Ford Henry. Henry Ford. Biography.
Ford Henry (senior) (1863 - 1947)
Ford Henry. Henry Ford.
Biography
American engineer, industrialist, inventor. One of the founders of the US automobile industry, founder of the Ford Motor Company, organizer of conveyor production. Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863, on a farm located near Dearborn, Michigan (USA). “There is a legend that my parents were very poor and had a hard time. They were, however, not rich, but real poverty was out of the question. For Michigan farmers, they were even prosperous. My home is still intact and together with farm is part of my property. [...] The most important event of my childhood was my meeting with a locomobile, about eight miles from Detroit, when we were driving into the city one day. I was then twelve years old. The second most important event that occurs in the same year, there was a watch given to me. [...] This locomobile was the reason that I became immersed in automotive technology. [...] When I went to the city, my pockets were always filled with all sorts of rubbish: nuts and fragments of iron. Often I managed to get hold of a broken watch, and I tried to repair it. At the age of thirteen, I managed to fix a watch for the first time so that it ran correctly. From the age of fifteen, I could repair almost any watch, although my tools were very primitive. [ ...] I could never be particularly interested in farm work. I wanted to deal with cars. My father was not very sympathetic to my passion for mechanics. He wanted me to become a farmer. When I left school at the age of seventeen and entered the Drydock machine shop as an apprentice, I was considered almost dead." (Henry Ford, My Life, My Achievements, 1922)
In 1879 (at the age of 16) he received a position as an apprentice machinist in Detroit. After completing his studies, he was engaged in the installation and repair of steam engines on locomotives, and worked for several years as a mechanic in various companies. During these same years, he worked part-time repairing watches (later this turned into his lifelong hobby) and independently studied mechanics and engineering. "On May 31, 1921, the Ford Automobile Society produced car No. 5,000,000. It now stands in my museum, next to the small gasoline cart with which I began my experiments and which first ran in the spring of 1893 to my great pleasure. [. ..] That little old cart, despite its two cylinders, ran twenty miles an hour and withstood, with its tank of only 12 liters, a full sixty miles." (Henry Ford, My Life, My Achievements, 1922) Since 1893 - chief engineer of the Edison Illuminating Company (Electric Company of Thomas Edison, creator of the light bulb). In 1892 - 1893 he created his first car with a 4-stroke internal combustion engine (Ford brand). In 1899, he resigned from his position as chief engineer to devote himself entirely to creating his own automobile company in Detroit. In 1899 - 1902 - chief engineer of the Detroit Automobile Company. The company went bankrupt, and Ford decided to build a reputation for his cars by participating in auto racing: he managed to become a very popular race driver.
In 1903, with the help of a group of financiers, he founded the Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford received 25.5% of the shares. The authorized capital amounted to 150 thousand dollars, of which only 28 thousand were received in cash. However, just a month later the company's first car was released. In 1905, Ford's financial partners did not agree with his intention to produce cheap cars, because... Expensive models were in demand, the holder of the majority stake, Alexander Malcolmson, sold his share to Ford, after which Henry Ford became the owner of a controlling stake and president of the company (he was president of the company in 1905 - 1919 and in 1943 - 1945). In 1908, Ford for the first time in the world began producing a mass-produced cheap car - the Model T appeared, and in the first year the Ford Corporation was able to sell 10 thousand cars of this model. Before the Model T appeared, 8 other models were created, the distinguishing feature of which was their low price. Henry Ford's main goal was to transform the car from a luxury item into a necessity. “When the Model T appeared, most cars in the United States cost from $1,100 to $1,700, and the price of luxury cars reached $2,500. And then a quite decent Ford Model T appears for only $825-850... And for those years, 400 dollars difference was a lot of money. On average, a worker in the USA then received 100 dollars a month... Previously, the car was considered a toy only for the rich... thanks to Ford, a person working in a plant or factory for 40 hours a week, I had the opportunity to buy a new car for the first time." (From an interview with Bob Stevens, editor of the American magazine Cars and Parts). Sales in the United States were carried out by the first created dealer network: in 1913 - 1914, Ford had 7 thousand such dealers, who not only sold, but also repaired Model T. By 1914, the number of Model T cars sold reached 250 thousand, which amounted to about 50% of the entire US automobile market of those years. By 1927, when the Model T was discontinued, the number of cars sold in this series reached 15 million. In the entire history of the global automotive industry, only the famous “Beetles” of the German Volkswagen corporation have been sold more.
