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Modern car assembly line.

An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which interchangeable parts are added to a product in a sequential manner to create a finished product much faster than conventional methods. The best known form of the assembly line, the moving assembly line, was created by Henry Ford. The idea of the assembly line was taken from the idea of "disassembly lines" by his engineers. Ford was the first businessman to build factories around that concept. It is widely considered to be the catalyst which initiated the modern consumer culture. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 797 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2848 × 2144 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 797 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2848 × 2144 pixel, file size: 2. ... Manufacturing (from Latin manu factura, making by hand) is the use of tools and labor to make things for use or sale. ... Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

History

1913 Ford Model T assembly line.

While the idea was not new, being used in the manufacture of firearms during the American Civil War and in the Connecticut clock industry,^[1] until the twentieth century, a single craftsman or team of craftsmen would normally create each part of a product individually and assemble them together into a single item, making changes in the parts so they would fit and work together (the so-called English System). Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1021x689, 257 KB) Summary 1913 photograph Ford company, USA dfgdfsdfgdfgdfgsdfgd Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1021x689, 257 KB) Summary 1913 photograph Ford company, USA dfgdfsdfgdfgdfgsdfgd Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total... A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs clocks. ...

The first linear & continuous assembly line was created in 1801 by Marc Isambard Brunel (father of Isambard Kingdom Brunel) for the production of blocks for the Royal Navy. This assembly line was so successful it remained in use until the 1960s, with the workshop still visible at HM Dockyard in Portsmouth, and still containing some of the original machinery. Marc Isambard Brunel, engraving by G. Metzeroth, circa 1880 Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, FRS (April 25, 1769 – December 12, 1849) was a French-born engineer who settled in the United Kingdom. ... Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS (9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) (IPA: ), was a British engineer. ... This article is about the navy of the United Kingdom. ...

Eli Whitney is sometimes credited with developing the armory system of manufacturing in 1801, using the ideas of division of labor and of engineering tolerance, to create assemblies from parts in a repeatable manner, but Whitney's contribution was mostly as a popularizer rather than a true contributor to repeatability. (He was one of the first to use interchangeable parts, and the first to do so in the making of firearms.) Eli Whitney Eli Whitney (b. ... The American system of manufacturing involves semi-skilled labor using machine tools and templates (or jigs) to make standardized, identical, interchangeable parts, manufactured to a tolerance. ... Division of labour is the breakdown of labour into specific, circumscribed tasks for maximum efficiency of output in the context of manufacturing. ... Tolerance in Final Fantasy is an allowance, given as a permissible range, in the nominal dimension or value specification of a manufactured object. ...

Ransom Olds patented the assembly line concept, which he put to work in his Olds Motor Vehicle Company factory in 1901, becoming the first company in America to mass-produce automobiles, contrary to the Ford myth. The assembly line was introduced to Ford Motor Company by Mike Campion upon his return from visiting a Chicago slaughterhouse^{[citation needed]} and viewing what was referred to the "disassembly line" where animals were butchered as they moved along a conveyor. The efficiency of one person removing the same piece over and over caught his attention. He reported the idea to Peter E. Martin, who was doubtful at the time but encouraged him to proceed. Others at Ford have claimed to have put the idea forth to Henry Ford, but William "Pa" Klann's slaughterhouse revelation is well documented in the archives at the Henry Ford Museum and elsewhere, making him the father of the modern automated assembly line concept. The process was an evolution by trial and error of a team consisting primarily of Peter E. Martin, the factory superintendent; Charles E. Sorensen, Martin's assistant; Harold Wills, draftsman and toolmaker; Clarence W. Avery; and Charles Ebender. When the first car was completed using the assembly line, in front of the media, onlookers, Henry Ford himself, it was Pa Klann who drove it proudly off the line. Ransom Eli Olds (June 3, 1864–August 26, 1950) was a pioneer of American automobile industry. ... Oldsmobile was a brand of automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. ... “Ford” redirects here. ... Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ...

