Ford Assembly Line in 1913
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Assembly Line Facts for kids: Fast Fact Sheet
Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
about the Assembly Line.
Who invented the Assembly Line? The Assembly Line
and its basic concept is credited to Ransom
E. Olds (1864 – 1950) who manufactured the Oldsmobile and REO brands. The 1901 Oldsmobile Curved
Dash was the first mass-produced automobile.
When did Henry Ford adopt the Assembly Line?
The Henry Ford assembly line came into
operation in the fall of 1913 at the Model T
Automobile factory in Highland Park,
Michigan
What led to the Assembly Line Production?
Henry Ford began looking for ways to speed
up the manufacturing process of the Model T
car and introduced the assembly line method.
What were the advantages of
Assembly Line production?
The advantages of the Ford Assembly Line was
that the process reduced the production time
of a Model T car from 12 hours 8 minutes to
1 hour 33 minutes.
Assembly Line
Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting facts and information on Assembly Line
for kids.
Facts
about the Ford Model T Assembly Line for kids
Assembly Line Fact 1:
The basic concept of the
assembly line is credited to Ransom E. Olds (1864 –
1950) who manufactured the Oldsmobile and REO brands. The 1901 Oldsmobile Curved
Dash was the first mass-produced automobile.
Assembly Line Fact
2:
The first Ford Model T
left the Ford Motor Company factory, in Detroit,
Michigan, on September 27, 1908. The Ford Model T
automobile had become so popular
that cars was selling faster than the company could make
them.
Assembly Line Fact
3:
The cost of making cars was expensive and only the
wealthy could buy cars. Henry Ford wanted to access a
far greater market and sell to the ordinary 'man in the
street', but to do this he had to find a way to
dramatically reduce costs.
Assembly Line Fact
4:
Henry Ford began looking for the best ways to speed
up and scale up the
manufacturing process and decided to introduce the assembly line method
of production, aimed at producing just one make of car
but in massive quantities.
Assembly Line Fact
5:
Ford wanted to lower prices to make his automobile
accessible to everyone. His revolutionary business
philosophy shocked his shareholders, who were happy at
maintaining business at its current scale. His
competitors and the press thought he was crazy.
Assembly Line Fact
6:
Henry Ford consulted with Frederick Winslow Taylor
(1856 – 1915), an American mechanical engineer who
specialized in improving industrial efficiency, to
assess the most efficient methods of production.
Frederick Taylor was one of the foremost intellectual
leaders of the Efficiency Movement
Assembly Line Fact 7:
Henry Ford developed the moving assembly line
technique, pioneered by Ransom E. Olds, and applied it to the mass
production of his Model T automobiles.
Assembly Line Fact 8:
In 1910 Henry Ford began the construction of a
new plant in Highland Park, Michigan. The plant was completed and
fully operational by December 1, 1913 and featured a multi-storey
production line.
Assembly Line Fact 9:
The objective of the continuously moving assembly
line was to divide operations into simple tasks that could be
completed by unskilled workers and cut unnecessary movement to a
minimum
Assembly Line Fact
10: It took 84 steps to assemble the Model T car,
affectionately known as the 'Tin Lizzie'.
Continued...
Facts
about the Ford Model T Assembly Line for kids
Facts
about the Assembly Line for kids
The following fact
sheet continues with facts about Assembly Line for kids.
Facts
about the Ford Model T Assembly Line for kids
Assembly Line Fact
11: The Ford Model T
was different to the other automobiles that were built
at the time because it featured interchangeable parts.
Every Model T
produced used exactly the same valves, tires, gas tanks,
tires, etc. which made them easy to assemble in a
speedy and organized fashion.
Henry Ford tested
various assembly methods to optimize the procedures
before permanently installing the new equipment.
Assembly Line Fact
12: Ford's
Highland Park factory in Michigan operated the first moving,
mass production automobile assembly line in the
world. It began operation on December 1, 1913.
Assembly Line Fact 13:
The interchangeable parts were created in mass
quantities and then brought directly to the workers who were trained
to work at that specific assembly station. Each worker became highly
efficient and quickly completed his specific task.
Assembly Line Fact 14:
The continuously moving assembly line was
positioned at waist level to reduce the possibility of back strain.
Assembly Line Fact 15:
Machines,
parts, equipment, and workers were efficiently positioned so
that work passed quickly from one operation to the
next, in a direct line
Assembly Line Fact 16:
The chassis of the automobile was pulled down the
150-foot line by a chain conveyor and then 140 workers applied their
assigned parts to the chassis.
Assembly Line Fact 17:
The tires of the automobiles were
assembled on the top level of the multi-storey system
and delivered downstairs using chutes.
Assembly Line Fact 18:
Engines and gas tanks were assembled
and delivered to the chassis sub-assembly.
Assembly Line Fact
19: The car bodies were assembled and
dropped on to the separately assembled chassis with a
pully
Assembly Line Fact
20: The mass
production technique, using the assembly-line
method, significantly increased production and
reduced prices
Assembly Line Fact
21: In 1914 Henry Ford reduced costs
further by using black paint on the Model T automobiles.
The black paint color also dried the fastest - speeding
up production. It was then he famously said, "Any
customer can have a car painted any color that he wants
- so long as it is black!"
Assembly Line Fact
22: The Ford Model T was eventually
manufactured in nine different body styles, including
the coupe, roadster, the runabout and the town car.
They were all built with
the same engine and essentially the same chassis.
Assembly Line Fact
23: Prior to the
introduction of the mass production assembly line it
took 728 minutes to assemble a complete chassis (car
frame). After its introduction it only took 93
minutes to build the Ford Model T chassis
Assembly Line Fact
24: In 1914 the Ford Motor Company
produced 308,162 cars - more than all of the other
automobile manufacturers combined.
Assembly Line Fact
25: In 1908 the cost of the Ford Model T
was $850. By 1924 the cost of the car had dropped to
$295. Henry Ford sold millions of his cars - just as he
had planned to do. His belief in using the assembly line
method had made it all possible
Facts
about the Ford Model T Assembly Line for kids
Facts
about the
Ford Model T Assembly
Line
For visitors interested in the history of
early automobiles refer to the following articles:
Assembly Line for kids - President Woodrow Wilson Video
The article on the Assembly Line provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following
Woodrow Wilson video will
give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 28th American President whose presidency spanned from March 4, 1913 to March 4, 1921.
Ford Model T Assembly Line
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Interesting Facts about Assembly Line for kids and schools
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Key events
of the Ford Assembly Line for kids
●
The Assembly Line, a major
event in US history
●
Woodrow Wilson Presidency from March 4, 1913 to March 4, 1921
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Fast, fun facts about the Model T Ford Assembly Line
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Foreign & Domestic
policies of President Woodrow Wilson
● Woodrow Wilson Presidency and
the Assembly Line for schools,
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