In order to implement strict control, he created a full production cycle: from ore mining and metal smelting to the production of the finished car. In 1914, he introduced the highest minimum wage in the United States - $5 a day, allowed workers to participate in company profits, built a model workers' village, but until 1941 he did not allow the creation of trade unions at his factories. In 1914, the corporation's factories began to work around the clock in 3 shifts of 8 hours each, instead of working in 2 shifts of 9 hours, which made it possible to provide work for several thousand additional people. The “increased salary” of 5 dollars was not guaranteed to everyone: the worker had to spend his salary wisely, to support his family, but if he drank the money away, he was fired. These rules remained in the corporation until the Great Depression.
In January 1928, the new Model A appeared. An innovation was a protective windshield installed during assembly, which has since become a mandatory element of the car. The glass could be colored and in 17 configurations. Brake pads and hydraulic shock absorbers were installed on all 4 wheels. Although both buyers and dealers liked the new model, Ford’s former position as the undisputed leader of the automobile industry could not be restored: by 1940, the corporation already accounted for less than 20% of the US market.
Cooperation with Russia began in 1909, when the company's sales offices were opened in St. Petersburg, and then in Moscow, Odessa and the Baltic port cities. In 1913 he was the first to introduce a conveyor belt into the production process. In 1919, at the initiative of the Soviet Bureau in New York, Ford entered into a deal to sell Fordson tractors to Soviet Russia. Despite his hostility to Bolshevism, Ford sacrificed his political views in order to achieve entrepreneurial success in Soviet Russia. The USSR became the largest foreign buyer of Ford tractors. According to Henry Ford himself, his company supplied 85% of all trucks, cars and tractors to the USSR (in total, from 1921 to 1927, the USSR purchased more than 24 thousand Fordson tractors, hundreds of cars and trucks). On May 31, 1929, an agreement was signed with the Ford company on technical assistance to the Soviet Union in the construction of automobile plants for a period of 9 years. Nizhny Novgorod (the future Gorky Automobile Plant, GAZ) was chosen for the construction of a full-cycle plant. According to the agreement, the production capacity of the plant was to ensure the production of 100 thousand trucks and cars annually; Soviet automakers could undergo training at the Ford plant in Dearborn, near Detroit. For its part, the Soviet government committed itself to purchasing Ford products for a total of $4 million within 4 years. On February 1, 1930, the first Soviet lorry came out of the gates of Automobile Assembly Plant No. 1. In May 1931, a full-cycle plant was founded near Nizhny Novgorod, and in January 1932 it began producing products. In 1935, the agreement was terminated by mutual consent, because The USSR began to produce cars of its own production. In total, during the period from 1929 to 1936, contracts worth more than $40 million were signed between Soviet organizations and Ford.
Before the start of World War II, he became a fan of Hitler, published a newspaper that published anti-Semitic articles, and in 1938 accepted an award from the Fuhrer. In 1936, together with his son Edsel (Edsel Bryant Ford), he created the Ford Foundation (currently the largest American philanthropic foundation; the fund's financial assets at the end of 1999 were about $12 billion). In 1945, Henry Ford resigned as president of his corporation. In 1945, the post of president of the company was taken over by Henry Ford's grandson, Henry II, born in 1917. Henry Ford Sr. died at the age of 83 on April 7, 1947, in Dearborn.
Among Henry Ford's books are “My Life and Work” (My Life and Work, 1922, translation into Russian - 1924; until 1927 in the USSR it was reprinted seven times), “Today and Tomorrow” (Today and Tomorrow, 1926, translation into Russian language - 1927), "Moving Forward" (Moving Forward, 1931). Books written by Ford were repeatedly published and republished in the USSR, and were recommended to the heads of Soviet industrial enterprises as a teaching aid and to university students as a textbook. In the USSR, in the series “The Life of Remarkable People,” a book about Ford was published.
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Information sources:
Henry Ford. "My life, my achievements." M.: Finance and Statistics, 1989Encyclopedic resource www.rubricon.com (Encyclopedia of Russian-American relations, English-Russian linguistic and cultural dictionary "Americana", Great Soviet Encyclopedia)
Radio Liberty ("Henry Ford and the first car for millions")
Project "Russia Congratulates!" - www.prazdniki.ru
Henry Ford is generally considered the creator of the 20th century "industry of industries." And the man thanks to whom the industrial revolution reached its climax. His company carried out the production and assembly of almost all components of manufactured cars, using a constantly moving main assembly conveyor belt and numerous auxiliary lines supplying it with parts, as well as applying the principle of vertical integration of interacting departments. Money and people's efforts were spent in such a way as to ensure significant volumes of production: since 1914.
Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 in Michigan on his father's farm near the village of Dearborn. USA.
The Ford family - ideal for moralizing biographies - lived a working life, enjoying a modest, hard-won income.
Henry spent his entire childhood on a farm, where he helped his parents, and also began his education at the rural school of Dearborn in Michigan.
In addition to Henry, the family had six more children.
Even in his youth, at the age of twelve, Henry built a small workshop in which he spent all his free time. A few years later, Henry had already created his first engine, which ran on steam traction.
When one of the children was given a wind-up toy, the young Fords squealed in six voices: “Just don’t give it to Henry!” They knew that he would disassemble it down to the screw, and after assembly, half of the parts would be superfluous. This bright image emerges from Ford’s own memories: young Henry held a broken alarm clock in one hand, a screwdriver in the other, and clutched a small flashlight, the only source of light, in his knees.
In 1879 he turned sixteen years old, and one fine day, without saying a word to anyone, he folded a bundle and went to Detroit. Having walked nine miles, Henry rented a room there and got a job as an apprentice in a mechanical workshop as an assistant driver.
In 1887, he went to a congress in Atlantic City, where experts in the field of electrical engineering met, and met the already famous and wealthy Thomas Edison, with whom he communicated for a long time and told him about his achievements and ideas in the field of creating new engines. . business manager ford management
Ford's assistants were amazed that Henry, who had always saved on workers' wages, doubled wages with the onset of the Great Depression (1929 - 1932). And Henry's family had their own reasons for concern: the way he treated his only son Edsel defied any explanation.
Edsel was always a good boy: he received only excellent grades, obeyed his dad, was respectful to his employees and really wanted to lead Ford Motor - in a word, he did what he was supposed to do. Henry did not want to let his son go to the First World War - and Edsel appeared at the recruiting station and demanded that he be given a reservation as an organizer of military production; Henry was suspicious of higher education - and excellent student Edsel immediately after school came to the Ford Corporation, at the age of 21 he received a seat on the board of directors. Edsel followed his father’s instructions on the fly and spent hours in the design bureau: his father made the most reliable car in the world, but he dreamed of making the most beautiful.
In the late thirties, Edsel began to complain of abdominal pain. He was prescribed a barium diet, but he considered himself a sophisticated person and did not want to be treated in this way. When doctors diagnosed stomach cancer, it was too late to do anything. Ford Jr. had half of his stomach cut out and his family was asked to prepare for the worst, but Henry decided that the doctors were doing nonsense as usual. He was absolutely sure that his son could cope with his problems on his own: his secretary gave Edsel a lengthy memorandum in which Henry outlined all his complaints. His father told him to work harder, ordered him to break off relations with the “sluts” from wealthy Detroit families, and suggested that he make friends with good, reliable, trusted people, a list of which Henry attached to his letter. It ended with a pathetic appeal: "Regain your health by partnering with Henry Ford!"- At this phrase, Edsel burst into tears, wrote a letter of resignation and went home.
Henry never believed that his son was dying; During the funeral, the elder Ford looked not so much broken as confused. Walking behind the coffin, he kept repeating: “There’s nothing you can do, you need to work harder.”
Harry Bennett, Henry's new right-hand man, became the executive director of Ford Motor. He began his career as a sailor, then became a professional boxer, and then became Ford's bodyguard, he liked him and managed to get to the very top. Bennett turned out to be a worthless manager: together with Henry, who had completely lost his mind, they almost brought the company to bankruptcy: under the pressure of competitors, Ford Motor sales fell every year.
Henry was actively losing his mind - recently the old man often called aside unfamiliar people and shared his secrets with them: “You know, I’m sure that Edsel is not dead!” He became more and more manageable, and power in the family passed to women. The old man became more and more strange, he really wanted to celebrate his centenary, but fate did not want to give Ford Sr. the last favor. He died in 1947 at the age of 84. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law entered into a temporary alliance.
Ford Motor is still owned by the founder's heirs. But the Fords no longer run the company - hired managers run the business.
Henry's grandson was named Henry II at the insistence of his relatives. He can’t read yet and doesn’t know that his name is written on tens of millions of cars.