As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in three minute intervals. This was much faster than previous methods, increasing production by eight to one (requiring 12.5 man-hours before, 1 hour 33 minutes after), while using less manpower.^[2] It was so successful, paint became a bottleneck. Only Japan black would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colors available before 1914, until fast-drying Durco lacquer was developed in 1926.^[3] In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.^[4] For other uses, see Paint (disambiguation). ... In a general sense, lacquer is a clear or coloured coating, that dries by solvent evaporation only and that produces a hard, durable finish that can be polished to a very high gloss, and gives the illusion of depth. ...

Ford's complex safety procedures—especially assigning each worker to a specific location instead of allowing them to roam about—dramatically reduced the rate of injury. The combination of high wages and high efficiency is called "Fordism," and was copied by most major industries. The efficiency gains from the assembly line also coincided with the take off of the United States. The assembly line forced workers to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to more output per worker while other countries were using less productive methods. Fordism, named after Henry Ford, has different meanings in the United States and Europe. ...

Ford at one point considered suing other car companies because they used the assembly line in their production, but decided against, realizing it was essential to creation and expansion of the industry as a whole.

In the automotive industry, its success was dominating, and quickly spread worldwide. Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923, Ford Germany 1925; in 1921, Citroen was the first native European manufactuer to adopt it. Soon, companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going broke; by 1930, 250 companies which did not had disappeared.^[5] The automotive industry is the industry involved in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of motor vehicles. ... Citro n is a French automobile manufacturer started in 1919 by Andr Citro n. ...

Sociological problems

Some sociological theories assume that workers must feel alienated because of the repetition of the same specialized task all day long ^[6]. Because workers have to stand in the same place for hours and repeat the same motion hundreds of times per day, repetitive stress injuries are a possible pathology of occupational safety. Industrial noise also proved dangerous. When it was not too high, workers were often prohibited from talking. Charles Piaget, a skilled worker at the LIP factory, recalled that beside being prohibited from speaking, the semi-skilled workers had only 25 centimeters in which to move ^[7]. Industrial ergonomics later tried to minimize physical traumatisms. Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge [1]) is the systematic and scientific study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social action, and culture[2]. Areas studied in sociology can range from the analysis of brief contacts between anonymous... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A repetitive strain injury (RSI), also called cumulative trauma disorder, occupational overuse syndrome, or work related upper limb disorder (WRULD), is any of a loose group of conditions resulting from overuse of a tool, eg. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Traditionally, workplace noise has been a hazard linked to heavy industries such as ship-building and associated only with noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). ... LIP. Call for the march on Besançon. ... Ergonomics (or human factors) is the application of scientific information concerning humans to the design of objects, systems and environment for human use (definition adopted by the International Ergonomics Association in 2007). ...

Another problem often faced was low pay; while workers did not need to be skilled, due to the simplistic nature of the work, the pay usually was not enough to compensate for the dangerous nature of these jobs, and workers were often poor immigrants struggling to sustain themselves and their families. The inadequate pay often led to strikes, which were responded to with further injustices (such as simply replacing all of the striking workers with more desperate immigrants.)

See also

• Chevrolet
• Industrial Engineering
• Henry Ford

Chevrolet (IPA: - French origin) (colloquially Chevy) is a brand of automobile, produced by General Motors (GM). ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ...

References

In Judeo-Christian theologies, apocrypha refers to religious Sacred text that have questionable authenticity or are otherwise disputed. ... Bob Blauner (also known as Robert Blauner) (May 18, 1929, Chicago, Illinois) American college professor, author and sociologist, Blauners writings and teachings on class, race and men as a sociologist are based on his years as a factory worker. ... Technology and Culture is an academic journal founded in 1959. ...

Bibliography

• We-Min Chow. Assembly Line Design (1990)

External links

• Listen to “The Terror of the Machine” by Henry Ford Free mp3 audio download from ThoughtAudio.com