steel in the late 1880’s symbolized the rise of big businesses. Thanks in large part to Andrew Carnegie, by 1889, output of steel from the United States exceeded that of the United Kingdom. By that time, Carnegie Steel Company was the biggest of its kind in the world. Carnegie may have been known only as a successful man of business but he was also an avid innovator. In a desire to make steel more cheaply and more efficiently, he adopted the Bessemer Process, which was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of