MAIN CONTRIBUTION OF HENRY FORD
· Although Ford is often credited with inventing the assembly line and pioneering highly efficient mass production, most of his ideas and practical innovations that brought both the entrepreneur and the company to prosper and prominence have been around for decades, sometimes centuries. In addition to the internal combustion engine and the automobile itself, these inventions and ideas included methods of scientific management that required the study of labor movements. As well as the systematic use of wages as an incentive to work; use of interchangeable parts; planning and standard procedures for controlling inventories, production and accounting; use of assembly and production lines; and even continuously moving assembly line production.
However, Ford did develop production, assembly and transportation systems that were unprecedented in their mobility and size and anticipated the emergence of the late 20th century. Just-in-time methods. Henry Ford's main dream of mass motorization of the population was, in fact, a purely American one, based on his sympathies for equality, mobility, change, realism, directness and simplicity.
- · In 1908, he created the Ford T, a car of all times, which was produced with minor changes until 1928. Light, compact, cheap, simple: farmers went shopping in it, bootleggers transported contraband whiskey, gangsters fled from the police - and they all could not praise the Ford T enough.
- · Wrote several books that have become cult favorites for many business owners and fans around the world.
- · Creator of one of the first charitable foundations founded by industrialists.
- · Became a recipient of an award from the American Petroleum Institute for services to the country and society.
By the age of fifty, Ford had become a multimillionaire, and his car had become one of the national symbols of America. After that, he abandoned invention forever: the Ford T was to remain his masterpiece. Henry Ford's greatest strength as the creator of the US automobile industry was his understanding of the meaning of “productivity.” One of the main results of this understanding was the desire of G. Ford to provide his company with the greatest possible autonomy, another was the belief in the possibility of “abundance for all” or in accordance with his motto: “High wages to create large markets.” He was not the inventor of mass production (though he symbolized much of it), time-based inventory control, vertical integration, a slightly crude but effective version of the marketing concept, the big car company as a multinational corporation, human resource management, or corporate philanthropy. But he was the first to put some of these ideas into practice, greatly improve others, and effectively combine most of them together.
However, his main achievement was that he made the automobile a popular means of transportation for Americans, while helping to improve the welfare of the population and free millions of people from the need for hard physical labor. He was also ahead of his time in putting the interests of customers and workers above the interests of shareholders.
Henry Ford was truly one of the great managers of the 20th century. All his hard life, the struggle with it, all his shortcomings, which he tried to turn into advantages, all his perseverance and ability to achieve goals were the excellent products of his company, known throughout the world.
I believe that only one who achieved exactly what he wanted, while bringing benefit to the people, can be called a great manager.
Talented people always have a different way of thinking from others. Henry Ford, whose biography is known to everyone, was no exception. A great engineer, a talented boss, an inventor with vegetarian preferences.
Henry Ford: a short biography. Childhood
On a hot day on June 30, 1863, the future creator of the Ford company was born in Michigan. I studied at a regular school and had many friends. On his thirteenth birthday, his father gave him a wristwatch. The boy was so interested in the mechanism that, unable to bear it, he took them apart and later put them back together without difficulty. He repeated the procedure more than once. Friends, seeing the natural talent of the master with a meticulous approach to repairs, began to turn to the farmer’s son for help in repairing wall and wrist clocks. At that time, there were not enough tools; we had to use improvised means in the form of a penknife or an old screwdriver with broken teeth.
Young Henry felt that farming was not his path. In July 1876, he and his father were in Detroit. A vehicle driven by a steam engine moved slowly along the road past him. According to his own recollections, it was a locomobile.
Youth
Henry Ford leaves his father's farm at the age of 16. He was never able to find any benefit in agricultural work. Having moved to Detroit, he gets a job in Drydock's workshop as a mechanic's apprentice. All subsequent time he studied accounting and focused on studying steam engines, since from the first memorable meeting he knew what he wanted to change in this machine. His parents never shared his passion for mechanics and were firmly committed to passing on his farming skills to his only heir. Having settled down as an apprentice machinist in Detroit after training, Henry worked part-time repairing watch mechanisms. Thus, this activity turned into a kind of hobby that Ford carried with him throughout his life.
Henry Ford: biography and personal life
Having met Clara Ale Bryant in 1888, Ford briefly forgets about his plans, marries a young beauty and returns to farming in order to feed his family. But a few years later he was invited by recommendation to the Edison Illuminating Company. In 1893, he was appointed to the position of chief engineer due to his technical literacy, responsibility and work discipline. But the thought of creating his own horseless carriage did not leave him.
