Ford started in North America and it remains dependent on North America.
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Henry Ford, whose ideas helped revolutionized transportation, brought mobility to the masses and arguably established the U.S. middle class.
Celebrations are underway at Ford Motor Company’s Dearborn headquarters. The state of Michigan declared this “Henry Ford Day.”
Ford Motor will note the anniversary of his birth in various countries around the world throughout 2013.
Some of the events include:
- Dealers in 21 Asia Pacific markets have launched Ford Heritage month, transforming showrooms into exhibitions on Ford’s history
- Ford of Germany marked the occasion with a series of five road rallies that celebrated Ford’s numerous automotive achievements during the last 110 years
- More than 4,000 people attended community events held by Ford in Romania
In Great Britain, celebrations included the reveal of a restored statue of Henry Ford at the company’s UK Tech Center.
This early Model T predates the assembly line and the mandatory – because it dried fast – black paint.
In coming months, celebrations will continue with additional events across the United States, Europe and South America.
As stated, many historians credit HF1 with creating a middle class in America. His high minimum wage of $5 a day – revolutionary at the time, and decried by the Wall Street Journal as the end of civilization, as grossly wrong then as it is on the minimum wage issue now, among other ideologically held false positions – – set a precedent for fair distribution of company wealth that influenced later management practices. (Timeline on Henry Ford, click here.)
Henry Ford initially struggled to get Ford Motor Company on solid financial footing and railed against bankers. However, the Model T, which debuted in October 1908 in, changed automobiles forever. More than 15 million Model T’s were built and sold as Ford Motor Company put the nation on wheels. (Ford’s Original Model T Piquette Plant now Open to Public and Renault 4 Anniversary – World’s Most Popular Car after Beetle and Model T)
Henry Ford had other successes after the Model T, including:
- Moving assembly line: In 1913, Henry Ford introduced the first moving assembly line for cars. Within 18 months, the amount of time needed to build a Model T was reduced from 12.5 man-hours to 1.5 man-hours
- $5 workday: To reduce high turnover rates among workers, Henry Ford more than doubled their pay in 1914, from $2.34 for a nine-hour day to $5 for an eight-hour day
- Vertical integration: To improve quality, Henry Ford sought to own, operate and coordinate all the resources needed to produce complete automobiles. This principle, known as vertical integration, was put into practice in 1927 with the Model A
Henry Ford died on 7 April 1947, at 83. More than 50 years after his death, in 1999, Forbes magazine named him “Businessman of the Century,” and in 2012, a History Channel documentary highlighted him as one of “The Men Who Built America.”
