a test of 2330

“Henry Ford went to work on a racer which he hoped would bring him new opportunities to manufacture automobiles. His chance came in 1901. It was announced in Detroit that Alexander Winton would race his world champion car, 'The Bullet,' at the Grosse Pointe race track, a few miles from the city; Henry Ford challenged the champion. When the day of the race arrived, stores and shops closed, and a parade of sixty-eight cars moved out to Grosse Pointe. At the end of eight miles, Ford was trailing Winton, but then the 'Bullet' began to sputter, and it limped to the finish line behind the racer built by Ford. The newspapers the next day reported that Henry Ford was now in the first rank of American 'chauffeurs.'”

The First Ford Takes to the Road

Strategy & Decision Making · Leadership & Management · Business & Entrepreneurship

DUR_ENDURING

Public victory creates visibility and credibility with capital

“The new company rented a building on Mack Avenue in Detroit for $75 a month and prepared to manufacture its automobiles. The new factory was 250 feet long by 50 feet wide. This was adequate space, since the new company did not attempt to make any of the parts for its cars. The Dodge brothers, who owned a large machine shop, made the Ford chassis, a carriage company built the body, and the wheels were purchased in Lansing.”

The First Ford Takes to the Road

Operations & Execution · Strategy & Decision Making · Business & Entrepreneurship

DUR_ENDURING

Assemble, don't manufacture—keep capital light

“From 1908 to 1927, fifteen million Fords had been produced, the Ford Motor Company had become the colossus of the industry, and Henry Ford's name was known all over the world. Nevertheless, in order to maintain this position, it was necessary to keep pace with the times. In order to do this, the Rouge plant was silenced until a 'new' Ford could be designed and put into production.”

The Model T is Born

Strategy & Decision Making · Business & Entrepreneurship · Leadership & Management

DUR_ENDURING

Shut down to restart; domination requires reinvention

“The Ford company claimed that this new automobile 'would sound the death knell of high prices and big profits.' Its advertisements announced that 'we can devote all our time and money to taking care of the orders for the car that people have actually been waiting for--a family car at an honest price.' The engine was new and 'get-at-able,' an important feature in a day when most automobile owners repaired their own cars. While Henry Ford had been a prominent automobile manufacturer before 1908, it was this new 'universal' car that brought a new era in America. The automobile was no longer intended for sportsmen alone, but for all those who could afford to buy one, and Henry Ford intended to see that the price of his automobile was low enough for millions of people to own a Ford car.”

The Model T is Born

Strategy & Decision Making · Business & Entrepreneurship · Economics & Markets

DUR_ENDURING

Democratize category; repairable beats luxury

“Soon after the success of the model T was assured, Henry Ford was asked about the secret of his ability to produce automobiles. He divulged his 'secret' in these terms: have a simple design, use the latest machinery, standardize the parts, make the entire automobile yourself, and always have a good supply of materials on hand. Throughout the rest of his life, he held to these principles.”— Henry Ford

The Model T is Born

Operations & Execution · Strategy & Decision Making · Business & Entrepreneurship

DUR_ENDURING

Five principles: simplicity, machinery, standardization, self-manufacture, supply

“In 1915, Henry Ford sent an agent out to Dearborn to buy farm land along the River Rouge--thousands of acres were purchased. Now there would be room not only to enlarge the assembly line itself, but to manufacture more of the Ford in one factory. Here it would be possible to begin with raw materials--iron ore, sand, cotton, rubber, and the countless other materials--and convert them into steel, glass, and cloth to make the Ford.”

The Model T is Born

Strategy & Decision Making · Business & Entrepreneurship · Operations & Execution

DUR_CONTEXTUAL

Scale enables backward integration to control inputs

“By 1914, a floor conveyor was in operation at the Highland Park plant, so that the half-completed cars moved through the plant while the workers stayed in one place. This assembly line became the key to greater production. In order to keep the line moving smoothly, machinery was continually being rearranged and new chutes and conveyors were installed. Each improvement brought new and often unforeseen problems in the never-ending task of fitting together the pieces of the huge jig-saw puzzle of production.”

The Model T is Born

Operations & Execution · Strategy & Decision Making · Technology & Engineering

DUR_ENDURING

Move work, not workers; each improvement reveals new constraints

“In November, 1901, the Henry Ford Company was organized to manufacture automobiles, but the venture was short-lived, and four months later, Ford was working for himself again. In his small workshop, he went to work on two new racers, the 'Arrow' and the '999.' With the help of a draftsman, a mechanic, and a retired bicycle champion, the new cars were made ready for racing. Ford found a bicycle champion, Barney Oldfield, to pilot his '999' in the Manufacturers Challenge Cup Race at Grosse Pointe. This time his car led the field to a new record, finishing a mile in front of his competitors. After the race, A. Y. Malcomson, a Detroit coal dealer, became interested in Henry Ford and his automobiles. The two men became partners in a new venture.”

The First Ford Takes to the Road

Business & Entrepreneurship · Strategy & Decision Making · Leadership & Management

DUR_ENDURING

Wins attract capital; visibility precedes funding

“The production of Ford cars rose to gigantic proportions. In 1914, the year that Henry Ford and his engineers began to plan for the plant on the Rouge, over two hundred thousand automobiles were produced. But in the year 1923, over two million model T's rolled off the assembly lines. In 1925, nearly ten thousand Fords were completed in a single day in Ford plants.”