Henry Ford said more than once that his best companion was his wife. Son Edsel - the only heir to Ford Motor in the future - will disappoint his active father with his indifference to the automobile business. Those close to him said that the early death of his son was not a great tragedy for the elderly Ford. But Clara, as a mother, took a long time to get out of depression. Henry Ford himself will never understand that his son repeated his fate as a farm boy who dreamed of racing in his own passenger car, and not trudging along on a harnessed mule.
First model
In 1896, he designed his first Ford Quadricycle. Then in the same year he personally meets with Thomas Edison and shows him his drawings of automotive technology. The leaders and founders of the Edison Company were inspired by Ford's drawings and gave the go-ahead for the construction of an improved model.
Many years later, Henry and Thomas would become best friends and neighbors, discussing not only issues of politics and society, but also innovative implementations in the auto industry.
Achievements
Henry Ford, whose biography and achievements inspire great respect, never stopped halfway. After conducting numerous tests, in 1899 he already had a stake in a small automobile company. In 1903, at the age of 40, he founded the Ford Motor Company. The fledgling production was attacked by a major automobile syndicate. Litigation continued for about seven years, but Ford's company eventually won and was cleared of charges of plagiarism.
Launch of an industrial conveyor
Henry Ford, whose biography is described in the book “My Life, My Achievements,” took as the basis for his work the methodology developed for Samuel Colt. The production steps include separate assembly for each element.
Ford introduced standardization of the parts used, thereby reducing overall assembly time, and also reducing the number of skilled workers working on the belt. Now ordinary workers could control the assembly.
Each workshop was engaged in its own work, which was actively modernized. Having calculated how to combine the work of the entire assembly mechanism, Ford created a single line in his production, passing through most of the workshops. Additional lines were connected to the main conveyor for the timely supply of the necessary elements during assembly.
By polishing the assembly process with a single assembly line, Ford achieved an amazing result. Every 10 seconds, a ready-made car stood at the exit, running. Thus, the company managed to make a profit and reduce the final cost of the car, allowing the average resident to purchase an iron horse.
In the fall of 1908, the first model of the legendary engineer, the Model T, rolled off the assembly line. Ford employees affectionately called it “Tin Lizzie.” American farmers give this nickname to their workhorses, and the Irish, for example, give this name to naughty and wayward mares. The price of the car was a little more than $200 at that time. This model made it possible to occupy a niche in the market, reaching a circle of people with an average monthly income in the country.
By introducing mass production at his plant, Ford was able to increase the daily wages of workers. All those who drink, gamble, have problems paying alimony, have a criminal record, or are on the wanted list could not get into the team. Later, the owner of the company changes his mind, changing his attitude towards people who have problems with family and the law, believing that this is not his concern. To keep order on the assembly lines, Ford often resorted to the services of crime bosses, appointing them to oversee the sites. The method that destroys a good reputation worked flawlessly. There were no fights or altercations; the workers were engaged exclusively in matters within their responsibilities.
The next step was dividing the working day into three shifts, transferring production to round-the-clock operation. Henry Ford introduced the eight-hour workday. His biography tells that he thereby organized several hundred jobs that were so necessary for local residents.
A lot of interesting things happened in the life of such a person as Henry Ford. The biography, a brief summary of which cannot convey all the details, includes many interesting facts from his life. By the way, the inventor described his life in his works.
No one expected that the book that Henry Ford himself wrote (biography in English) would sell such a circulation. It will become a kind of automotive bible.
Henry Ford would become America's first registered chauffeur. Although at that moment there were no traffic rules yet.
The first car Ford sold cost $200.
The great designer firmly believed in human reincarnation. Answering questions, Henry Ford, whose biography is set out in the book, will talk about the soldier he was in a past life.
During wartime, his famous plant assembled equipment for the Germans, who idolized Ford.
The first car was black. The shade was not chosen for love of color, it just dried faster.
The first model is one of the ten man-made objects that changed the world, according to Forbes magazine.
Coal in briquettes is another innovation invented by a bright and talented engineer.
Takeover of Ford Motor
In 1909, the brand with the Ford trademark had a record of registration in the patent office. The image has changed slightly over the years, as Henry Ford himself wrote. The biography in English talks about a triangle with outstretched wings, denoting lightness and the desire for speed. The colors - blue and orange - did not change until the end of the 20th century.
In 1919, Ford and his son bought out the remaining shares, and the company became completely owned by the family. Ford Jr. becomes head of production.
