Henry Ford: biography and success story

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

American engineer, inventor, industrialist Henry Ford was born in July 1863. He became the pride of the automobile industry of the United States, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, the organizer of production and the designer of the flow-conveyor complex.

Henry Ford's car was created as a work of art, there is nothing superfluous in it, its beauty is expedient and functional. And it's not a luxury toy. This is a convenient, affordable gift that Henry Ford gave to the average American family. The biography of this inventor and designer is a worthy example for every person.

Merit

Legend of the American Dream, Henry Ford did not invent the automobile or the assembly line, as many of his compatriots believe. The self-propelled cart was invented much earlier by a certain Ransome Olds, and belt conveyors have long been used in elevators and meatpacking plants in Chicago.

Henry Ford, whose biography becomes more and more fantastic over time, is famous for the fact that he managed to create a flow in production. Andthe automobile business is also his idea, brought to life by him. And most importantly - management. Economically organized businesses need managers, and the twentieth century has given the world the creative businessman. The best businessman of the century, according to Fortune magazine!

He built the largest production facility that existed at that time, a real industry from which Ford earned his first billion (today this money is "worth" thirty-six billion). The principles of his management still have a huge impact on the entire structure of US society. Ford managed to sell fifteen and a half million Ford-Ts, and the flow conveyor needed for production became more familiar than a bicycle on the street.

The enemy and creator of management

If Henry Ford had not been an opponent of management principles, his biography would not have been replenished with the title of the best businessman. He had his own principles: he paid workers twice as much as other employers, he sold cars to them at significant discounts. Thus he created the class still called "blue collar". He did not raise demand for his products. Not! He created the conditions for such demand.

This was very different from the principles of the current production policy. Management theory was created and formulated in Ford's correspondence dispute with theorists who could not defeat the noble automaker in any way, until a practical manager appeared from GeneralMotors, which smashed Henry Ford head-on in a face-to-face dispute. So successful Ford, whose biography is worthy of the pen of a Hollywood film screenwriter, as an entrepreneur, failed in 1927.

Only the product matters

By this time, Henry couldn't change his mind. He really "starred", that is, he was absolutely sure of his own rightness. And new times have come, the change of which he did not notice. Successful production now required management, and a new quality of management, which Henry Ford could not understand in time. His quotes on this subject are remarkable: "Gymnastics is nonsense. He althy people do not need it, but sick people are contraindicated." He felt the same way about management.

Ford was convinced that if the product is good, then it will certainly bring profit, and if it is bad, then the most wonderful management will not bring results. Ford despised the art of management, ran around the shops, looked into the office only occasionally, financial documents seemed to him nauseating, he hated bankers, recognized only cash. The financiers were for him thieves, speculators, pests and robbers, and the shareholders were parasites. And so talented Henry Ford scattered quotes on this topic! To this day, appreciative management uses them as an example of losing business sense. In any case, if he was not right, he was extremely honest with consumers.

Honest product

Henry Ford's statements on this subject are relevant for all time: "Only work createsvalues! "- he did not get tired of repeating. And so it was. Mass production at the plant did not begin until the model reached the ideal, absolutely universal, in Ford's opinion, state. Then the production cycle is being established, and the car is put on stream. Managers they look after the overall output, Ford looks after them so that the departments work in harmony with each other, and then the profit itself flows freely to the enterprise.

The head of the enterprise decided all the most important issues himself. Henry Ford's theory was that the value of market strategy lies in "penetration prices." Every year the volume of production increases, costs are constantly decreasing, car prices are regularly reduced - this is how a stable increase in profits is created, since demand also grows. Profit is necessarily returned to production. While Henry Ford's principles worked for commercial success, he was an individualistic entrepreneur - he did not pay shareholders at all.

Core values

Here it is, the American dream: to be born, like Henry Ford, into a poor farming family, get rich and famous. Compatriots may forget who their president is today, but Henry Ford's car will always be remembered. Ford served the idea, the one and only, and all his life, suffered absolute defeats, endured widespread ridicule, struggled with sophisticated intrigues. But he achieved his goal: he created a car and earned billions.

