Mass Production at Highland Park:

The New Technology and Its Social Consequences, 1900-1917

The Background

• Few have not heard of Henry Ford— a national and indeed an international icon in popular and industrial culture.

• Ford— – the arch-type of the rags to riches myth— – the farm boy who through spunk, discipline, and

hard work moved up the social ladder to become skilled mechanic, engineer, and finally billionaire industrialist.

• To John D. Rockefeller— Ford— the Ford Highland Park plant- the “industrial miracle” of the age

• To others— the “high priest of industrial efficiency”

The Background

• And— he resonated in the global popular culture:

– In Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times— the image workers condemned to perpetual involuntary motions.

– In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World— modern times began in “the year of our Ford”

– In Germany— Fordismus of the 1920s led to the People’s Car, or Volkswagon, in the 1930s

– In Russia— Fordizatsiia— paved the way for forced and rushed industrialization policies of the 1920s

The Background

• The Ford Miracle— between 1908 and 1914:– he invested millions in plant and equipment,– reduced the price of his Model T, – doubled the wages of labor, – reduced the hours of labor, – and he was on the path to becoming the world’s

first billionaire.

• Ford Motor Company’s remarkable growth:– 1903— Ford Motor Company employed 125

workers and produced 1,700 autos– 1908— 450 workers— 10,600 autos– 1914—14,000 workers— 248,000 autos– 1921— 32,700 workers— 934,000 autos

Ford Workforce, c. 1914

The Background

• By 1914, he held 48% of the world auto market.

• What was the Ford idea?• First— the standardized product• Second— the Taylorization, or simplification,

of work and work processes• Third— the adoption of the most advanced

machine tool technology• Finally— the integration and synchronization

of all productive processes

The Background

• In 1903— the FMC was a most traditional small auto assembly shop that used conventional methods of production— skilled workers built automobiles from parts provided by outside suppliers

• Auto production:– Foundry— cast metal parts– Machine shops—finished the castings– Then, file and fit assembly of components– Finally, the assembly of components into the

finished product— the automobile

Traditional Auto Production: Machine Shop

Traditional Auto Production: Machine Shop

Traditional Auto Production:Component Assembly

Traditional Auto Production: Body Assembly

Traditional Auto Production: Auto Assembly

Traditional Auto Production: Auto Assembly

The Background

• Initial automobiles— a playthings for the wealthy

• Limited production runs— skilled workers—general purpose machines

• Stationary assembly—engine and auto assembly— a three dimension jigsaw puzzle— filing and and fitting

• Until the beginnings of mechanized production around 1910— traditional skilled craftsmen produced automobiles with the aid of less skilled and unskilled workers— helpers, assistants, laborers, truckers, etc.

The Background

• Ford’s chief contribution— the concept of a motor car for the great multitude— the Model T Ford—he proclaimed:

“I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise.”

• He wanted to make automobiles like matches or pins— all identical to each other

• Mass consumption forces mass production

Evolution to the Model T Ford

The Background

• The Model T— a product with over 5,000 parts and components conceived as simple matches of pins.

• This inexpensive automobile—announced in 1908—proved enormously popular

– The conventional Ford plant strained to keep up with popular demand for the Model T

– In 1910, productive operations slowly shifted to the new Highland Park plant

– From 1910-1914, incredible experimentation and innovation in methods and processes of production

The Ford Highland Park Plant

The Ford Highland Park Plant

The New Technology

• The secret of Ford’s industrial success— the rigidly standardized Model T—

• The standard design of the product— customer could have any color so long as it was black— a logic for simplified production

• With product standardization— Ford engineers could standardize work and work processes—Taylorism

• In effect, the ideas of Frederick Winslow Taylor had saturated the minds of Detroit industrialists and engineers

• Taylorism involved the careful analysis of all work tasks, the elimination of every needless motion, and the minute division and subdivision of labor—time and motion study

• Next— with such simplified and routinized work tasks— machines could be easily designed to perform the simple new work tasks

The New Technology

• The shift from general-purpose machines to single-purpose ones

• Single purpose machines— the transference of skill by the machine designer from the operators— the new machines embodied he complex skills of the worker— two ways— specially designed machines or jigs and fixtures

• In 1914— the Highland Park plant had 14,000 workers and 15,000 machines— Ford policy— scrap “old” machines ruthlessly ruthlessly in favor of better types— even if old was one month old

The New Technology

Single Purpose Machines

The New Technology

• Ford’s next innovation— “progressive” production and assembly— the arrangement of men, machines, and work tasks in line, one task followed by the other

• As H. L. Arnold noted:

“the scheme of placing both machine and hand work in straight-line sequence of operations so that the component in progress will travel the shortest road from start to finish, with no avoidable handling whatsoever.”

