K-12 Research Guide: Assembly Line
Introduction
Henry Ford combined interchangeable parts with subdivided labor and fluid movement of materials to create his moving assembly line in 1913. By 1914, this method revolutionized the automobile industry. A Model T was being produced every 93 minutes—an extraordinary improvement over 12½ hours per car under the old stationary assembly methods.
Background
To keep Model T production up with demand, Ford engineers borrowed ideas from other industries. Sometime in 1913 they realized that the "disassembly line" principle employed in slaughterhouses could be adapted to building automobiles -- on a moving assembly line.
Henry Ford combined interchangeable parts with subdivided labor and fluid movement of materials to create his moving assembly line in 1913. The initial 1913 assembly line was relatively crude -- workers pushed or pulled vehicles to each station.
The crude “slide” method was replaced with chain-driven delivery systems that not only reduced handling but also regulated work speed. By early 1914, the various separate production lines had fused into three continuous lines able to churn out a finished Model T every 93 minutes—an extraordinary improvement over 12½ hours per car under the old stationary assembly methods.
From 1908-1927, Ford Motor Company produced over 15 million Model T cars, and the price dropped from $850 to as little as $260.
These productivity gains and price cuts led manufacturers of every type to adopt Ford’s innovative production methods with many of the same foundational methods still in use today.
Online Resources
Blog - Ford Methods and the Ford Shops
Film Clip, "Henry Ford Launches Huge Prosperity Drive with Announcement of New Ford V-8," 1932
This 1932 promotional film features footage of the Rouge assembly line.
Film Clip, “Ford Model T Assembly Line (1919)”
Ford Motor Company produced these films to document the assembly of the Model T
Expert Sets
The experts at The Henry Ford have carefully curated artifact sets from focus areas of our collection.
Expert Set - Henry Ford: Assembly Line
Expert Set – The Model T & The Assembly Line
Expert Set - Lesson: The Moving Assembly Line and Work Force
Expert Set - Lesson: Using Human Resources on the Assembly Line
Example Primary Sources Available on Digital Collections
Assembly Room at Ford Motor Company Piquette Plant, Detroit, Michigan, 1906
This photograph shows workers at Ford Motor Company's plant on Piquette Avenue in Detroit. No one had yet conceived of the moving assembly line, so crews moved from vehicle to vehicle.
Magneto Assembly at the Ford Highland Park Plant, 1913
The first Ford assembly line at the Highland Park, Michigan, plant was relatively crude. Here, in 1913, workers put V-shaped magnets on Model T flywheels to make one-half of the flywheel magneto. Each worker installed a few parts and simply shoved the flywheel down the line to the next worker.
Ford Model T Chassis on Assembly Line at the Highland Park Plant, 1914
Ford Motor Company began building magnetos on a crude moving assembly line in April 1913. Impressed by productivity gains, production managers refined the magneto line and expanded the moving assembly concept to other manufacturing processes. By April 1914, three parallel chassis assembly lines were operating, and workers could put together more than 1,200 chassis in eight hours.
Crowd of Applicants outside Highland Park Plant after Five Dollar Day Announcement, January 1914
Ford workers disliked the new assembly line methods so much that by late 1913, labor turnover was 380 percent. The company's announcement to pay five dollars for an eight-hour day compared to the previous rate of $2.34 for a nine-hour day made many workers willing to submit to the relentless discipline of the line in return for such high wages.
Letter to Henry Ford from the Wife of an Assembly Line Worker, 1914
Letter written to Henry Ford from the wife of an assembly line worker, January 23, 1914. The woman writes asking Henry Ford to investigate the situation on the assembly lines in the factories with regard to working conditions.
1924 Ford Model T Cars on Assembly Line at the Highland Park Plant, October 1923
Ford and his engineers constantly searched for ways to speed up car production and keep costs low. The integration of a moving assembly line in Highland Park Plant allowed the company to do just that. From 1908-1927, Ford Motor Company produced over 15 million Model T cars and the price dropped from $850 to as little as $260.
Ford Model T Assembly Line, Body Drop onto Chassis, Highland Park Plant, 1926
Ford Motor Company's assembly line included a series of separate manufacturing processes. Engines were put together in one line. Chassis were built up in another. Bodies were assembled in their own line. These lines then flowed into the final assembly line where the major components were combined into complete automobiles. During the body drop, workers attached bodies to chassis.
Painted Car Bodies on Conveyor Line, Ford Rouge Plant, 1940
Engineers at Ford's Highland Park plant had fine-tuned the moving assembly line. With this experience in hand, Ford created the B building at its new River Rouge complex with extensive conveyer systems to accommodate the flow of parts and assembly processes. Here, elevated conveyors move vehicles through body assembly on the B building's second floor.
Wing Assembly at Ford Motor Company Willow Run Bomber Plant, Michigan, 1942
At Willow Run, Ford Motor Company built B-24 bomber planes for World War II using automobile mass production techniques. Airplanes were much more complex than cars. They required constant design changes poorly suited to a standardized assembly line. Ford overcame these difficulties and, at the plant's peak, Willow Run crews produced an average of one bomber every 63 minutes.
"How a Ford Mustang is Assembled" Graphic, circa 1978
Ford Motor Company illustrated the steps in building a Mustang in this poster from 1978. It was the company's 75th anniversary, and the poster perhaps reminded viewers that Ford had perfected the moving assembly line some 60 years earlier. The time required to assemble a Mustang -- from chassis, to body, to paint, to pre-delivery -- was about 27 hours.
Books and Secondary Sources
The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century, Steven Watts
America's Assembly Line, David E. Nye
Ford Methods and the Ford Shops, Fay Faurote & Horace Arnold
Online Databases
Archival Finding Aids Database