Assembly Line Essay
Raul Contreras
History 18
November 18, 2009
Assembly line From the beginning of times, most markets and products have been targeted to the bourgeoisie and/or anyone who could easily afford these products. But in the early 1900’s, an individual named Henry Ford, decided to change this idea and dared society to work for the success of the proletariat and the lowering of costs. Henry Ford, along with other individuals, created the highly praised “moving assembly line” and started the mind change in the targeting of markets. The assembly line was a way in building a final product using various people that would build particular parts, and then would assemble them together as a whole; this was a success and revolutionized the world of manufacturing. Although many opposed to this idea in the early stages, and many independent builders suffered from this method of building, the assembly line was one the best things that could have happened to the U.S. because it lowered costs of products, completed products faster, helped middle class people succeed and helped the U.S. economy grow in many different areas of economical and business productivity. Meryl Davids, journalist of the Journal of Business Strategy stated that “the conveyer-belt system was not only a marvelous way to save workers ' precious time, but, in one of the great business decisions ever, it was also a way to decrease expenses and prices, thereby increasing demand among the middle class”. The idea of working together to build a product faster and in a more efficient way was something that had gone through many minds at the time. But using the conveyor belt system along with the assembly line method of work to speed the work process, was not only something that was ingenious, but was one of the greatest ideas that any entrepreneur could have had at that time. Putting the assembly line in action, and specifically assigning each person to do a specific job, broke the ideal of a “one person job” task (a
History 18
November 18, 2009
Assembly line From the beginning of times, most markets and products have been targeted to the bourgeoisie and/or anyone who could easily afford these products. But in the early 1900’s, an individual named Henry Ford, decided to change this idea and dared society to work for the success of the proletariat and the lowering of costs. Henry Ford, along with other individuals, created the highly praised “moving assembly line” and started the mind change in the targeting of markets. The assembly line was a way in building a final product using various people that would build particular parts, and then would assemble them together as a whole; this was a success and revolutionized the world of manufacturing. Although many opposed to this idea in the early stages, and many independent builders suffered from this method of building, the assembly line was one the best things that could have happened to the U.S. because it lowered costs of products, completed products faster, helped middle class people succeed and helped the U.S. economy grow in many different areas of economical and business productivity. Meryl Davids, journalist of the Journal of Business Strategy stated that “the conveyer-belt system was not only a marvelous way to save workers ' precious time, but, in one of the great business decisions ever, it was also a way to decrease expenses and prices, thereby increasing demand among the middle class”. The idea of working together to build a product faster and in a more efficient way was something that had gone through many minds at the time. But using the conveyor belt system along with the assembly line method of work to speed the work process, was not only something that was ingenious, but was one of the greatest ideas that any entrepreneur could have had at that time. Putting the assembly line in action, and specifically assigning each person to do a specific job, broke the ideal of a “one person job” task (a