Ford Motor Company Crisis
While Henry Ford, whose biography had not yet been completed, was resting in retirement, his son was undergoing a crisis. Production was outdated, Model T was inferior to competitors in terms of technical characteristics. It was decided to close all Ford factories to carry out restructuring and reconstruction of production facilities. However, at this time, General Motors took first place in the leadership race, which a little earlier took care of expanding the range of cars - for any budget and status.
The released Model A was a failure as a result, with low sales figures. Consumers wanted a faster engine and a more modern design. In 1932, Ford launched a monolithic eight-cylinder engine for the first time in history. Many years will pass before other companies implement their ideas for the safe launch of such an engine. Henry Ford himself did not remain aloof from the implementation of the project; his biography of that period indicates his indirect involvement in the grandiose breakthrough.
War time
The discoverer of briquette coal was always negatively inclined towards military action, so he openly declared his pacifist sentiments. Imagine the surprise of society when it became known about the start of military production at the Ford Motor base.
In 1942, production of cars for civilians was stopped due to martial law. A massive campaign started by Ford's son designed more than 50,000 military components in less than three years.
In 1943, Edsel Ford's only son died of cancer. This was the reason for the return of Henry Ford to the post of leader.
Last years
The first automobile tycoon, Henry Ford, met his old age with dignity. His biography and description of his life in his declining years confirm this.
Having transferred authority to his grandson, the brilliant engineer quietly retired and lived on his estate with his wife. He was awarded several honorary awards for his contribution to the automotive industry, and received a medal of the highest standard for his contribution to the development of society. Ford died in 1947 at the age of 83.
His grandson, after the death of the founder of the Ford Motor brand, continued the business and in a few years raised production to a high level, capable of competing to this day.
Childhood with bolts and nuts in hands. Youth spent with dirty hands, always smelling of fuel oil. Not every boy dreams of such a life, but not Henry Ford. His originality of thinking, unique analytical mind, natural talent and golden hands made his person recognizable in every corner of the world. The biography of Henry Ford is a book that has become hope for many for their future. With faith in himself and the Vedic spiritual powers, he persistently built his ladder of fame. The Ford Motor company he created is today one of the leaders in the automotive industrial arena.
The topic of success stories of famous personalities of the world today worries most of the world's population. That is why the biography of Henry Ford, inventor and author of 161 patents, owner of automobile factories all over the world, American industrialist and successful businessman, is of great interest.
The success story of this extraordinary personality is unique. Quotes from his famous book “My Life, My Achievements” have long become catchphrases.
Childhood of a tycoon
Henry Ford was born in 1863 on July 30th. His father, William Ford, was a Michigan farmer and Irish emigrant. Mother's maiden name was Marie Lithogot. In addition to Henry, the parents raised three sons: John, William and Robert - and two daughters: Margaret and Jane.
The following interesting facts from his childhood have come down to us: if someone was given a wind-up toy as a gift, his sisters and brothers would vying with each other to shout that it should not be given into Henry’s hands. And in fact, once in the hands of a little prodigy, the toy was sure to be disassembled down to the last screw. When reassembling, many of the parts turned out to be superfluous, but the toy worked no worse, and sometimes even better, than before.
From early childhood, the father taught his children to farm work. However, Henry did not like this joyless work. And already during childhood, thoughts about its improvement and automation arose in his brain.
Having received a wristwatch as a gift from his father, the twelve-year-old boy quietly opened its cover with a knife and was shocked by the mechanism. Henry couldn't resist taking the watch apart and then putting it back together. In his future life, this first experience helped Henry earn a piece of bread and pay for housing.
Youth and beginning of working life
In the end, Henry Ford ran away from his parents into the city at night. At first, the teenager got a job at a factory producing horse-drawn carriages. But his talent became an obstacle to career growth. The boy’s ability to understand at a glance what was wrong with the mechanism aroused a feeling of envy among the other workers. Therefore, very soon they survived young Henry Ford. The fugitive spent the next years of his life working at the Flower brothers shipyard. In his free time, the young man repaired watches, earning extra money to pay for his room and buy food.
Having learned that his son’s life was difficult financially, his father, William Ford, decided to “buy” him. He offered Henry 40 acres of land in exchange for his dream. But according to the oral agreement, the word “car” should not come out of the mouth of young Ford, even in his sleep. There was no end to William's joy when Henry agreed to return to his parents' home! And how would my father know that this return was just a cunning move on Henry’s part, which he took for the sake of a temporary respite.