The Model T is Born

Operations & Execution · Strategy & Decision Making · Economics & Markets

DUR_ENDURING

From 200K to 2M in 9 years; compounding execution

“In the back yard of the new home was a brick shed; here Henry set up his tools and continued his tinkering with gas engines. His first experiment was not long in the making. With a piece of gas pipe, an old wheel, some wire, and other scraps of metal assembled on a long board fastened to the kitchen sink in the Ford home, he made his first model gas engine. Although it sputtered and jumped, it worked.”

Early Life

Creativity & Innovation · Operations & Execution · Technology & Engineering

DUR_ENDURING

Constraint and scrap enable innovation; work beats perfection

“Finally, in December, 1927, the new model A was shown to the public. This new Ford was front page news over the nation. At the Madison Square Garden in New York City, attendance records were broken when crowds came to see the model A. This new Ford bore little resemblance to the model T. It now had a gear shift, four-wheel brakes, and a foot throttle. It offered many variations in body styles and color, and it was the first automobile to have a safety-glass windshield.”

The Model T is Born

Strategy & Decision Making · Business & Entrepreneurship

DUR_ENDURING

Transform product reveal into cultural event

“With this in view, a tremendous program of construction was begun along the banks of the River Rouge. Soon there were industries within industries at the Rouge. Blast furnaces and coke ovens were fed with coal, iron ore, and limestone brought to the plant from Ford mines by Ford railroads and Ford freighters. There were glass mills, paper factories, tire plants, and saw mills. The products of these mills and plants flowed into the assembly lines not only at the Rouge plant but at other assembly plants scattered all over the world.”

The Model T is Born

Operations & Execution · Strategy & Decision Making · Business & Entrepreneurship

DUR_CONTEXTUAL

Integrate backward to control supply; mines to mills to lines

“Out of his own experiences came his ideas about education. In speaking of his youth, he once said, 'I was studying all the time, not only from books but also from things.' In 1929 he put his ideas into practice by establishing a combined school and museum, which he called The Edison Institute. Here he brought the schoolhouses, the dwellings, the workshops, and the stores of other days so that the pupils in the schools of the Institute could study not only from books but from things.”— Henry Ford

New Fields Beckon

Philosophy & Reasoning · Leadership & Management · Creativity & Innovation

DUR_ENDURING

Learning from things, not books; experiential education

“That year, the Ford Motor Company introduced the V-8 engine, which was unique in its field. The transition from the gas-pipe cylinder on the kitchen sink back at 58 Bagley Avenue in the 1890's to powerful eight-cylinder engines that were turned out by the thousands each day at the largest industrial plant in the world had taken a long time to accomplish.”

The Model T is Born

Creativity & Innovation · Operations & Execution · Technology & Engineering

DUR_ENDURING

Thirty years from kitchen sink to V-8 mass production

“The world had never before seen such an industrial giant as the one Henry Ford and his son Edsel had created. The automobiles produced by Ford and his competitors did more than replace the horse and carriage. They changed the daily habits of Americans everywhere. No longer did families in the cities have to live in the shadow of the factories where the head of the household was employed. Some families moved to the 'suburbs' many miles away from stores and industries, while other city dwellers left the urban areas completely to live in the country. On the other hand, those who had always lived on farms could come to the city with ease in automobiles.”

The Model T is Born

History & Geopolitics · Economics & Markets · Culture & Society

DUR_ENDURING

Technology enables mobility; mobility enables dispersion

“It was a bold move for a man with a family to give up a good job. Some of his friends and relatives told each other that he should have stayed where he was. The original investment of Murphy and his friends was not enough. Improvements and changes in the model were made. Even though $68,000 was invested in the company, the hoped for production of many cars never materialized, and in January, 1901, Henry Ford left the Detroit Automobile Company.”

The First Ford Takes to the Road

Business & Entrepreneurship · Strategy & Decision Making · Leadership & Management

DUR_ENDURING

Capital alone cannot buy product-market fit

“By the spring of 1896, he was ready to make a trial run with his own horseless carriage. First he had to tear out part of the brick wall of his shed in order to get his machine into the alley. Once in the open, the engine was started, and the car bumped down the cobblestone street and continued successfully on its first short run around the block.”

The First Ford Takes to the Road

Strategy & Decision Making · Creativity & Innovation · Leadership & Management

DUR_ENDURING

Adaptation requires willingness to break form

“His first job, at the Michigan Car Works, lasted only six days, but he soon found another one at the machine shop of James Flowers and Bros., where he became a machinist's apprentice. In this shop he learned about engines, and about the tools and machines that made parts for other machines. At night he repaired watches in the jewelry shop of James Magill.”

Early Life

Leadership & Management · Creativity & Innovation · Operations & Execution

DUR_ENDURING

Fail fast, learn deep, parallel skill-building

“In 1915, a tractor plant at Dearborn was begun. Some of the first tractors were sent to British farmers during the first World War. Out of this experience grew the Fordson tractor, which, like the model T, was light in weight and had a low selling price.”

New Fields Beckon

Business & Entrepreneurship · Strategy & Decision Making

DUR_ENDURING

Proven model T principles transfer to tractors

“Bombers moved down the assembly lines at the Willow Run plant, which was the 'Rouge' of the bomber industry. When the war ended and production was halted, over eight thousand 'Liberators' had been assembled by the Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford watched over the assembly line at Willow Run just as he did at the Rouge. He continued to learn from tools and machines and to 'read' the story they had to tell.”

New Fields Beckon

Operations & Execution · Strategy & Decision Making

DUR_ENDURING

Assembly line scales to bombers; methodology transcends product