How Did Henry Ford Change America's Economy

971 Words4 Pages

Throughout United States history, there has been many imperative figures who have helped change the nation’s economy, government, or society in a variety of different ways. During the 1900’s Henry Ford an American entrepreneur revolutionized the automobile industry by creating the Ford Motor Company and introducing the assembly line. Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 in Greenfield Township, Michigan, and died on April 7, 1947 in Dearborn, Michigan. At an early age he disliked school and he could not read or write well but he liked to work with mechanical objects such as watches. When Ford turned sixteen he left the farm and traveled to Detroit to work as an apprentice at a machine shop which he showed interest in. But Ford’s father …show more content…

During his time working there he became good friends with Thomas Edison and devoted his spare time to creating an automobile. He finished a car that had two wheels similar to a bicycle and was powered by a two cylinder, four cycle engine. The Detroit Edison Company forced him to decide if he wanted to keep his job or pursue the automobile industry; Ford chooses the automobile industry. Ford founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903 which remained the second largest car and truck manufacturer in the world through the 1990s. Ford changed the ways of manufacturing for many years to come with the invention of the assembly line. The …show more content…

He did create the assembly line which helped change industrialization in a variety of ways. He also helped create an affordable car, the model T, for the majority of Americans. There were also other changes that came about from his actions. When Ford first started to produce cars, it took more than a day and a half to make each car. With the invention of the assembly line, Ford was able to produce one car every twenty-nine seconds. Since each worker produced a lot more money per hour with the assembly line, profits increased dramatically. So as a result of the increase in profits he decreased the price of the Model T. since he was able to without losing an money So now that he reduced his prices more and more people bought the car since it was more affordable therefore profits increased even more. In little more than ten years, Ford had become one of America's first billionaires. As early as 1905, Ford started sharing profits with his workers. He tied profit sharing to employee efficiency and saw workers and management as partners in production. On January 5, 1914, Ford Motors released a statement nationwide announcing the introduction of the five-dollar, eight-hour workday, beginning on January 12. Ford believed that it would keep the workers more focused on their jobs which would then increase efficiency in production. Many people also applied for jobs to work for the Ford Motor Company since they were