Henry Ford's wife - Clara - was also alone for life. She believed him implicitlysupported in difficult moments wholeheartedly. He was once asked how he would live his life if given a second opportunity. The words of Henry Ford have always been worthy of memorization: "I would agree, but on one condition: I will marry Clara again."

Start

Henry's life didn't really start out that easy. He was born on a farm in Michigan, where from an early age he was forced to help his father work in the field. He truly hated this job. He was attracted only by the mechanisms. And the steam locomobile he saw at the age of twelve shook the boy's soul to the very bottom. Thus began the story of Henry Ford.

Every day until late at night, Henry struggled with the construction of a moving mechanism. He ceased to look like an ordinary boy: his pockets are full of nuts, instead of toys - tools. Parents gave him the first watch in his life, which he dismantled on the same day and assembled as it was. From the age of fifteen he ran around the neighboring farms and repaired any mechanisms for everyone, and thus he did not finish school. subsequently, the statements of Henry Ford on this subject did not change their worldview. He said that books do not teach anything practical, and for a technician, the most important thing is the mechanism from which, as a writer from books, he will draw all ideas and be able to apply them.

Steam locomobiles

Henry did not know how to rest in his work: he completely broke away from farming roots, worked in a mechanical workshop, and repaired watches at night, moonlighting at a jeweler. Since he already had an idea, and only a self-propelled carriage carried away all his dreams, at the age of sixteenhe got a job at the Westinghouse Company as an expert in the assembly and repair of locomotives. These multi-ton monsters of the automotive industry did 12 miles per hour and were most often used as a tractor. Locomobiles were so expensive that not every farmer could buy such a car.

Henry Ford's first company, although not his brainchild, gave him the opportunity to grow in the profession, acquire ideas and try to implement them. The first attempt was to create a light steam cart for plowing. Henry remembered his father, that a purely paternal dream of a helper son had collapsed, and his conscience, of course, worried. Therefore, he wanted to quickly alleviate the harsh lot of farmers, shift the main work from his father's shoulders to the iron horse.

New design engine

Tractor is not a mass product. People want a car that can be driven on the roads, not a tool for field work. However, the trolley assembled by Henry was dangerous: it is more comfortable to sit on a bomb than on a high-pressure boiler. Young Ford studied boilers of all designs and realized that they were not the future, that a light crew with a steam engine was impossible. Hearing about gas engines, Ford was filled with new hopes.

Smart people listened to him with interest, but they absolutely did not believe in the success of Henry Ford in this matter. He did not meet a single acquaintance of educated people who would understand that the future of mankind lies in the internal combustion engine. From that moment on, he neglected all the advice of the "wise men". This Henry Ford enginedesigned in 1887. To do this, he had to disassemble the Philippe Lebon gas engine and understand what was what, then return to the farm to experiment there.

Engineer and mechanic

The father was delighted with the return of his son and gave him a piece of the forest so that he would just stop poking around in pieces of iron. Henry Ford, a little slyly, agreed, built a house, a sawmill, a workshop and married Clara. Naturally, he spent all his free time in the workshop, reading books on mechanics, designing.

Because it was impossible to advance on the farm alone, he moved to Detroit, where he was offered a $45 salary at an electric company. Clara has always supported her husband in all his endeavors.

He did not find sympathy with his new colleagues about his throwing, because they were sure that electricity was absolutely the whole future of the planet, but the "father of electricity" Thomas Edison himself became interested, treated with understanding and wished him good luck. Henry Ford was inspired beyond words.

America's First Driver

When Henry Ford rode through Detroit in 1893 in his first car with an internal combustion engine, which he called an ATV, horses shied away, passers-by were surprised at the loud rattling, surrounded, asked questions. There were no traffic rules yet, so I had to get permission from the police. So he became America's first officially approved chauffeur.

After driving for three years, Henry sold his first brainchild for two hundred dollars and used them to create a new model of a lighter car. Hethen for some reason I thought that heavy vehicles were not needed. Ah, if he now looked at the brainchild of his company - Ford Expedition, then he would definitely change his mind. However, at the time he believed that the mass product was easy and affordable.