Marriage of the future owner of automobile factories
Henry Ford's chosen one was a modest girl from a farming family, Clara Bryant. Over the years of marriage, the wife constantly supported her beloved morally. Henry Ford, whose biography became a role model for many, constantly consulted with her and told her about his grandiose plans.
Ford's success story would not be complete without paying tribute to the influence of his wife on his destiny. In Henry Ford's memoirs there are quotes with which he thanked his wife for her support in all his endeavors: “My wife believed in my success even more strongly than I did. She has always been like this."
The birth of a son and the birth of the first car
And so in 1893, Henry Ford gave birth to two “brainchildren”: his first-born son was born, and he finished work on assembling his first car. The wife's son was named Edsel, and the car was called "quad bike".
In the same year, the inventor was accepted into the Edison company, which specialized in lighting Detroit, as an engineer. After 6 years, Henry becomes chief engineer at a Detroit automobile company. But during these years, Ford's mind was occupied with the invention of the gasoline cart.
Search for companions
The company's management decided to “return” the chief engineer to earth: he was offered a leadership position so that the inventor would forget about his new project. But it was not in Henry Ford’s character to abandon his goal, although doubts overwhelmed him: all his savings were spent on making a cart, and he needed to support his family on something.
The wife’s statements that she would take any decision of her husband for granted strengthened him in his decision: the inventor left the enterprise and began to look closely for wealthy partners who would buy his ideas. But for a long time his attempts were unsuccessful.
The success story of Ford the automaker began with an incident when an almost desperate Henry decided to give one of the local businessmen a ride. It was then that a turning point occurred in the inventor’s life: Henry finally found a companion!
Thus was born the Detroit Automobile Company, which did not last long. Ford's statements on this matter are conclusions based on experience. He did not consider it possible to complain or blame anyone for failures. The main thing is to benefit, even if you need to extract it from your mistakes. “At that time there was no consumer demand for cars at all - just like there is no demand for any new, still unfamiliar to the consumer, product. I gave up this occupation, leaving my post in the company, and for the future I decided: from now on I will never occupy a dependent position,” Henry said about this time.
The search for new partners was no less difficult, but in 1903 luck smiled - the Ford Motor Company appeared, where Henry Ford was the chief manager.
As a manager
Interesting quotes from his book reflect the manager’s view of education: “Specialists are so experienced and educated that they know for certain why something cannot be done, they are able to see obstacles and limits everywhere. Therefore, if you want to defeat your competitors, then simply provide them with hordes of the most educated specialists.” These quotes from the self-taught nugget Henry Ford from his book are not without some meaning: the main thing, after all, in a person is not education, but talent.
Although the resistance to education in Ford’s life sometimes reached the point of ridiculousness. For example, such interesting facts are known from the life of the great, talented inventor: Ford could not read blueprints until his death! Engineers had to make wooden models instead of drawings, which they laid out on the table for the automobile king to make a verdict.
The Inventor's Triumph - Model T
But what the brilliant Henry Ford invented, taking an expensive car model as a basis and creating “a car for middle-class Americans,” became a real revolution in the automotive industry. The cars were snapped up by consumers at such a speed that Henry began to think about a new idea - how to improve the car production process.
So he invented a new control system, which he called “terror of the machine.” The success story of Ford as a manager has written a new page.
Control system introduced by Ford
The first step towards increasing production efficiency was the introduction of a conveyor system. This made it possible to reduce the manufacturing time of both individual components and the machine itself as a whole. Later, the king of the automobile industry improved the conveyor even further - it began to be developed in two versions: for tall and for short workers.
Of course, the businessman was primarily concerned not with the facts of creating convenience for workers, but with increasing the profits received.
The second step was the establishment of an 8-hour working day and social service at the enterprise. Raising wages was the third step to increasing profits.
Facts that seemed strange at first glance actually had their own explanation: labor productivity increased, workers tried their best not to lose their jobs, “turnover” became a rare occurrence and, as a result, the costs of training new workers decreased.
The success story of the automobile magnate was at the zenith of his fame: his actions were supported by the bulk of the population - the working class.
Milestones of life after 1925
In 1925, the automobile magnate created an airline, which he called Ford Airways. The first airliner produced was the three-engine Ford 3-AT Air Pullman. In total, during the years from 1925 to 1989, 199 copies of the airliners were produced under the leadership of Henry Ford.
The following is a brief biography of the tycoon:
1928 - Ford is awarded the Benjamin Franklin Institute's Elliott Cresson Medal for revolutionary achievements in the automobile industry and industrial leadership.