The New Technology

• Progressive production first came to the Highland Park machine shops around 1913

• Then to the assembly operations around 1913 and 1914

• In the machine shops- the conventional arrangement— similar machines located together— parts moved from one are to next

• Progressive production eliminated trucking of parts— materials handling becomes important— gravity slides, roll ways, endless chains, and conveyor belts

Progressive or Sequential Machine

Operations at Highland Park:

Movement of Cylinder Casting

Thru Shop

Progressive Assembly of Magnetos

Progressive Assembly of Pistons

Chassis Assembly Line

The New Technology

• First, line production came to machine shops • Then, assembly operations— around 1913—

experiments in magneto assembly• Next, other operations• Finally, the main assembly line• H. L. Arnold- the “highly impressive

spectacle” of the Ford assembly line: “Long lines of slowly moving assemblies in

progress, busy groups of successive operators, the rapid growth of the chassis as component after component is added from overhead of sources of supply, and finally the instant start into self-moving power.”

A Fully Integrated Production System

The New Technology

• At the Highland Park plant, modern mass production became a reality in a few brief years—from around 1910 to 1914

• But—the innovations came at incredible social costs—the world of work would never be the same again

• The social impact of the new industrial technology: – The complete transformation of traditional work

tasks and routines– The emergence of the deskilled specialist as the

principal occupational group of the plant– The development of new forms of control of

workers

The New Technology

• Transformation of work tasks and routines• Obviously Ford engineers and Ford workers

thought differently about the coming of the modern factory work

• Said one journalist:“Fifteen thousand men work in gangs on the track system. Each gang, and each man on each gang, has just one thing to do—and do over and over again. It’s push and bustle and go.”

• Work became routine, monotonous, degraded, and boring

The New Technology

• The social structure of work also changed dramatically— – In the 1890s—Detroit metal workers’ structure of

occupations—c. 2% foremen, 39% skilled mechanics, 30 % semiskilled specialists, 29% unskilled laborers— similar to Ford structure of occupations in 1910

– By 1917— Ford workforce— 6.2% foremen, 4.2% clerks, 3.7% inspectors, 15.6% skilled and technical workers, 55.3% unskilled specialists, and 14.6% unskilled workers

• The significant change was the increase in supervisors and the decrease in worker skills

• A large majority were “unskilled specialists.”

The New Technology

• New forms of control—

– Bureaucratic control—• Foremen, straw bosses, clerks, and inspectors—all

ensure that workers produce at speed, quality and quantity desired

• The ratio of foremen to workers—increased from 1 in 25 to 1 in 15

– Technical control• Machine paced production—workers controlled by the

cycle of the machine• The sequential arrangement of work—progressive

production of hand work and use of conveyors

Hand Assembly Line for Pistons

Inspector at the End of the Line

Chassis Assembly Line

Foreman Oversees Workmen

Shortage Chasers

Clerks to Insure Availability of Components

Technical Control: Line Speed

Charlie Chaplain, Modern Times

Barbara Dane, “Detroit Medley”

A 1930s critique of line production—”Mine Eyes have seen the glory of the making of the Ford”

The Social Consequences

• Productivity fell far below expectations• Some individual shops and departments- up

1,000%• In reality, only about 60% increase in Model T

production• Even Taylor—work reorganization alone

without line techniques—promised 200-400%• Serious problems with the totally integrated

and synchronized production system• Problems rooted in worker culture

The Social Consequences

• Immigrant culture—unskilled work—attracted a largely immigrant workforce—mainly from pre-industrial Southern and Eastern Europe

• Absence of time and work discipline which affected output

• Also—working-class culture—reactions to boring, repetitive, and degraded work

• Absenteeism—averaged 10% over the week—14,000 workers meant a reserve of 1,400 extra men to fill in for absentees

• Turnover, or quit rate—a phenomenal 370% per year—need to hire 52,000 to maintain existing workforce

Ford Immigrant Workers

The Social Consequences

• Worker and union culture—soldiering and output restriction—not working with as much effort as possible or holding back production

• Unionization—threats of worker organization ranging from radical IWW to the more staid AFL around 1913

• As line production became a reality, Ford officials had a complex and multidimensional labor problem

• In 1913, a series of reforms that did not solve the problems

• Then Ford astounded the world with the announcement of the famous Five Dollar Day

The Social Consequences

• The Five Dollar Day—not a simple wage increase, but a sophisticated profit-sharing scheme—doubled the average pay received by unskilled workers

• Main target- unproductive immigrant and working-class cultures

• Five Dollar Day—divided into roughly equal parts—wages and profits– Wages for work in the shops– Profits for “right living”

• Right living—progressive idea that a good home environment produced good people or workers

Workers at Highland Park for Five Dollar Jobs

The Social Consequences

• Ford Sociological Department—a staff of 100 investigators to go into homes to determine whether or not workers lived right

• Approval meant the Five Dollar Day• Non-approval mean monitoring to assure

changed attitudes and values—if no change, dismissals

• Ford English School—a combination language and cultural skills

• All in all, the standardization of the product moves to the standardization of the producers.

Ford English School Class, c. 1914

Ford English School Graduation, c. 1914

Ford English School Diploma

The Social Consequences

• Ultimately—in the short run the profit-sharing scheme succeeded:– absenteeism and turnover declined– production increased– and the auto industry avoided unionism

• It lasted through the war years, when inflation eroded the incentive of the Five Dollar Day

• In the 1920s, a shift to the brutal Bennett regime which emphasized the repression of dissident and underperforming workers

• In the end, the auto industry became a high wage seasonal industry and workers traded the rotten work for higher wages