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PBs had a two hour documentary on the life of Henry Ford last night so I though I would pass along a few highlights;
He failed as the experimented with car models starting with the letter A and finally hit the mark with the letter "T" (a long way from A)
The assembly line concept came from butchers working in slaughter houses as the meat cutters stood in one spot while the carcasses were on a conveyor belt.
The assembly line work was so boring Ford had to hire 1,000 to hope to get 100 people to stay.
As a solution to the high turnover he doubled the pay up to $5 per day a move that shocked the business world and many said it would be the death of Ford as a company.
Ford also created social engineering by making laws that employees had to live by in their own homes. He actually had people inspecting employees homes.
Despite the competition Ford believed only in the Model T and never dreamed of building anything other than it.
His son Edsel differed from Ford in that Ford wanted Edsel to be just like him in every way and throughout their work Ford did his best to humiliate Edsel in every way.
Ford pulled a fast one by telling his investors(he hated investors and saw them only as parasites) he has turned the company over to his 25 yr. old son shocking them all and put the iceing on the cake by telling them he was going to start a new car company with plants all over the country. The investors panicked and sold their shares and Ford bought up all of them thereby gaining 100% control of his compnay.
The Model A turned out to be a super seller and Ford took all the credit for it depsite Edsel being responsible for the entire project.
Ford was the last to go union ahd before he did he hired a gang of thugs to run the company plants. Workers were not allowed to speak and sit. If they did they were often beaten. When the unions came in there were bloody brawls between the two sides.
Edsel died at age 46 and Ford despite treating him like a dog suffered from his loss.
In his last years Ford suffered from dementia and told his officers they had to go back to building only the Model T!!
He failed as the experimented with car models starting with the letter A and finally hit the mark with the letter "T" (a long way from A)
The assembly line concept came from butchers working in slaughter houses as the meat cutters stood in one spot while the carcasses were on a conveyor belt.
The assembly line work was so boring Ford had to hire 1,000 to hope to get 100 people to stay.
As a solution to the high turnover he doubled the pay up to $5 per day a move that shocked the business world and many said it would be the death of Ford as a company.
Ford also created social engineering by making laws that employees had to live by in their own homes. He actually had people inspecting employees homes.
Despite the competition Ford believed only in the Model T and never dreamed of building anything other than it.
His son Edsel differed from Ford in that Ford wanted Edsel to be just like him in every way and throughout their work Ford did his best to humiliate Edsel in every way.
Ford pulled a fast one by telling his investors(he hated investors and saw them only as parasites) he has turned the company over to his 25 yr. old son shocking them all and put the iceing on the cake by telling them he was going to start a new car company with plants all over the country. The investors panicked and sold their shares and Ford bought up all of them thereby gaining 100% control of his compnay.
The Model A turned out to be a super seller and Ford took all the credit for it depsite Edsel being responsible for the entire project.
Ford was the last to go union ahd before he did he hired a gang of thugs to run the company plants. Workers were not allowed to speak and sit. If they did they were often beaten. When the unions came in there were bloody brawls between the two sides.
Edsel died at age 46 and Ford despite treating him like a dog suffered from his loss.
In his last years Ford suffered from dementia and told his officers they had to go back to building only the Model T!!