1930 - Ford resigned from his leadership position due to disagreements with trade unions and partners and transferred control of the company to his son Edsel,
1943 – death of his son and return to the post of head of the company. 1945 - transfer of company management to grandson Henry Ford II.
A book about life and achievements
Ford's biography, along with his thoughts, is presented in his author's work "My Life, My Achievements." The author of the book expresses interesting thoughts about how to achieve success and illuminates the reader with some facts of his biography.
It contains interesting quotes and reflections on reincarnation. “Genius is experience. Some people think that this is a gift or talent given by someone, but in reality it is just the fruits of the experience that a person has accumulated over many previous lives.”
Other interesting quotes from the book are suitable not only for a businessman, but also for every person, regardless of gender and age. For example, when thinking about the past and the future, a wise thought is expressed: “You should not be afraid of the future, just as you should not be respectful of the past. Fearing failures in the future, a person sets a limit for himself. Failures in the past are only an opportunity to start over, but to do everything more intelligently.”
The image of the “car king” in the works of other authors
The biography of Henry Ford is beautifully described by Upton Sinclair in his work “The King of the Automobile.” The author of this book masterfully paints the image of the tycoon, provides facts from the life of the “car king,” shows the difficult path that Ford took to achieve success and achieve his goal, describing the life story of Henry Ford. There are also wise quotes from the statements of Henry Ford the businessman and interesting facts.
The author of the book “Brave New World” describes Henry Ford in a completely different way. O. Huxley wrote an ironic work, ridiculing Ford's approach to improving production. The conveyor belt principle of production using the grotesque is cruelly ridiculed by the author. In his novel, the entire society is organized according to a conveyor belt type, the calendar begins with the year of production of the Ford car model, and instead of the words “by God” people say “by God”.
But, despite the facts showing the great automobile tycoon as an ordinary person who tends to make mistakes, his life story is interesting and can serve as an example for many. You just need to approach it selectively.
Quotes from Henry Ford about business.
Famed automaker Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863, on his family's farm in Wayne County, near Dearborn, Michigan. When Ford was 13 years old, his father gave him a pocket watch, which the little boy constantly took apart and put back together. Friends and neighbors were very surprised and often asked for their watches to be repaired.
Unimpressed with farm work, Ford left home at age 16 to train as a machinist in Detroit. Over the next years, he learned to skillfully operate and maintain steam engines, and also studied accounting.
Early career
In 1888, Ford married Clara Ala Bryant and temporarily returned to farming to support his wife and son, Edsel. But three years later, he was hired as an engineer by the Edison Illuminating Company. In 1893 his natural talents allowed him to rise to chief engineer.
All along, Ford had his plans for a horseless carriage, and in 1896, he built his first model, the Ford Quadricycle. In the same year, he met with the leaders of the Edison Company and presented his automobile developments personally to Thomas Edison, who encouraged Ford to build a second, improved model.
Ford Motor Company
After several tests of the car's design, in 1903, Henry Ford established the Ford Motor Company. Ford introduced the Model T in October 1908, and over the next few years, the company achieved 100 percent profitability.
Ford became even more famous for its revolutionary vision of producing an inexpensive car made by skilled workers who earned sustainable wages.
In 1914 he sponsored the development of a moving assembly line for mass production. At the same time, he introduced a wage of $5 per day (equivalent to $110 in 2011) as a result of which he sought to keep the best workers loyal to his company. Easy to drive and cheap to repair, that's why half of all cars in America in 1918 were Ford Model Ts.
Philosophy, philanthropy and anti-Semitism
From a social point of view, Henry Ford had seemingly contradictory views. Ford allocated a portion of the company's profits to employees who had worked for the company for more than six months and, most importantly, to those who had spent their lives in a respectable manner.
The company’s “social department” studied bad habits, gambling habits and other negative aspects of candidates when making decisions regarding hiring. Ford was an ardent pacifist and opponent of the First World War, even financing peace ships to Europe. Later, in 1936, Ford and his family founded the Ford Foundation to provide grants for research, education and development. But despite these philanthropic inclinations, Ford was also a committed anti-Semite, supporting in every way the weekly newspaper The Dearborn Independent, which held similar views.
Henry Ford died on April 7, 1947, at the age of 83, from a cerebral hemorrhage near his Dearborn estate, Fair Lane. Henry Ford is one of America's greatest businessmen. It is very difficult to overestimate his contribution to the development of the American economy during its formation. His legacy will live on for many decades to come.
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