Henry Ford

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right."

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Henry Ford was one of the world's greatest innovators. He revolutionized the automobile industry while influencing and changing many people's lives.

One way he did this was he showed what factories were capable of producing on a grand scale. In other words, before Ford's mass production of the Model T, his first well known model, cars were made at a rate of a few cars a day. His ideas came as a revolution to the industry by using the assembly line to create a Model T every 24 seconds. As a result of his ideas, he also revolutionized factories in general for other fields of work. For instance, vacuum cleaner manufacturers applied his idea of an assembly line to make more machines in less time.

In addition to making the production line faster, he set a new standard for how much employees should be paid in the industry. At the rate he was selling his cars, he was able to pay his workers more money than other companies since already he was dominating the industry. More specifically, he raised his wage to $5 a day, higher than all the other companies at the time, which of course increased the workers' productivity. Back then $5 a day meant $129 a day in 2019 dollars!

With using the assembly line to its fullest potential, he saved so much time and money that he was able to drop his price of his Model T from $850 to less than $300 so that he could aquire more customers as more people could afford a car at this new price. With more models being sold, this made the company grow exponentially and lead to workers wanting to buy the cars they produced, giving Ford more sales, but more importantly more loyalty.

These are just a few ways Ford has left his legacy behind to disrupt and grow the auto industry. Ford passed away in 1947, but today his company continues to grow and innovate cars from his entrepreneurial spirit. The leaders at the company are consistently looking for ways to make the car manufacturing business more efficient. The ways they are currently doing this include investing in robotic technologies, finding ways to use 3D printers, and creating simulations to improve workers' conditions to meet new ergonomic standards.

When people think of Henry Ford, they think of a pioneer who brought new ideas to the world of cars. His ideas brought drastic change to people's lives including his employees and his customers. He left such a mark on the world that it could easily be said that it is impossible to think of the development of the automobile without him in it.