By that time, the electric company had made him the first engineer, paid $ 125 a month, but the experience in the automotive industry aroused indignation among the management. It believed only in electricity. In gas, no. The company offered Henry Ford an even higher post, but just let him drop this nonsense and do the real thing. Ford thought and chose his dream.

Race car

Partners were quickly found to invest in the newly formed Detroit Automobile Company to build racing cars. Henry Ford could not defend the idea of mass production. The companions needed money, they simply did not see another use for the car. True, this enterprise did not bring much money to anyone. In 1902, he left the company, never to be dependent again. "All by myself!" Henry Ford said to himself. Achievements were on the way.

Speed was never put in the dignity of a car by Ford, but since public attention could only be attracted by victory, he still had to prepare two cars designed for high speed. "It is impossible to give a more unreliable guarantee! - he said to himself, - You can fall from Niagara Falls with a large percentage of luck."

But the cars were ready to race. It was not onlydriver. A cyclist named Oldfield, looking for thrills, agreed to ride with the breeze. But he never sat behind the wheel of a car. There was a week left before the race. The cyclist did not disappoint. Moreover, he never looked around, did not turn around and did not slow down on the turns: as he “stoked” the pedal all the way at the start, he did not slow down until the finish line. Ford's car came first. Investors became interested, about a week later the company was founded, the main brainchild of Ford - Ford Motor.

A car for everyone

Henry Ford organized his own enterprise according to his own plan. The priority was a reliable, easy-to-manage, cheap, light, mass-produced product. Ford did not want to work for the rich, but he wanted to make all his countrymen happy. No luxury, the simplest and most functional finish. And the prestige of the brand also did not matter. Even his models did not have beautiful names, he called each new one by the next letter of the alphabet.

Ford observed three basic financial principles: he did not take other people's capital, he bought everything exclusively for cash, and all profits necessarily went into production. Dividends rely only on those who participate in the creation of the product. All thoughts, all efforts Ford directed to the creation of a universal car. She became a model with the letter "T". The previous ones also sold quite well, but compared to the "T", they seemed just experimental. Now the ad could quite rightly say: "Every kid can drive a Ford"!

Perfectcreation

In 1909, Henry Ford announced that he would now only produce the Model "T" with the same chassis. And, as always, he made this statement witty: - "Every person can buy a Ford-T in absolutely any color, but on the condition that any color is black."

To understand what scale the event was started by the head of the company, and he started it with absolute faith in success, you need to imagine that a certain person created a company to provide each of us with cheap and comfortable aircraft. Such was the attitude towards buying a car in those days.

The car had to be quite roomy so that the whole family could comfortably settle in. Henry Ford was also concerned about the choice of material, which should be the best. The design should be as simple as possible in today's technology, he believed. And he always had first-class workers.

Ford said that the price of the car would be so low that any working person could buy it. Here, on these very words, many stopped believing him. Can Factory! shouted his opponents. And the Model "T" was called "Lizzy's Tin". It would seem, what difference does it make what the dogs bark about. Anyway, the caravan is moving on. But in order to sell a lot, low prices will not help. Need to be convinced of the quality.

Customer care

At the origins of the automotive industry, selling a car was considered a profitable operation - and nothing more. Sold - forgotten. The further fate of the car was of no interest to anyone. When repairing parts costprohibitively expensive, because the owner has nowhere to go - he will buy it as a pretty one. Ford sold spare parts extremely cheaply and took care of repairing the cars of its factory.

Competitors got excited. Intrigues, gossip, even patent lawsuits began. Ford did not hesitate to print in the newspapers that every car buyer could demand a twelve million dollar bond from Ford Motor, guaranteeing the receipt of this money in the event of unpleasant accidents. And he asked not to buy cars of deliberately low quality at high prices from the enemies of the Ford Motor Company. And it worked! In 1927, the fifteen millionth Ford-T car drove out of the factory gates, which has not changed in nineteen years. Just as Henry Ford did not change his principles. His biography did not end there. Before his death in 1947, he managed to do a lot: create the best cars, write some interesting books and make the American dream come true.

When it seems that the whole world is against you, remember that the plane takes off against the wind! Henry Ford said so. And I followed this rule all my life.